It was a FULL DAY of #ParentPower this past Saturday, June 11, at the 2022 PAVE Parent Policy Summit! 

• CONNECT with other parents, school leaders, community organizations, elected officials, education advocates, and stakeholders.
• LEAD powerful, informative presentations about the five policy issues on the Summit Ballot.
• SHARE stories together in small groups.
• VOTE to select their TOP TWO 2022-23 #ParentPriorities.
• CELEBRATE with great food, music, swag, and frozen treats

With resources…

Before the big vote, we kicked off the day with a Resource Fair! Thank you to our community partners and organizations for coming to the Summit to share information and resources with families! 

• Advocates for Justice in Education (AJE)
• Children’s National 
• Department of Behavioral Health
• Department of Disability Services
• MySchoolDC
• Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education
• Office of the Student Advocate

With policymakers…

Policymakers were also in the house! Before presentations and discussions, parent leaders had a chance to hear from a few Councilmembers and State Board of Education representatives in attendance.

Thank you to Chairman Phil Mendelson and At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson of the DC Council and DC State Board of Education Representatives Jessica Sutter (President, Ward 6), Eboni-Rose Thompson (Vice President, Ward 7 Rep), Jacque Patterson (At-Large), Allister Chang (Ward 2), Zachary Parker (Ward 5), and Carlene Reid (Ward 8), for joining parent leaders at the Summit to hear about families’ experiences and learn about the issues that mattered most to them. 

And with each other!

Parent leaders also used the morning for fellowship - meeting one another for the first time in person or coming back together after a long time apart! It was so wonderful to be together for our first in-person Summit since 2019.

When the Summit program started, parents turned their focus on the five issues that they would see later on the Summit ballot. These issues were selected by 325 parents and caregivers in our citywide Parent Policy Summit Issue Survey. Each of the issues is directly related to one of PAVE’s five core values.

• Increased Access to Specialized School Programs

  • Monique Cole - Organizing Captain and Ward 6 PLE Board member
  • India Patrick - Ward 8 PLE Board member 

• Equitable School Funding

  • Zulma Barrera - Organizing Captain and Ward 5 PLE Board member
    • Read by Policy Captain and Ward 4 PLE Board member Miguelina Zapata
  • Marcia Huff - Policy Captain and Ward 7 PLE Board member

• Healthy and Modern School Facilities

  • Katrice Whitaker - Advocacy Captain and Ward 6 PLE Board member
  • Karla Reid-Witt - Citywide PLE and Ward 7 PLE Board member

• Financial Aid for Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs

  • Dominique Moore - Citywide PLE and Ward 4 PLE Board member
  • Mabel Hernandez - Ward 7 PLE Board member

• School-Based Mental Health

  • Jillian Blair - Ward 4 PLE Board member
  • Sherry McDaniel-Thomas - Ward 4 PLE Board member

69 parent leaders voted for the TWO issues they felt were most important to focus on in 2022-23. Parent leaders chose...

• Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs - Expand Voucher & Financial Aid Options to Remove Cost as a Barrier to Access for More Families
• School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) - Ensure Every School has the Resources to Support Every Child’s Mental Wellness 

Here’s the full voting breakdown! 

• 43% of parents voted for Issue 1: Expand Specialized Programming in Schools 
• 23% of parents votes for Issue 2: Adjust Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) Weights to Promote Equity 
• 16% of parents voted for Issue 3: Ensure all students have access to a healthy and modern school building and learning environment
• 46% of parents voted for Issue 4: Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs: Expand Voucher and Financial Aid Options to Remove Cost as a Barrier to Access for More Families
• 72% of parents voted for Issue 5: School-Based Mental Health (SBMH): Ensure Every School has the Resources to Support Every Child’s Mental Wellness

OST Programs and SBMH are not new #ParentPriorities - parents have consistently been ahead of the curve and have advocated for both of these policy areas for years (including this year)! 

In 2017 at the first PAVE Parent Policy Summit, parents selected Access to OST Programs as one of their top priorities. And long before the pandemic brought greater attention to students’ mental health, parent leaders identified access to mental health supports as an issue in DC. Since they first voted to prioritize this issue at the PAVE Parent Policy Summit in 2018, mental health has continued to be a top priority for parents every year. Parent leaders’ advocacy has pushed DC to make significant progress on both OST and SBMH over the years. But parents know there is still more work to be done.