There was energy in the room at the Parents for Public Schools of Greenwood and Leflore County meeting Saturday. Even though the meeting started bright and early at 8 a.m. and stretched past 4 p.m., none of the attendees seemed worn out or ready to head home.
In fact, everyone seemed to get more and more energetic as the day went on, said Sadie Daniels, a retired educator and one of the leaders of the group.
The 28 participants in the meeting were there as part of the organization’s Parent Engagement Program (PEP). The rigorous program is designed to select and train parent advocates for the school system over the course of five monthly meetings. Saturday’s was the first.
Between meetings, participants will complete homework assignments which include speaking with school administrators, reaching out to other parents and putting their training into practice.
This is the first time the program has been offered by Parents for Public Schools, whose Greenwood Leflore County chapter was founded just over a year ago.
Daniels and fellow Greenwood Leflore chapter members Tijuanda Beckworth and Lula Moore all went through training from the Parents for Public Schools national office to be certified to lead the PEP courses.
Moore said representatives from the national office were thrilled about how well Saturday’s session went. The participants were even more excited.
“Great, fantastic, wonderful. These were the adjectives people kept using to describe how they felt about today’s session,” Moore said.
Participants are able to take part in the program at no cost to themselves. Funding and materials for the program were provided by the national organization.
The next session will be held on Oct. 19.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
