Coupland principal establishes connections with parents
COUPLAND — Coupland School Principal Brian Booker brewed up “Coffee with the Principal” this year so students’ parents could get to know him better.
“That’s really the whole idea of ‘Coffee with the Principal’ – parent and family engagement,” Booker said. “Developing the relationships with the people who created these beautiful children. The goal is to make parents feel valued and that their input matters.”
The program had a rocky start as Booker struggled to find times and ways that made it easy for parents to attend. At the beginning of the school year, he found there wasn’t a big turnout in the morning.
After letting the idea percolate a bit, Booker then tried evenings on Facebook and that did much better.
For his next “Coffee with the Principal,” Booker will host the event on Facebook live on the Coupland School page, but he’s scheduling it before the Coupland ISD PTA meeting. Booker looks forward to meeting more parents next fall when Coffee with the Principal will start again.
“I’m hoping that having my meeting first will bring more people into the (streaming) PTA meeting afterward,” Booker said.
The topic of discussion for “Coffee with the Principal” is set before the meeting.
“I try to have an agenda with information that parents will care about that will get them interested,” Booker said.
Safety was the headline earlier in the academic year. Later, students’ performance and testing took center stage for parents in the middle of the year.
“Coffee with the Principal” also provides guardians with an opportunity to have an open question-and-answer session with the educator.
“I want the parents in this community to feel like they’re welcome, to feel like their questions matter, to feel like their opinions matter,” he said.
Booker recognizes that parents are their children’s first teachers.
“We’re just joining the fight in order to give the kids in this community the best experience they deserve,” he said.
Booker wants parents to feel comfortable coming to the school and expressing their concerns. Ideally, he would prefer to have a connection with a parent before there is a concern.
He shared that a parent had been unhappy with an issue involving her child, but after regularly attending “Coffee with the Principal,” she and Booker reached common ground.
“She got to know me, and I got to know her,” Booker said.
“Coffee with the Principal” has led to a stronger, more trusting relationship based on open communication and familiarity, he added.
“We need to work together and that’s what ‘Coffee with the Principal’ is all about. It’s a no-pressure opportunity to start building relationships between administrators and parents and family members,” he said.
While he would like greater attendance, Booker considers “Coffee with the Principal” to be a success even if he only has one parent present.
“Because that’s one parent that I’ve grown a relationship with,” he said.
