Linda Gademan, the librarian who started the parent center at Kennedy Middle School, offered the following tips on how to start a Parent Resource Center.
- Find help and support. "Don't try to do this alone," Gademan advised. "You need the support of others." The local Board of Education, middle school principal, school staff, parent groups, and local government leadership must endorse the parent resource center for it to be successful.
- Publicize the center. Get the word out. Send information to parents, post it on school Web sites, and place it in local newspapers.
- Make the center cozy and warm. Welcome parents to the center by making it an inviting, non-threatening, comfortable area.
- Hire a coordinator. A coordinator is essential to the partnership [set dash] and the center. That person involves and informs community businesses, parent groups, local government, and school staff and administrators about partnership projects.
- Attend partnership training. Gademan attended the National Education Association's training, which helped her develop the partnership and the parent resource center. The NEA continues to offer training through their state affiliates.
- Provide books, pamphlets and videotapes. Gademan stocked the resource center with about 60 books, free pamphlets, and some videotapes. She found good parenting resources based on suggestions made by the www.nea.org. National Education Association, www.nmsa.org, the National Middle School Association, various parenting groups, and Active Parent Publishers of Georgia. Other resources were found by reading school library journal reviews and by visiting local bookstores.
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