20250829_124634

The interview discusses the parent-teacher organization at Tapestry School, emphasizing partnership, community involvement, cultural events, family engagement, leadership structure, and impact on student well-being. The PTO includes parents, teachers, staff, community partners, and various committees. Strategies focus on student outcomes, social events, and lessons for others to prioritize students and community partnerships. Hi Lauren, thanks for agreeing to be part of this interview with me. Today we're going to talk about the parent-teacher organization and I will start with my first question which is, what is this partnership and how did it begin? So the partnership with PTO and the school began back in 2014 when the school was founded. It began with parents and teachers kind of coming together to support the school's mission and in the greater good of all the children including our community. Okay, and who are the key community partners of the PTO? So obviously parent-teachers, so you have parents, you have teachers, teachers including the staff, the administration, all of the people who work at tapestry, the local community, local businesses, cultural organizations, and non-profit groups that we partner with throughout the year. And you've kind of touched on this a little bit but what cultural wealth or community wealth assets are being honored by the PTO? So we do a lot of events throughout the school year to benefit the community but also to benefit the families here. We do cultural events, family potlucks, we showcase and highlight the diversity of our population in the greater community of tapestry. Great. And how are students and family voices included in the PTO? So we have bi-monthly PTO meetings where parents and family members can voice concerns. We also send out surveys every semester where parents can kind of sound off on how things are going and that also goes to the staff as well so we're reaching not just the families and community, we're also reaching the teachers. Great. And what leadership strategies have supported the PTO's work? Okay. So like I know that in the past we've had like presidents and then co-presidents and kind of like a structure of leadership. Oh yeah, so you're talking about the structure. Yeah. So we have had, like the way we structure our PTOs, we do have a president. Right now we have currently co-presidents. We've had vice presidents over different things. We have had vice presidents over internal, external affairs. That way we can kind of streamline the process through the parent digital innovation. Okay. And sharing of responsibilities across multiple kind of equal players has helped PTO be more effective. Yeah. We also have different committees so even if you're not an elected board member, the PTO also has a ton of committees that parents can sign up for and volunteer for to, again, get involved, to make a difference, but also to kind of get their feet wet to see if like they want to run, essentially, for the board members. Cool. What impact has the partnership had or could it have on student outcomes? A lot of this has to do with student's social emotional well-being. I think the PTO has put on so many great events. We do a lot of social events. High school last year had an ice cream social which was great and I think that really impacted the kids. They got to socialize, talk with each other, and enjoy ice cream. We've done a bunch of things that you, family bingo nights we've done in the past where we've brought community partners in as well to speak with the families. Great. Last question for you. What lessons can others take from this story or how our PTO operates? I think, again, the big thing is we are here for the students and we want to do as much as we can for the kids and for them to be able to go out into the community and present themselves well. I think with all the partnerships we've created through community events, through parent events, through staff events, we're really able to do that. Excellent. Thank you for being here with me today and sharing your thoughts. You're welcome.