Learn more and register: Jumpstart Your Plan for Parent Partnership
Back-to-school night sets the tone for the entire year, yet it is often planned in the rush of staff development and the first week of classes. In this solo episode, Dr. Jaime Madison Vasquez gives Catholic school leaders three verbs for shaping a beginning-of-year parent night: envision, encourage, and invite. Each one reframes the evening around families as the first educators of their children and draws them into the shared mission of the school.
What You’ll Learn:
Why vision language centered on the graduate—rather than a recited mission statement—engages parents in the shared goal for their children
How to spotlight parents as the primary educators of their children instead of opening with logistics and control
Ways to keep the year’s vision or theme visible through calendar reminders, bulletin boards, conference invitations, and annual-fund letters
How the Latin root of “family,” famulus, reframes the school community as a household rooted in mutual service
Practical cues—tone, stories, and repeated invitations—that make families feel genuinely welcomed rather than buried in logistics
Chapters:
00:00: Welcome and the Jumpstart Your Plan for Parent Partnership workshop
02:25: Verb one—envision: casting a shared vision for students
04:47: Making the vision tangible throughout the year
07:06: Verb two—encourage: parents as primary educators
09:34: Verb three—invite: welcoming families into the community
11:50: The tone of invitation and a recap of the three verbs
14:09: Applying the verbs beyond the talk, and closing
Learn more and register: Jumpstart Your Plan for Parent Partnership
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God bless!
Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios
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