Family Support
Students and families with issues that may be preventing them from having a successful experience at school may contact their Family Support Worker and receive support.
- Abuse and neglect
- Academic issues
- Attendance concerns
- Basic needs like housing, food and clothing
- Behavioral or developmental issues
- Child care
- Transportation issues
- Financial problems
- Health issues
- Legal issues
- Family stress
- Substance abuse
- Parenting issues
- Support groups
- Language barriers
- Home visiting
- Relationship concerns
West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area Schools' partnership with 360 Communities provides services to help students and families overcome problems that prevent a successful school experience. This initiative, known as Partners For Success, also helps to decrease the time teachers spend on non-academic issues so they can focus on what they do best: teaching.
360 Communities' family support workers (see below) are in School District 197's schools, ready to help families find solutions so kids come to school ready to learn, and teachers spend less time out of the classrooms and more time teaching. In their role, family support workers:
- Collaborate with school staff to identify students not meeting proficiency in reading
- Develop a plan to engage parents with effective strategies for families to implement at home
- Educate parents on what is needed to help their child at home in order to meet proficiency in reading in early years and what is needed to graduate from high school in later years
- Communicate information and strategies to parents for use at home which support the methods being used in the classroom
- Provide regular communication with classroom teachers
- Help to meet basic needs that may distract them from focusing on their child’s academic achievement
- Provide ongoing support and follow up to ensure that parents have success with the strategies recommended by the school
Thanks to this program, parents increase their involvement and communication with the school, and students show improved attendance and academic achievement. Partners for Success in School District 197 is funded in part by the district and in part by community contributions made to 360 Communities.