PSS conference wants more parents involved in their kids’ education

The Public School System Parental Conference was held at the Saipan World Resort yesterday, drawing dozens of parents to talk about issues in public schools.

More than 200 parents were registered to join the conference, with education officials also present to talk with them about school issues like health and wellness, sex education, and discipline in public schools.

The CNMI State Parental Advisory Council organized the conference. Their current president is Fausia Maui Dela Cruz.

She told Saipan Tribune that her message yesterday was to urge parents to get more involved in their children’s education, adding that communication between parents and their schools is “very important” to build “partnership between PSS and the parents for children success.”

“We are the voice of the parents to PSS,” she said.

The PAC president said they have also finalized their bylaws in November. Their goal with the bylaws is to make sure all Parent Teacher Associations at PSS schools are “not doing their own thing.”

“It’s standardized and it’s uniform now,” she said.

PAC and counseling coordinator Frances Ulloa, who helped set up the event, said this year’s conference was different in that they tried to get parents “out of their comfort zone” and interact with each other during learning sessions.

Before, parents usually grouped with others from their own schools, but this year they mixed parents of all schools into color-coded groups.

At least 10 parents were selected from each public school on island for the conference, she said. They hoped that the parents participating “could take what they learned and share it with the other parents.”

Tinian and Rota will have their own separate parent summit, possibly around February, she said.

“Last year was a different setup where we invited the community to come and talk about what services are available. But this year it’s kind of different… it’s about what are some of the pressing issues that are going on in schools,” she said.

They invited PSS officials to talk about sex education in schools, wellness, discipline and truancy, and communication between student and parent, and parent and school, she said.

Lori Serna, PTA president for Gregorio T. Camacho School and PAC secretary, said the conference’s message was to “empower parents to become more engaged as parents” and to use the resources that PTA, PSS, principals, and teachers can offer them.

She said parents “don’t have to be the whole resource for their child.”

Serna, who is a dental hygienist at the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic, also urged parents yesterday to watch the amount of sugar given to their kids.

She told the parents gathered that they are the role models for their children, and that if they are drinking soda and telling their children to drink water, “it will not work.”

But she said that “it’s never too late to change habits” and urged parents to take steps like limiting sweets to “Junk Food Fridays,” or sticking to the natural sugar found in the abundant fruits on island, or making sure to have sweets with meals instead of snacks, to avoid cavities and promote health.

“They learn what we do, not what we tell them to do,” she told the crowd.