Superintendent’s FACE advisory council outlines family-engagement needs assessment

Dr. Walker presented the superintendent’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) advisory council’s needs assessment at the Dec. 8 Winchester Public School Board meeting, describing the district’s use of the MAEC (Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium) family engagement assessment tool and a phased plan to gather and analyze data.

Walker said the MAEC tool divides family engagement into nine areas and that the advisory council selected two priorities for the year: building trusting relationships and transitions. The process includes desk audits of school materials, school walk-throughs using a rubric, staff surveys administered anonymously, and planned committee work in January to analyze data and recommend engagement strategies.

Preliminary walk-through findings varied by school and included positive examples such as multilingual signage and prominently displayed student work; areas for improvement included signage and lighting in some buildings. Walker described procedural safeguards used during walk-throughs, such as routing non-employee volunteers through the district volunteer process and pairing non-employee observers with district staff.

Board members asked clarifying questions: Dr. Tedder confirmed that Walker had not led this process before, and the board clarified that transitions include both building-to-building transitions and grade-to-grade transitions. Walker said the advisory council will finalize committee work and family survey plans after the winter break.