LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Prichard Committee awarded Family Friendly Certificates to 54 schools across Kentucky in a Monday presentation at the state capitol. One of these certificates went to Picadome Elementary School in Lexington.
At the beginning of the year, teachers at Picadome Elementary sent a Google Form to parents. This project became known as the Hopes and Dreams Letter, and it turned into a conversation between teachers and parents centered around their kids.
Molly Littlefield-Lane sat beside her dad Michael Littlefield and read the questions off of their letter.
“What are your hopes and dreams for your child,?" read Molly. “What do you want their future to look like?”
“I want Molly to be independent,” said Michael, reading the answer. “To have discipline required to choose her own path without relying on others for her material needs.”
“It really impacted the way that I saw my kids, and also the way that I saw my families,” said Molly’s teacher, Kaylie Zander. “[The parents] were very open with the things that they shared. It allowed us to jump in a little deeper and really have some raw conversations that we don’t always get to have with families.”
The Hopes and Dreams Letter Exercise is just one of the reasons that Picadome Elementary School received a Family Friendly Certification from the Prichard Committee.
“The Hopes and Dreams letter is a great example of a school really honoring the role of a parent,” said Brigitte Blom, president of the Prichard Committee. “Engaging a parent in the hopes and dreams that they have for their young person and then supporting parents and children to achieve those dreams.”
Picadome was one of 54 schools recognized as family friendly, joining five other schools from Fayette County.
“At the heart of it all is a young person, their family, and our schools,” Blom added. “The Family Friendly Certification elevates the all-important relationship there that gets the next generation of Kentuckians off to the strongest start possible”
While each school has its own techniques, the Hopes and Dreams Letter gives teachers and families the chance to see their students grow throughout the year.
“It just helped kind of bridge that relationship between myself, Molly, and her parents, and kind of bring them into the things that I’m doing with her in the classroom,” said Zander. “Getting to have those hard conversations and getting to have them open up to us really kind of helped me get a better idea for who my students were and how I can best serve them and how I can help them and their family accomplish the goals they shared with me.”
“I guess for me it’s just knowing that we have a goal to set and there’s always something that we can kind of check on to make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to do,” Michael added.
You can find the list of the most recent Family Friendly Certified schools here.
