Bigger and better, and even more collaborative.
That was the sentiment of many Saturday morning at the second Forest Park Education Summit, hosted by Forest Park School District 91.
Just ask Tinisa Huff, principal of the district’s Betsy Ross School, who headed up a session titled, “Building a Strong Educational Foundation in K-2 Students,” in the Forest Park Middle School library.
In front of about a dozen parents, Huff covered a whirlwind of topics, including the benefits of social-emotional learning, the need for school attendance and even the factors that impact brain development in a child.
Afterward, she reflected on the overall event and what it meant for the Forest Park community.
“From what I understand, we have a lot more people attend this time than we had last year,” she said. “My session was packed, from what I understood, and that was really encouraging. I appreciate the support.
“I think parents want to come out when there are going to be people they know, like their principal and their teachers.”
One of the parents in Huff’s session, Angela Hart, has two children in the district.
Important to her was realizing the resources that are at her disposal.
“We literally found things for both my 10- and five-year-old today,” she said. “It was very successful.”
The event featured two hour-long rounds of sessions geared toward parents and caregivers, educators and students from fifth to eighth grade.
That was proceeded by a resource fair with tables maintained by more than 20 organizations as diverse as the Forest Park PTO, the Park District of Forest Park, Rush University Medical Center, the Forest Park Public Library and Proviso Township High School District 209. Kisa Marx, founder of KidCrew Adventures Early Childhood Program delivered the keynote address.
Kristin Pekoll is a six-year PTO veteran who spent her time speaking with parents about what opportunities the organization has for them.
“I think when you have D91, which is pretty small, and District 209, which is a lot bigger, there are so many organizations that are available to us, but we don’t see right away in Forest Park,” Pekoll said. “It’s in the whole Proviso township.
“An event like this brings together so many different organizations and families and parents. It really opens our eyes to the different resources available in our community.”
School board president Shannon Wood, and a district parent, attended a session titled, “Sharing Your Voice in Local Government Forums.” There was one key takeaway for her.
“The whole idea behind this event is to create a stronger community and come together,” she said. “We have to support one another.”
Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Alvarez, who seemed to be everywhere Saturday, said when she arrived at the district four years ago, there was a decidedly mediocre tenor.
That’s changed, she said, partly because of last year’s debut event.
“I don’t think anybody wants to be part of mediocracy,” Alvarez said. “There was status quo, and I’m like, No, we’re not about status quo. We’re getting better each and every day.
“I always say to our children, thank you for bringing greatness to D91. This is part of the greatness.”
Saturday’s event was the brainchild of district director of engagement Nurys Uceta-Ramos.
“One of the biggest things that I noticed coming into Forest Park after the pandemic, was how do we re-engage our families, how do we bring people together again, after being told, we don’t get to collaborate in person,” she said. “It was an opportunity to provide parents more things they can learn.
“Yes, your child is learning, but how do you better support them? Also, what are some things to support yourself?”
Last year, the event had about 50 parent participants, Uceta-Ramos said. This year, there were 61 parent participants and 20 student participants.
How hard was something like Saturday to pull together? According to Latoya McRae, who was integral in many facets of preparation, it wasn’t as hard as you might think.
“When you have a great team that is not only supportive, but that is passionate about bringing families and educators and the community together for helping students be successful in not only their personal but academic journey is easy-peasy,” McRae said.
It was appreciated by teachers like Amy Mills, who attended the “Sharing Your Voice in Local Government Forums” session with Wood. Mills is a third- through fifth-grade special education teacher at Field-Stevenson School. Mills lives in Brookfield, but it was important for her to be part of the community in which she is employed.
Attending was “helping our families with the resources, guiding them through the tricky things we face as parents, educators and community members.”