GREENBRIER EASTSIDE ELEMENTARY Priceless advice

RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Greenbrier Eastside Elementary School is the test site for a preschool parent center that could spread across the nation.

“We hope to involve more parents in their child’s education at an early age so they will be more involved in the student’s education

throughout their time in school,” said Tammy Westerman, coordinator of the Parental Perks preschool parent center, which held its open house Oct. 23. “Hopefully, the parent center will help familiarize them with their school and make them feel welcome - a place were parents can get together and discuss parenting and education issues in a morerelaxed, less stressful environment.” Parental Perks offers free coffee and snacks, free loan and educational materials and comfy couches where parents can trade tips with each other

or peruse the latest parenting magazines.

HIPPY coordinator Carie Campbell said she wants parents to get used to being at their children’s school and develop a network of peers with whom they can trade ideas.

“We want to open it up to all preschoolers in the district so parents can

come check out materials, take them home, bring them back - kind of like

a lending library,” Campbell said. “We will test how well those students

do when they start school and how much their parents continue to be

involved in their child’s education.”Parental Perks is an addition to the other educational tools offered by Faulkner County HIPPY - Home Instruction for Parents and Preschool Youngsters - which is based at Eastside and serves five districts in the

county. HIPPY is a 30-week program that promotes school readiness

among 3- and 4-year-olds.

There are HIPPY programs across the nation.

There are eight home-based educators who work through the Faulkner County HIPPY program. Parents can check out educational materials to use at home with their preschoolers, and the home-based educators make house calls to help parents develop the education and discipline skills they can use to prepare their children for kindergarten.

If it works, the Parental Perks model could spread to other HIPPY programs, Campbell said. Getting the Parental Perks building has been a two-year process. Westerman hopes its lending library of educational games, activity packs and resources for parents will expand in the future.

Meetings on specific topics will be hosted at Parental Perks in addition to the monthly HIPPY meetings already held at the school. “For example, the first meeting in a couple of weeks will be on kindergarten preparedness,” Campbell said. “That’s probably the No. 1 question we get all the time: ‘What does my child need to know to be ready for kindergarten?’ We will have kindergarten teachers on hand at that meeting to say, ‘This and this, they’ll need to know.’”

Campbell and Westerman are already excited to see Parental Perks working as it was intended. They cited a parent who lives in a rural area who dropped by.

“She said, ‘Oh, somebody to talk to about these things,’ like meeting other parents,” Campbell said. “That’s exactly what we’re looking for.”

HIPPY came to Arkansas in 1986. The Faulkner County HIPPY Program started in 2005, serving Greenbrier, Conway and Mount Vernon-Enola school districts.

Vilonia and Guy-Perkinsschool districts were later added.

The Faulkner County program is serving 199 students this year.

Most of its funding comes through the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education.

This year, AmeriCorps is providing funding for 10 of the participating children.

The Parental Perks building and materials were funded by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education.

The Parental Perks hoursare 8-10 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, so parents with older children can stop by around drop-off and pickup times.

The regular HIPPY program is still accepting participants.

More information is available by calling (501) 679-1011.

- awidner@ arkansasonline.com

River Valley Ozark, Pages 161 on 11/01/2009

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