Newsletter

Welcome to the August edition of our Family Engagement Network Newsletter!

As we transition from the warmth of summer to the excitement of a new school year, I’m filled with a sense of renewed energy and anticipation. This month’s newsletter is packed with useful information, including August Awareness Days, Back-to-School Tips, upcoming conferences, and all the details you’ll need for our Family Engagement Network Meetings and Leadership Lab.

I know that over the past few weeks, many of you have been immersed in professional development and training, while our students and families have been busy preparing for the year ahead. This time of year is a blend of excitement, hope, and perhaps a bit of anxiety for all of us. We’re stepping into new beginnings, and I recognize that both students and their families may be feeling a mix of emotions as they navigate what lies ahead.

To each of you, our dedicated family engagement practitioners: this is our moment to reset, reorganize, and prepare for another year of meaningful and impactful engagement. Your role is pivotal in creating the welcoming environments that help our families feel valued and supported.

Together, let’s ensure that every family feels not just welcomed, but truly empowered. Let’s work to make our educational spaces as inviting and inclusive as possible. Thank you for being the bridge that connects our families to their children’s education. I’m excited to see all the incredible work we’ll accomplish together this year. Let’s make it the best one yet!

Warm regards,

Sonia Rezkalah
Family Engagement Administrator

As we kick off the new school year, let's remember the power of a smile, kindness, and joy in welcoming our students and families back to school. Together, we create a nurturing and positive environment that sets the tone for a successful year ahead. Here's to a year filled with learning, growth, and meaningful family engagement!

1. Host Back-to-School Events:

• Create a video or in person orientation sessions for parents to explore the school, and learn about the upcoming year’s curriculum and activities. This approach helps parents feel more connected and informed, providing them with the necessary tools to support their children effectively throughout the school year.

2. Communication Channels:

• Ensure open and frequent communication with parents through personal phone calls, emails, newsletters, and social media updates. Review your school website to make sure parent links, important dates, school policies, and resources are updated and available. Maintaining these communication channels helps keep parents informed and engaged, ensuring they have access to the latest information and resources needed to support their children's education effectively.

• Create workshops on effective study habits, managing school routines, and supporting children’s emotional well-being during the transition back to school. This can help families develop strategies to support their children's learning and adjustment, leading to a smoother transition and better academic performance.

• Encourage parents to get engaged in school activities and committees, fostering a strong school community and ensuring they feel connected and informed. This can range from helping out at school events to participating in decision-making committees. Engaged parents can significantly enhance the school environment, contributing to a more supportive and collaborative community for all students.

The Family Engagement Network (FEN) empowers family engagement practitioners to take the lead in developing a welcoming, inclusive, and goal-oriented family engagement framework at both the district and school levels. These efforts are directly linked to learning enhancing student success.

We’ve lined up fantastic presenters, providing professional development opportunities and dedicated time for networking, allowing attendees to share the amazing work being done in their districts.

When districts support families through thoughtful, equitable policies and programs, it encourages broader community engagement that can help to enrich student learning and optimize student success.

A data-driven approach designed to support the development of family engagement strategies, policies, and programs. Increase your capacity to support advisory committees and parent groups by crating opportunities for two-way communication, rebuilding trust, and cultivating sustained partnerships between home and school.

Mark your calendars for an inspiring day of community, collaboration, and innovation! Join us on April 14, 2025, for our annual Family Engagement Conference. This year’s event promises insightful breakout sessions, dynamic speakers, and valuable resources to elevate your engagement efforts. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with fellow practitioners and gain new tools to support our families and communities. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Ethnic Studies Summit is the first event in a series of seven offerings by the Riverside County Office of Education during the 2024-2025 school year. This event is intended to provide support for Riverside county local educational agencies (LEA's) efforts to develop high school ethnic studies courses. This summit will feature workshops by experts in their respective fields who will focus on the academic and pedagogical aspects of course development, the interdisciplinary features of ethnic studies, conceptual aspects of ethnic studies, and applied student learning activities within community-based, STEAM-based, and entrepreneurial-based educational models.

Equity starts with everyone, and each step toward equity requires the collective stride of every soul. In order to break down barriers in our schools, every voice and every action matters profoundly. Now in its 11th year, the Excellence Through Equity Conference is expanding to include strands and speakers that are inclusive to every department in every school district. Staff from accounting and health services to human resources and technology, and every role in between, are invited to the 2024 Excellence Through Equity Conference to identify the essential nature of their roles through the lens of equity. This year’s conference will engage, equip, and uplift more educators than ever before through mindset shifting, collaboration, and professional learning.

What stories do you share with others? Do your stories align with your aspirations, goals, and dreams? Are you actively shaping your own story? Join a transformative movement where the story is the catalyst, balance is the goal, and thriving wholeness is the ultimate victory. This academy will focus on women in leadership focused on developing their story which empowers them to tell their unique story through conflict, context, and conclusion. These sessions will not only aid you in crafting your leadership narrative but also provide a platform to connect with other women across industry, facilitating discussion on values, balance, health, and ultimately, wholeness. Register today in this unique academy where your story is the curriculum.

We’re excited to introduce a new section in our newsletter dedicated to showcasing businesses and organizations that provide valuable family engagement resources to schools. These organizations offer a variety of tools, programs, and services designed to support your efforts in creating strong connections between families and schools.

Please note that while we are informing districts of available family engagement organization options, RCOE does not endorse or assume liability for any specific organization. Our goal is simply to provide you with information on potential resources to enhance your family engagement initiatives.

Whether you're a parent, educator, or community member, our Resource Hub has something for everyone. Resources are strategically divided among the three regions of Riverside County – Central, Eastern, and South – ensuring that family engagement practitioners across the county have equitable access to valuable tools and materials.

In connection with the RCOE Mental Health Initiative, the Virtual Wellness Center is a place for staff, families, and community members to learn about the many aspects of wellness through access to an abundance of user-friendly resources.

Wellness incorporates many dimensions of health, each of which is interconnected within an individual’s total well-being. SAMHSA’s Wellness Initiative supports embracing the Eight Dimensions of Wellness—emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual—to achieve longevity and an improved quality of life.

Family Engagement Administrator

Division of Leadership, Wellness, and Student Services

School Engagement and Wellness Unit

Email: srezkalah@rcoe.us
Website: RCOE Family Engagement
Phone: 951-826-6243