By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
The positive impact of parental involvement on the lives of the Princeton Regional School District’s minority students was the focus of a Saturday minority education seminar held at Community Park School.
With more than 60 parents and community members in attendance, teachers, administrators and the school district’s Minority Education Committee fielded questions and concerns from parents. The seminar also drew representatives from local social service agencies such as Corner House, a non-profit counseling agency for adolescents, young adults and their families, and Princeton’s YMCA and YWCA.
Highlighted at the meeting were some of the district’s efforts to close the so-called achievement gap between minority students and other pupils, according to Fern Spruill, a Princeton resident and member of the Minority Education Committee. The committee, formed by the Princeton Regional Board of Education, has been working to address the needs of the district’s minority students since 1998.
”It has turned out very well,” said Ms. Spruill, whose two daughters attended Princeton’s public schools.
Saturday’s seminar was born out of an Aug. 1 meeting, according to Tara Doaty, a Howard University doctoral student who has spent the year interning with Princeton House, another social service agency.
During the Aug. 1 meeting a focus group convened by the Minority Education Committee asked parents a series of questions with an eye toward identifying and addressing parental concerns.
Following a meeting in which those concerns were summarized and provided to the district, Saturday’s seminar was organized to address them, according to Ms. Doaty, who said administrators like Superintendent Judy Wilson spoke to participants.
”Parents got to see that their questions weren’t only being acknowledged, but addressed,” Ms. Doaty said.
Local businesses like Panera Bread Co. and jaZam’s provided gift cards and other items as door prizes for the event, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Light refreshments were served as well, said Ms. Spruill, who provided an attendance estimate of around 65 parents and others.
”We were praying for 30,” Ms. Spruill said.
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