Students’ success starts at home

For years, Beaufort County educators have known that high-performing students come from high-performing parents. That is, parents who are active in their children's schools are integral to their scholastic success.

But when both parents are working sometimes more than one job, juggling babies, daycare, soccer practice or just life, taking a greater role in a child's academics can be a daunting task. Add to that scores of families trapped in a cycle of poverty, illiteracy and single-parenthood, and taking a greater role in a child's life seems easier said than done.

But we can't simply throw up our hands, because the best and most-proven way to increase a child’s scholastic success starts at home.

That's why it's encouraging to see Battery Creek High School with a bricks-and-mortar way to compel parents to become involved in schools: a parent honor roll.

The roll would grade parents on how involved they are in their child's school, whether they attend open houses, Parent-Teacher-Student Organization or School Improvement Council meetings or talk with their kids' teachers and counselors. The idea, the brainchild of Creek junior Donisha Myers, was accepted with open arms by principal Ed Burnes and will be initiated the next school year.

Parents need to be more responsible for the academic success of their child; schools are not day-care centers where we drop our kids off and pick them up at the end of the day. They are places that further nurture our children from the roots we've planted at home. Attending occasional PTO meetings or open houses might be a start, but it's not enough to guarantee a child's success.

Battery Creek plans to hold parents responsible by mandating that a child has no more than one unexcused absence and two instances of tardiness each quarter. If a student receives a grade lower than a C, the parent would need documentation proving he or she contacted the teacher in each class the student earned a poor grade, according to a story in Sunday's Gazette. Admittance to the honor roll would require parents to attend at least one parent-teacher or school improvement council meeting a year and at least one program before or during that quarter, including a play, athletic event or a concert. Other requirements include signing pledges to volunteer, participate in class activities and attend teacher-requested conferences.

Burnes said parental involvement has been elusive and noted that at a recent school concert, only half the parents showed up to hear their kids perform.

That's discouraging if not downright sad.

Being engaged in our children's academic lives teaches much more than grades on a paper; it sends a clear message that we care about them, that what they do matters and that we believe in them. That kind of attention yields the self-confidence they need to grow into achieving students and positive young men and women.

We shouldn't need to ask our school children's parents to become involved; we should demand it. And each school in the Beaufort County School District should follow Battery Creek's lead.