Webinar focuses on parents, schools connecting on social media


Webinar focuses on parents, schools connecting on social media

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Schools are finding new ways to use technology to engage parents, which will be the topic of a one-hour _Education Week_ webinar on Thursday, Feb. 28 at noon ET. Connecting Parents and


Schools Via Social Media Initiatives will cover innovative methods from using Skype to run parent-teacher conferences, to live streaming PTA meetings. The webinar will also explore the issue


of how to overcome disparities in access and know-how caused by socioeconomic differences among families. Some districts are forging partnerships and providing resources to help parents


become more digitally literate. Featured speakers will be: _Education Week_ contributing writer Nora Fleming will moderate the panel. She wrote about this issue, including Mazza’s emphasis


on digital technologies to improve school-parent communication. Knapp Elementary is hardly an uncomplicated school environment: 40 percent of the students are eligible for free or


reduced-price lunch and 22 languages are represented. Mazza has been a trailblazer in connecting with parents on Twitter, Facebook, a parent-school Wiki, virtual chat, blog, and a Google


text line. Computers for Youth provides computer training for parents and children, having served more than 50,000 families in 13 years in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and the San


Francisco Bay Area. The program works with schools where at least 75 percent of students are eligible for subsidized lunch. To register for the webinar, which is free, visit this link.