Sitka School District
This year, due to difficult budget considerations, the Sitka School District hosted community gatherings at each of the community’s five schools to inform and gather feedback on the important pieces of their children’s education. During small group Community Cafes, families and community members reflected on questions like:
- What are the priorities at your school?
- What is the largest class size you are comfortable with?
- What has your school lost in past budget cycles that you would like to see come back?
- What would you be willing to give up in return?
- What other cost-saving measures do you think the District could make?
These conversations generated insights about programmatic strengths, educational priorities, and potential cuts that the school board and district leadership are using to guide budgeting and planning.
In order to bring in as many stakeholders as possible, schools utilized existing structures such as Parent Advisory Groups or family dinner nights or doubled up the conversation with high-leverage topics like rising freshman readiness and post-graduation planning or curricular changes. School board member Phil Burdick said, “We talked with over 100 families and students, which is only 10% of our population, but it’s a 10% that had yet to engage in budget talks. So, in one year, we had a 10% growth in community engagement!”
If you’re interested in hosting a community cafe, contact Claudia Plesa about training and support from the Alaska Family Engagement Center or sign up for the host training in Juneau March 6-7th