Forums to foster conversations on schools and community

posted on: 3/17/2017

The Dover School District will host three community conversations this month that aim to build a bridge between the schools and the community. The sessions, "Schools Can't Do It Alone: Building partnerships between schools, families, and the community," will be held at the McConnell Center Cafe, 61 Locust St.

The kick-off session will be held on Saturday, March 18, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The second session will focus on goal-setting and will be held on Thursday, March 23, from 6 to 8 p.m. The final session will focus on taking action and will be held on Thursday, March 30, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Dover Schools received a grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to host the sessions. The grant is meant to help get more people actively involved in making the schools the best they can be. During these sessions, participants can contribute ideas for ways to make schools stronger, build bridges between schools and the community, and be sure all voices are heard when important decisions are made about Dover Schools.

The goals for these sessions are:

• Gather a diverse mix of Dover residents to create a community engagement coalition
• Inform participants about the Dover Schools Community Engagement initiative
• Review progress to date
• Create a diverse cadre of advocates and allies for community engagement
• Set goals for engagement in 2017-2018
• Identify activities and resources needed to achieve those goals
• Prioritize activities for summer and fall of 2017
• Create action teams to work on summer and fall activities

The planning phase, which represents the three sessions, will take about seven hours. Once the planning phase is finished, members of the planning group will be invited to help put the plan into action.

Refreshments will be served and childcare will be provided for school-aged children.

High school students are welcome to participate or work the Saturday event as childcare assistants.

For more information, contact Kim Stephens at k.stephens@dover.k12.nh.us or 603-516-6910, or Michele Holt-Shannon at 603-862-0692.

Walk-ins are welcome but please register here to help with planning.