“I wish parents would be more involved and engaged.”
Eva Daniels, parent of an 11th grader at Rauner College Prep, has been involved with Rauner for many years. She can be found in the stands cheering on our Wildcats at football, basketball, and baseball games. She also helps out with parent communication for sports and was involved in giving feedback on school funding and supporting Noble Schools’ charter renewal.
However, at Parent and Family Advisory Council (PAC) meetings at Rauner, she often finds herself with only three other parents, and she wants there to be more.
The PAC has existed since the beginning of Rauner. The group meets monthly in the college room, a big room typically used for our 12th graders’ collegiate seminar classes. It’s a space where parents, guardians, family members, and staff come together to engage in content and conversations to support each other and their students.
Daniels wants more parents to join PAC because she believes it is an important place to get information and resources and build community.
“They’re informative meetings. We talk about school funding, upcoming events, student safety, and mental health. We are given parenting tips on how to communicate with our teens, and resources at the school are shared,” Daniels said.
She has, in particular, appreciated the chance to learn more about school funding.
“It helps to understand the funding because, if we don’t use them, then we will lose it. It’s an eye opener to a lot of parents to see where money is going and how under-utilized resources are,” said Daniels.
Daniels has also loved the opportunity to build relationships with staff members, especially Alex Haley and Ron Brown, the two staff members who lead Rauner’s PAC.
“Mr. Brown and Ms. Haley are so involved and caring. They really know these kids by name, can call out hundreds of kids, and know details about who they are and who they befriend, and it amazes me… Haley will comment on things she has seen and learned about a child, and it’s really heartwarming,” Daniels said.
Haley, who is also a Rauner alum, stepped up into the role because she wanted to “find another way to be connected to parents.” She is passionate about growing PAC attendance because she believes it is crucial to building a strong school community.
“We want to elevate the school, get more acknowledgment and resources to help our kids, and continue to build a bigger community,” Haley said.
Brown thought leading PAC would be a great opportunity to learn more about the Rauner and wider Noble community. Seeing how parents got involved in Noble’s recent charter renewal battle was eye-opening for him. He looks forward to continuing to work with parents to improve the school environment.
“We need to hear from our parents, and we need their input. We need to know what they see, what they want to see, and what they don’t see. This partnership is very important when talking about putting students first,” urges Brown.
Cicele Bennett, principal of Rauner, says that Noble parents are already more involved from the start because they specifically chose a Noble campus—which requires a bit more investment than going to neighborhood schools. However, she would love to see more parents at Rauner get involved in the PAC meetings.
“Parents should be involved so they can be informed and empowered about the things happening in their child’s education,” Principal Bennett said, “We believe in parents being involved through report card pick-up and school orientations, and the Parent & Family Advisory Council is another opportunity for continued involvement.” Bennett added that an additional bonus of parents being in the PAC is they “model how to be civically involved for their children.”
If you’re a Rauner parent, we hope you join us for our PAC meetings! Check our social media on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter (X) to stay up to date:
