Editorial: Parents can get involved

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Being involved in your child’s education doesn’t mean spending hours volunteering in the classroom or chaperoning every field trip. Those things are great, but they’re a bonus. There is real value in much smaller actions.

That was the point of special events held Tuesday night in Rosemount, Apple Valley and Eagan. The gatherings, each of which focused on a group of District 196 elementary schools, was meant to give parents a little extra nudge toward taking an active role in their child’s learning process, and to show them how easy taking that step can be.

Being involved can mean finding a spot in the house for a student to read or do homework. It can mean asking questions while making dinner, or sitting down to read a book. It can mean just knowing the right questions to ask during parent-teacher conferences.

The event at the Rosemount Community Center targeted families from Rosemount, Shannon Park, Red Pine and Parkview elementary schools as well as Diamond Path School of International Studies. Families came and went during the two-hour event and everyone who was there appeared to be having a good time.

That is good news. There’s no shortage of evidence to suggest that students do better in school if their parents take an active interest in what they are doing.

That is a good first step. If Tuesday’s event, paid for with a Dakota County grant, provides the nudge RES principal Tom Idstrom says some families need, then it was well worth the effort.

Tags: opinion, rosemount, editorials