School district offers free ‘Parent University’ workshops
Program has started 2024-2025 program
– The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) has started their 2024-2025 Parent University, a program that offers parents a variety of workshops aimed at supporting students.
“It is important for our students to see their parents engaging in their school life. This demonstrates initiative on the part of the parents, showing their children that they are interested in helping them succeed. Parent University empowers parents with knowledge about the school’s workings to better support their children when they encounter challenges. Additionally, this involvement allows for meaningful conversations between the parent and student, as the parent now has a better understanding of how the school operates,” said PRJUSD community communication specialist Monica Silva.
The first session was held on Sept. 3 at Glen Speck Elementary School and was the first part of a two-part session to teach parents how to update their parent data confirmation on Aeries. Future sessions will cover topics such as bullying prevention, navigating the school website, advanced placement classes and dual enrollment, and more.
Sessions are categorized into modules: parent engagement, parent empowerment, understanding curriculum and instruction, and English language learner. Parents who complete at least three sessions in a module will receive a certificate of recognition.
“Last year, we revamped Parent University by introducing more general themes to appeal to a wider range of parents. We want all families to participate, so we decided to cover a broader range of topics that parents can relate to and want to learn about. We took into account parent feedback from last year and have included the requested session for this year’s Parent University,” said Silva, adding that “we aspire to integrate cutting-edge AI interpretation earbuds to enable a unified session [in] English and Spanish] and unite our Spanish and English speaking families in the same space for further parent learning engagement.”
Another update this year is that sessions will be held on various school sites instead of at the PRJUSD board room.
“Last year, our focus was on empowering families to learn about our program…this year, we aspire for our families to discover the depth of our school’s functions and resources in the warmth and familiarity of the school sites. It is our hope that they feel more at ease visiting the school itself, fostering a stronger connection between families and our education community instead of in the district’s board room,” Silva said.
The next session will be held on Sept. 17 at Winifred Pifer Elementary School and be the second half of the parent data confirmation on Aeries. The English session is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the Spanish session is from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Registration is recommended but not required for Parent University sessions. A form can be found on the website or via a QR code on school bulletin boards.
For more information about Parent University, visit the PRJUSD website here.
