Parent education and engagement
A strong partnership between the school and families
Gordon’s calendar is packed with events that connect families with one another, and keep the conversation between the school and parents lively and relevant.
Gordon will also continue to look for new ways to connect faculty, staff and parents with one another. The 2022-2023 school year will combine on-campus learning, virtual parent and family engagement, and in person gatherings whenever possible to support a safe, dynamic, and joyful community-wide experience. Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement and Community Engagement Veronica Jutras will be bringing these ideas to life this year; reach out to her with your suggestions at vjutras@gordonschool.org or 401 434-3833 x116.
Bringing parents together
Grade level representatives
Each grade has a designated parent representative who will bring families together throughout the year.Families can expect to hear from their grade level representative this August, and all through the year.
Ages and Stages
The long-running Ages and Stages series will resume in September. Zoom offers an opportunity for parents to connect more regularly and for this academic year, Ages and Stages will occur monthly.
At these friendly and informal meetings, the school psychologist and the division director lead a discussion on the developmental stages that children experience at each grade level. Parents can strengthen their connections with the division directors and with the families of their children’s peers.
Connecting with faculty
Overview Nights
Overview Nights get the parent-teacher relationship off to a strong start early in the year. At Overview Nights, parents meet their children’s teaching team, and get a detailed preview of the coming year’s curriculum.
Parent-teacher conferences
For this academic year, parent-teacher conferences will be held by Zoom or in person. Parents can expect a prompt from their children’s classroom teachers inviting them to schedule an October conference. There are no classes on Friday, October 22nd. Instead, teachers dedicate that day to meeting with parents. Accommodations can be made for parents who cannot make it on that day, but it is important that all parents connect directly with teachers as October ends.
Convening parent groups
The Gordon Community Association is the school’s volunteer organization. All parents are members, and are welcome to participate at whatever level they feel comfortable. Preview the volunteer opportunities with the form in the parent portal at www.gordonschool.org/parentlogin. More on the GCA at www.gordonschool.org/gca
Parents of Students of Color meets monthly. More information on POSOC at www.gordonschool.org/posoc
The Antiracism Working Group for White Parents is meeting monthly. Information on the group is at www.gordonschool.org/antiracism.
The new Parents of Students with Learning Differences group is meeting monthly. Learn more at www.gordonschool.org/learningdifferences
The Rainbow Family Alliance is the informal network of Gordon families who are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex communities. More on this group at www.gordonschool.org/rainbowfamily
Parent groups will begin the year by meeting over Zoom - the links will be posted in the Commons, www.gordonschool.org/commons.
Antiracism resources includes book lists, videos and more generated from the work happening at Gordon every day.
In the "Diversity and multicultural practice" section of the website, there is a large library of online resources, many of them written by Gordon authors or by speakers who have visited Gordon.