Ron Hamilton
Staff writer
PK-USA has joined Shelbyville Central Schools in a parent-teacher conference program this month that will take place at the manufacturing company.
On Tuesday, Oct. 30, the company, located at 600 Northridge Drive, will offer its facility as an alternative location for PK-employed parents to get information about their children's school performance without having to visit the schools.
Jamie Kolls, PK-USA human resource specialist, is one of the chief organizers of the event. She believes the program is another way in which the company is reaching out to the community and establishing a business-education partnership.
"We run three shifts, 24 hours a day here at PK, and sometimes it's impossible or impractical for parents to attend school parent-teacher conferences," Kolls said. "We want to serve as an alternative location. It's a case of the schools coming to the workplace for the convenience of working parents. We're reaching out to working parents who are struggling to make ends meet."
The actual parent-teacher conference dates for Shelbyville Central Schools are being set up for Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 23 and 24. PK parents who can't make those dates can talk to school faculty, counselors and other officials and get information about their children's school performance while they're at work at PK on Tuesday, Oct. 30.
"The principals of the three elementary schools, the middle school and the high school already participated in a walk-through simulation during all three shifts in September, and it went very well," Kolls said. "So far, we've had almost two dozen families sign up to attend the conference here, and about eight of the families are Hispanic."
In order to address all three shifts during the onsite parent/teacher conferences on Oct. 30, school officials plan to be available at 2 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and at 6 p.m., Kolls said.
According to PK vice president, Bill Kent, the pilot program has been in the planning stages for several years.
"We here at PK believe that education and family are important," Kent said. "We hope to serve as an example to other businesses. Perhaps in the future other industries and production centers will allow their facilities to be used as locations for parent/teacher conferences. Parents often have demanding work schedules, and we need to make parent/teacher conferences as convenient for them as possible."
School district Superintendent David Adams sees the pilot program as another effort to improve communication between parents and schools.
"We want to encourage parents, first and foremost, to go to the schools if they can," he said. "But we also want an alternative where the schools can go to the parents. This initiative will establish better parent-school communication and allow PK's employees more involvement in their children's education."
