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Family engagement coordinator outlines PFACs, video outreach and attendance campaign
Summary
Maria Mowary, the district's family and community engagement coordinator, described plans to expand building-level family advocates, Power Family Action Committees, a Bearcat Family Connections video series and attendance interventions; staff reported early social-media reach and plans for YouTube and a unified communications tool.
Maria Mowary, family and community engagement coordinator for Battle Creek Public Schools, presented an overview Oct. 13 of the district's family-engagement strategy and new initiatives to increase family participation and address chronic absenteeism.
Mowary described rebranding and relaunching Power Family Action Committees (PFACs) to gather caregiver voices districtwide, and said the district is transitioning from a contract with Communities In Schools to an in-house family-advocate model. "This is just really, to be an extension of who I am and what I do for the district within the building," Mowary said, outlining duties that include restorative conversations, connecting families to basic needs and coordinating community partnerships.
Mowary said the district will create PFAC champions at each building and train family advocates to work with existing PTOs where they exist. She described partnerships with community organizations — including Big Brothers Big Sisters, YPIC (Youth Positive Impact Coaching), Summit Pointe and STAR — to expand mental-health supports, on-site services and home-visit outreach.
On communications, Mowary said the Bearcat Family Connections video series and the Bearcat Buzz outreach are intended to reach caregivers through mixed formats (phone calls, email, text and social posts). She reported video metrics to the board: a nearly 29,000 increase in overall reach since launching the series, attendance videos averaging about 3,500 views and a recent three-week total of about 12,000 views for the attendance series.
To improve access to content for families who do not use Facebook, Mowary said the district is preparing YouTube links and a "family and community engagement hub" on the district website. She also said staff are exploring ParentSquare as a unified communications platform in a pilot at Fremont and STEM for a possible 2026 rollout.
Mowary described the Seed Award program and other community-driven efforts to foster family involvement and support student success, and said early data show chronic-absence rates are trending down but that the district will track outcomes as campaigns mature. She said the district's Connect, Read, Grow and Bearcat Health partnerships aim to bring countywide partners together for brainstorming on innovations that address barriers for families with limited resources.
Why this matters: The plans aim to centralize family outreach, provide basic needs support through school-based advocates, and coordinate community partners around attendance and mental-health interventions. Trustees asked about timelines, reporting metrics and how advocates will be trained and deployed; Mowary said training remains to be scheduled pending hiring of additional family advocates.
