Charles County town hall spotlights family engagement; district pilots FACE Academy at Eva Turner

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. — The Board of Education of Charles County and school staff held a virtual town hall on Feb. 4 that centered on parent and family engagement in students' schooling, featuring a presentation from Parent Powered and an overview of district resources and a pilot Family and Community Engagement academy.

Parent Powered, a national family-engagement organization, told attendees it delivers evidence-based messages to families by text to build “habits of engagement.” Wheezy Howe, director of partnerships at Parent Powered, described the program as “we're an evidence based family engagement curriculum.” Rebecca Hoehnig, chief content and curriculum officer at Parent Powered, said the organization reaches families about three times a week with brief tips and strategies mapped to daily routines and highlighted research linking family engagement to better attendance and achievement, including a cited estimate that roughly 74 percent of student academic achievement is attributable to factors outside school.

Tracy Chapmanware Thomas, director of the CCPS Department of Community Engagement and Equity, described how the district plans to use outside partners and district programming to expand family engagement. CCPS is piloting a Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Academy at Eva Turner Elementary, Thomas said, with 15 families in the current cohort. She said district staff intend to offer a larger fall 2025 cohort and a spring 2026 cohort and aim to hold an inaugural family-and-community engagement conference in February (date not specified). The presentations and materials will be posted on the CCPS parent page, Thomas added.

District presenters emphasized practical, strength‑based approaches for working with families: using trusted community channels to reach caregivers, offering clear communications that state a what/why/how, scaffolding requests (for example, unpacking what a homework or attendance ask requires), and providing multiple ways families can participate depending on their capacity and students' ages. Christine Paul, a Department of Community Engagement and Equity staff member, reviewed school‑based roles that families can contact, such as community school coordinators, Title I parent liaisons, pupil personnel workers, school counselors, school psychologists and volunteer coordinators; she said links to contact information are included in the presentation.

The town hall included a question-and-answer period in which CCPS staff and board members responded to parent questions about the FACE Academy pilot, bilingual supports, and other resources. Thomas said both the Parent Powered slides and the district’s presentation will be posted on the parent tab of the CCPS website with live links to contact lists and resources.

Ending: The board said it will continue outreach through a newly formed community engagement subcommittee and will share follow-up resources online. The district encouraged families with additional questions to use the posted contact links and to apply for future FACE Academy cohorts when they are announced.