Testimonials
About New Jersey
United Community Meetings
Criteria for Co-Hosting a Community
Meeting with New Jersey United
Map of Community Meeting Locations
Toolkit for Hosting a Community Meeting
on Your Own
Testimonials
"Our parents work long and hard hours. This meeting
gave them answers to their questions without having to
make many calls to different agencies."
-
Cindy Pagano, Heywood Avenue School, Orange
"On a cold winter evening we filled our 'cafetorium'
with people standing room only! Close to two hundred people
were in our audience. Thank you for providing the opportunity
to showcase our effective schools and to share our literacy
program with the Perth Amboy community."
-
Lillian Augustine, Perth
Amboy Public Schools"
The
philosophy behind New Jersey United for Higher School Standards
is exceptional. The community meeting program which allows
districts' voices to be heard, concerns expressed and participants
to feel a sense of validation is invaluable."
-
Maryann Galassetti,
Highlands Elementary School
"Thank you for the excellent meeting. The success
of the evening was evident in the enthusiasm of the parents
who attended and the way your program answered questions
to their satisfaction."
-
Robert J. Paladino, Cliffside
Park Public Schools
About New Jersey United Community
Meetings
New Jersey United would like to invite you to join us in co-hosting a meeting
in your school district. By co-hosting a community meeting, your district will
be able to have, at no cost, an open discussion with parents, teachers, community
residents, and other education stakeholders on how we educate our children. New
Jersey United's meetings also provide co-hosts with opportunities for increased
positive exposure within their communities.
To support community meetings we
provide free services such as: event planning and support, audio visual services,
invitation creation and printing, community bulletin/poster creation and
printing, on-site refreshments, and media and public relations
support.
To date, New Jersey United has conducted 28 meetings
with more than 2,500 participants in the following New
Jersey communities: Millburn, Sewell, Montclair, Morristown,
Piscataway, Red Bank, Hammonton, Bordentown, Pleasantville,
Union City, Trenton, Englewood, Orange, Newark, Highlands,
Perth Amboy, Dunellen, Plainfield, Buena, Belleville, Cliffside
Park, Bound Brook, Hopatcong, Millville, Upper Pittsgrove,
Lindenwold, North Bergen, and Wildwood.
Criteria for Co-Hosting a
Community Meeting with New Jersey United
Potential community meetings must meet one of the following
criteria:
- Takes place as a part of an overall communication strategy
for engaging stakeholders in a serious dialogue about standards
and assessments.
- Serves to introduce community engagement strategies to
districts interested in implementing them in their community.
- Fulfills a need for a mediated discussion by an objective
third party on standards and/or assessments.
- Provides an introduction to the tools for getting started
in learning about standards and assessments.
Map of Community Meeting
Locations
Toolkit for Hosting a Community
Meeting on Your Own
If you are not able to co-host a meeting with New Jersey
United, here are some tips for planning a successful community
meeting on your own:
- Give parents plenty of advance notice of the meeting.
Distribute fliers with information on the meeting to all
students, or mail them home. Make sure that the announcement
is translated into any applicable language(s). Click
here to view a sample New Jersey United flier in English, or
here for Spanish.
- Post fliers/posters in strategic locations such as schools,
neighborhood centers, churches, supermarkets, and libraries.
Click here for a sample poster.
- Include information on the upcoming meeting in the school/parent
newsletter and Web site.
- Organize on-site child care. Members of the high school
honor society are good volunteers for this type of project.
The students can watch an educational film together or
provide help with homework.
- Provide a school bus or shuttle for parents. Many communities
that rely on public transportation may find this increases
attendance, particularly in inclement weather.
- Have a translator on-hand so that limited-English speaking
parents and residents can communicate.
- Let the media know about your event. Create a media
advisory with the who, what, where, and when information
on the event and send it to your local newspapers and television
stations. Click here for a sample media advisory. After
the meeting, send a press release out with information
on the results of the meeting. Click here for a sample
press release.
- Provide written information on the meeting topic(s)
for parents to use as an ongoing resource. New Jersey United
has English and Spanish fact sheets on standards, assessments,
and the No Child Left Behind Act, among others. Click
here to view our fact sheets in a printable PDF format.
- Host the meeting in a school cafeteria, library, or
community room. These rooms usually have enough seating
for a large gathering, while providing a relaxed and comfortable
atmosphere for face-to-face communication. Click
here to
view some photos of past New Jersey United community meetings.
- Supply refreshments or provide entertainment prior to
the meeting to encourage attendance.
- After the meeting, ask parents to fill out a short evaluation
form. Use the feedback to improve future community meetings.
Click here to view a New Jersey United meeting evaluation
form.
Click here to find information
on New Jersey United’s upcoming community meetings. |
