001FACE [music] teams are a special group of people that come together to think about how they can support each other. [music] Administrators, teachers, other staff members, families, and they all come together to plan and think of ways they can [music] support learning. The FACE team basically helps the school communicate [music] with families, gets them working together, helps build that partnership. Our FACE team is pioneering the way we do outreach. We've really been focusing on students with disabilities, 504s, [music] our military families, some of those historically marginalized groups that have not had targeted outreach. With the FACE [music] team, we are here to serve as a liaison between our staff and our parents, [music] and we provide different things for them. Um if there is any [music] events that are happening after school, we try to
002make ourselves available to help [music] them with different resources. It's extremely important to create that relationship with the parents [music] and have the family and community engagement in the middle school because the students [music] are going through so many transitions, and we can see the progress through that engagement with the [music] students within our classroom. >> [singing] >> Today I have about 17 teachers here, and each grade level is represented. They open their classrooms [music] for these families to come, to go through the lessons, to go through the topics that the kids learn, and just to create [music] those partnerships. I feel that connection is very important, and I had [music] that connection with my own teachers, and now that I am a teacher, I want to have the same connection with the families. [music]
003I want them to see the things we do here in school so that they can reinforce that also at home. We have to come [music] in and see our families as equal partners in this work. And in order to have student [music] success for the future, we need all the help we can get and we need to collaborate. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet the teachers because sometimes [music] no enough time to talk with them. Uh so they gave us different information about the kids, about [music] the exams, about the test. So that is wonderful as >> [music] >> to know like a detail throughout that. They're not hearing 10 different things from 10 different teachers. If they go to the FACE team, it can be kind [music] of one area where they can know
004what to anticipate and know how to help their kids. I think what we really strive for [music] is relationships. We want to make genuine relationships. And we are wanted to have a smaller events >> [music] >> that are meaningful to our families. And I want the students to see that the connection is real. It's important to have FACE teams and any sort of family engagement at all grade levels. They look at data, whether it's academic, SEL, absenteeism, and they strategize to say, "Well, what are ways [music] that we can support our community, our families, and our students?" And they collaborate with other family members as well to make sure that these projects are successful. Family engagement looks different for every family. [music] So we really want to kind of like think about how can we
005tailor what we [music] do to support each individual family. So we look at, "What are we doing as a FACE team? How are we supporting our families? What do we need to do next?" And so the FACE team is how can we support [music] our families and our community, where the PTA is how can we support the school and the students in the school. It's important to me as the building principal to be a part of the committee because schools are community both inside and outside of these walls. And we want everyone to feel that they belong here. We did a bingo night for ESL and bilingual students and parents, >> [music] >> I noticed just a huge uptick in involvement from parents and from students. It's all about engaging the community, [music] giving them
006opportunities to get to know their school. As a former teacher, I strongly believe that supporting our students through their [music] parents and with their parents, it goes a long way. We achieve so much more and those relationships go beyond the classroom, beyond graduation. >> Mhm. >> Our families are a very [music] critical component in the education of our students. And that relationship has to be built, [music] has to be nurtured, and education is a team effort.