Improving Community Links to Teachers and Schools

Posted by on July 19, 2002

IMPROVING COMMUNITY LINKS TO TEACHERS & SCHOOLS

Parents and students don’t have ties to their schools and teachers say they aren’t getting the respect they deserve, according to a study by a statewide education group that promotes partnerships between businesses and school systems. The Education Alliance, a local education fund, spent months traveling across the state talking to hundreds of residents who reported a disconnection between schools and communities, and said that feeling was starting to become evident in the classroom. "Teachers don’t feel like they are respected by parents and parents don’t feel like they are respected by teachers," said Hazel Palmer, director of the non- profit Education Alliance. "Some community members don’t feel like they are welcome in public schools and we need to change that so that every child receives quality teaching from a caring professional." Palmer’s group received a $550,000 three-year grant from Public Education Network, one of only five awarded nationwide, to help bridge the gap between communities and schools.

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