Wednesday, February 16th 2022, 4:52 pm
Oklahoma City Public Schools will host parent-teacher conferences that begin Thursday, but some schools don't have a big parent turnout. A local church is aims to fix that.
"When we talk about it takes a village and this is such a great example. You have this partnership, this network of community, parent, school," said OKCPS Deputy Superintendent, Jason Brown.
Ebenezer Baptist Church leads the charge and plans to give nearby schools a little extra push to get more parents to sign up for parent teacher conferences.
"Every parent that comes whether it be the mother and father, or individuals or grandparents. Each one will be entered in a drawing for that specific school," explained Ebenezer's Pastor, Derek Scobey.
Five schools are ae included in the incentive: Classen SAS High School at Northeast, Douglass High School, FD Moon Middle School, Thelma Parks Elementary and Luther King Jr. Elementary.
Each guardian who shows is entered to win a free living room, or dining room set per school.
The furniture was donated to Ebenezer Baptist from World Vision. After that drawing, all the schools' pools will be combined for a second drawing for $1,000.
That money comes from Borat star, Sacha Baron Cohen's donation after last year's ice storm.
"It's just trying to be creative trying to think outside of the box because our children our not just our future, they're our present," said Pastor Scobey.
"The trajectory of some child's entire life might be changed just by a parent showing up to a parent teacher conference," he added.
Conferences are also a way for teachers to fill parents in on more than just grades.
"It may not just be an 89, it maybe I don't think that student is performing to their potential and here's how I want to motivate them," said Brown.
Brown also has a message for parents that just can't make the meetings because of schedules or other barriers.
"Just because a parent doesn't show up to a parent teacher conference it doesn't mean they're not engaged," he said.
"So, we would just ask them to continue that dialogue between home and school," Brown said.
The drawings will be done after all of the parent teacher conferences are finished.
Guardians who choose to do the meetings virtually will also be added to the drawings by the teacher.
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