When families come to Old South Preschool, they receive another of the many welcomes from the entire Old South community to enter freely its Open Door. The Preschool carries out its work without regard to color, religious and political beliefs, race, cultural heritage, ability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, gender identification, family structure or national origin. Implicit in the invitation to join the Preschool community when parents enroll their children is the understanding that they can share themselves as individuals and in their role as parents. Generally, the act of sharing becomes second nature in short order. The staff’s awareness that parents’ perspectives and their view of education inform and help broaden a vision paves the way for valuable exchanges. Old South embraces discourse and dialogue. Moreover, in appreciating the fact that parents hold the primary key to their children and serve as speakers for them, the staff sees parental input as essential. Naturally occurring parent-teacher alliances play an influential role in soothing the expected disturbances in both parents and children when adjusting to the new community. Before long, a transition to the new gives way to contentment with the familiar.
Only a few occasions exist when all families are in one place during the school week since varied part-time scheduling limits daily contact. However, there are positive features in this circumstance: 1) families mostly have a schedule that works for them; 2) by the week’s end, everyone has opportunity to connect. During the year, several built-in special events allow the whole school community to be in the same place at the same time. Additionally, each class occasionally plans gatherings where everyone attends regardless of schedule, which helps strengthen the developing community.
Parents chime-in and dive-in quickly when requested to lend a hand with contacts, expertise, and projects, large or small. The contributions they make range from graphics work to carpentry, and include time and donations of all kinds. “Parent Participation,” a regular component of the school year, provides complementary experiences of unimaginable value and substance. Classes experience a variety of things: music and professionally played instruments, arts, parents’ playtime with classmates, medical procedure discussions, sharing a snack, body movement challenges, cooking, reading of favorite stories, excursions, bridge building, games, photo taking, and inspections of professional sports equipment. Sometimes parents are hesitant to participate in the classrooms. However, when everyone relaxes and considers the learning possibilities offered through any activity, hesitancy falls away and the whole community acknowledges that “Parent Participation” yields enormous benefit including unforeseen fun.
