By: Marcia Bailey, Policy Intern
On Saturday, May 6, several community members from Ward 7 participated in the most recent Parent Empowerment Kickoff Series held by DC State Board of Education President and Ward 7 representative, Karen Williams and DC Student Advocate, Faith Gibson Hubbard. As overseer of DC’s Ward 7, DC State Board member Karen Williams welcomed all residents at Cesar Chavez PCS Parkside to take part in a Parent Empowerment Summit.
The summit began with a breakdown of two phases. Phase one was a panel discussion on how parents can be involved in the public education system in Ward 7. Phase two focused on a hands-on working session in which parents learned from facilitators how they can effectively engage in the advocacy and decision-making processes of the education system.
Board member Karen Williams, guest speakers from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC Council office, and many more gave insight to the parents and residents of Ward 7 by providing them knowledge on how they can engage as a community into their schools’ education system. The point of the summit is for community members to come together, be empowered by one another in order to take a stand, and create a foundation for Ward 7’s education system.
Building strong advocacy as a unit will ensure that the community is pleased with Ward 7 as a whole. The Office of the Student Advocate partnered with Board member Karen Williams in order to show how strong they feel about the ward coming together to learn the importance of advocating for their community.
