Connecting with our families

By Bernadeia Johnson
Contributing Writer
We value the dedication that our families have to our schools and students, and we are always looking for ways to strengthen that connection. Three times a year, we hold conferences with our families and their children to check in on each student’s academic progress. The most recent parent — teacher conferences were November 4 and 5.

Conferences serve as a great opportunity for us to come together to recognize each student’s strengths and needs. By connecting, our teachers and our schools can work with families to assess how we can build on student strengths and best support student needs in the classroom and at home.

With the rigorous academic goals we have in place, it is more important than ever that we work together. Student success depends on connecting the lessons learned in school at home. Each year, a student gets a new teacher at school — but the adults at home are the child’s teachers for life.

A variety of resources are available for families to help their children succeed. We are doing all that we can to continue connecting with our families.

I understand that our families are busier than ever, which is why we must work to develop innovative, creative, new ways to provide our families with the information and support that they need to ensure that our students are successful in school.

We launched our new school district website on November 1. We hope you find the site clean, friendly and easy to navigate. Even though the new site has been unveiled, our work is not done. As with any good website, we will be listening to feedback and adjusting it based on your needs. Visit www.mpls.k12.mn.us to see our new look.

Our student-run radio station, Jazz 88 (88.5 FM), hosts live MPS news segments each Wednesday at 7:30 am with representatives from our schools and our district.

“Like,” “follow,” or watch MPS on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We update our pages frequently and our fans are some of the first to know.
Utilize the Parent Portal (http://parentportal.mpls.k12.mn.us).

This web-based system gives parents and guardians the ability to view their child’s attendance, grades, assignments, schedule and transcript.

As always, visit your child’s school. Our schools always have new information to report, and our teachers are happy to schedule updates over the phone and check email daily.

Thank you for your support and for your commitment to your child’s education.

When we all work together, there is no limit to what we can achieve for our students.

Bernadeia H. Johnson is Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools.