1. Digital Collections: Daily Times Text 07/08/2010 09:06 AM
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Page 4 of 33 Archive: Daily Times Text - 33 documents found.
Full text: "Malissa Watterson"
- Wednesday, July 7, 2010
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Parenting class kicks off six-week program
CAPE CHARLES ---- Parents from Northampton County eagerly walked into Kiptopeke Elementary School's
doors Thursday evening ready to begin their journey of becoming better parents for their children.
In the school's cafeteria, a small group of eight parents and their children gathered for the first meeting of the
"Helping You to Help Your Child" program offered through the Northampton County Education Foundation's
Parent University.
The new program is a six-week parenting class aimed toward teaching parents how to properly support and
nurture their children within their home.
The premise behind the program is that if parents are able to provide guidance at home, then they will in turn
be able to provide guidance at school.
Kiptopeke Elementary Assistant Principal Subrina Parker will act as the facilitator for each lesson guiding
parents throughout the learning process.
According to Parker, the program is geared more toward 4-year-olds entering Pre-K and their young parents
who "need tools to be successful early on."
Parker will cover an array of parenting topics, including building self-worth in children and learning positive
ways to deal with stress and anger.
One of the basic lessons that Parker would like to teach the parents is that what is taught at home is reflected
in school.
"Kids model what they're used to learning from home," Parker said. "I want to inform parents that they are the
first teacher."
The program is apart of the larger program, Parent University, put into place last year by the Northampton
County Education Foundation as a way to promote engagement in their child's education.
The foundation is a group headed by Richard Drury, who is also a member of the Northampton County School
Board. It is a group of community members whose mission is to build strong community and business
partnerships for the benefit of children and schools.
Last August, Parent University hosted two parent workshops at the Bayview Community Center; one focused on
reading to children and the other focused on successful parent teacher conferences.
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2. Digital Collections: Daily Times Text 07/08/2010 09:06 AM
According to Northampton County Public Schools Superintendent Rick Bowmaster, the foundation wanted to
"revamp" the Parent University by offering a program that focused on training a small group of parents on
parenting skills.
Wendy Hall, a reading specialist for Occohannock Elementary who taught one of the Parent University
workshops last summer, suggested to the foundation that Parker be the facilitator for the new program.
"She knows many of the parents and she knows what their needs are," said Hall.
Parker called 10 parents who she personally knew would benefit from the program and invited them to come
the first meeting.
Parker's sister, Cora Lee, attended with her 11-year-old daughter Imani, who will be entering sixth grade this
school year.
Lee hopes that the program will help further improve her relationship with her daughter.
"I'm hoping that I will be better able to guide and direct my daughter and be even more of a positive role
model," said Lee.
After everyone finished dinner, the children were taken outside to play by two teacher volunteers and the
parents followed Parker into the media center.
Parker began by introducing herself, a few of the NCEF board members, including Bowmaster, Hall and the
translator that was provided for the Hispanic parents.
She then gave a brief overview of the program and mentioned all seven of the topics they would be covering.
One of the points that Parker stressed was that the program was about the parents' needs. She assured the
parents that every meeting would last for only one hour and that the program would be more of a discussion
where the parents would have a say.
At the end of the meeting, Parker thanked the parents for establishing the value of education to their children
by attending.
"By you being here, you've already helped," Parker said. "The kids see you value education because you're here
and it becomes part of their thinking that education is ongoing."
Caption:Kiptopeke Elementary School Assistant Principal Subrina Parker addresses the Northampton County
Education Foundation Parent University. The initiative shows parents how to become more involved in the life of
their children.
Malissa Watterson photo
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