OKCPS Offers Program To Help Parents Be More Involved In Child's Education

Over the next six weeks, parents at Oklahoma City Public Schools got a front row seat to their child's education in an effort to show their kids that school doesn't end when the last bell rings, thanks to the district’s Super Saturdays program.

The program, which held its first workshop at Capitol Hill High School, began at 10 a.m. and ran until 2 p.m.

Nearly 75 parents were able to have their most frequently asked questions answered along with training in areas like health and wellness at home, Internet skills, being prepared in an emergency and how school discipline works.

It’s all in an attempt to get low-income and immigrant families to be more engaged in their child’s education, according to an OKCPS spokesperson.

“If I don't take the time to invest in my child, then they'll say 'well my mom doesn't care then why should care?'” Carolyn Range-Patrick said.

Among the Super Saturday crowd, Range-Patrick is known as a super-mom. With four kids in OKCPS schools, she attended all six sessions last year and is attending all six this year.

She said she goes back to her neighborhood with all the information she learned that day and helps other parents, who work on Saturdays, learn the same things. Because education starts at home, she said.

“I guess I would say I'm the biggest teacher to my children, first before school is,” she said.

“We feel that an involved parent, someone that knows what's happening in their school and that can offer advice and help to their child is essential to them to get a better education, to raise reading scores -- a lot happens after school,” OKCPS community relations manager Daisy Escalera said.

Escalera said the program was modeled after a program from a Houston school district. Administrators there even sent her materials on how to get started.

She said the turn out this year appeared to be higher than the inaugural 2015-2016 school year sessions.

Many of the parents were low-income, working several jobs and may not speak English. Because of this, all of the material is also written and spoken in Spanish.

Escalera said the Super Saturday program was especially beneficial to parents who may speak English as a second language, because understanding the new norms of school in the U.S. can be difficult or intimidating. 

She also said it allows them to be a part of their child’s academic-life in ways they may otherwise not be, so they can go home and set an example, just like Range-Patrick plans to do.

“It's important for me to show them, OK, you know, you can do this and that no matter what someone else says or no matter if you see someone else not performing like they should, you can still do it,” she said.

Parents do have to register in order to get a free lunch for the day. For more information on how to register and where the next session is, find it here.