June 2026 Newsletter
Happy Last Week of School!
Here's what's been happening and what's coming up.
Our first community meeting on June 1 was amazing! The turnout was incredible, and the conversations were honest, generous, and full of insight. Thank you to everyone who came, brought a friend, or sent us notes afterward.
A note on the board calendar. Days after our first community meeting, the board changed its June meeting schedule. June 16 is now a study session, and the recorded business meeting is now June 23 @ 7pm. PAACT members will be attending. If you've been wanting to see the board in action and meet other PAACT families in person, this is the one to come to.
On the FOIA front, we have now submitted our fourth request. This request asks the district for its safety reporting and response records. We're also still waiting on the MiPHY survey results.
Our review of the discipline data raised questions about the scope of what's being documented and reported. We've sent follow-up questions to the district and will share more once we have answers.
Since our meeting with Board President Nicole Spencer, I've been thinking about what good board engagement looks like. The strongest boards don't just receive reports from administrators. They show up in buildings. They sit in on PTA meetings. They listen to parents and teachers directly. They stay curious about what's actually happening day to day.
That kind of visibility is what lets a board make good decisions, and it's what I'd like to see more of from ours. Our board has access to dashboards and presentations, but dashboards don't tell you what it's like to be a parent picking up a child after a hard day, or a teacher trying to hold a classroom together while behavior is overwhelming the building. Those things only become visible when board members are present and listening directly.
This is something I'll keep raising.
Over the summer we'll be exploring what a PAACT School Liaison role could look like at each building. The idea is one PAACT family at each of our 13 schools who helps connect their building with PAACT and PAACT with their building. This isn't a duplicate of the PTA, it's a different role with a different focus. I'm planning a summer gathering to work through what it looks like, and I'll be reaching out to those of you who've already mentioned interest. If you want to be part of that conversation and haven't said so yet, please let me know.
Two community meetings are planned for the summer:
In July, we'll focus on communication in our schools. I'm reading the laws and speaking with experts on FERPA and FOIA, and we'll dig into the difference between what the law actually requires and what is a choice the district is making. This is the kind of meeting I wish I'd had access to when I was first trying to figure out how schools communicate with families.
In August, we'll meet for a back-to-school session and talk about the impact we can have going into the new school year. I'll be working hard all summer to make sure next year starts off on the right foot, and I'd love for as many families as possible to come and share what they're hoping to see.
Keep an eye out for those invites.
Technology in schools is something a lot of families are thinking about right now, and a few petitions have been circulating in the district. We know not everyone is on the social media channels where these tend to spread, so we're including them here in case you haven't seen them. Take a look if you're interested.
Read and consider signing the bell-to-bell petition → here
Read and consider signing the iReady petition → here
Thank you for being part of this. Reach out anytime!
Have an amazing end of the school year!
Betsy McDaniel
