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New liaison officer aims to bring community resources back to school |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 27 April 2006 |
DORIS Woeffling is the new Community Liaison officer at Maleny State School.
| Doris Woeffling is establishing a Parent Action Group to get mums and dads to contribute to a richer school life.
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Her aim is to develop networks to utilize the resources of the wider community to benefit the children. Her first major project will be to establish a Parent Action Group. Under this initiative Mums and Dads will be encouraged back to school to contribute to a richer school life. They?ll even have their own resource room.
Doris is calling for nominations for the group. Maleny State School is one of only a few schools on the Sunshine Coast that has a PAG. Another very successful PAG has been running at Kuluin State School for the past nine years.
?The role of the Parent Action Group is to be a representative forum of parents from each classroom,?? Doris said. ?They will initiate activities at the school and they will provide feedback to the P&C. ?Each classroom will have at least one or two parents who will work with me. I?d be coordinating with them on a regular basis.
?The Parent Action Group will provide a real structure and a forum where people can be actively involved in their class and their school and have their say.
?The Parent Action Group would then also support our school initiatives. I might suggest an initiative and I would ask the group to support us in that initiative. ?The Parent Action Group would also provide ongoing skills development and access to training for parents.?
The school is establishing a parent volunteer room which is a designated space for the Parent Action Group. ? And at this stage we are also asking for creative input. We are asking people to share their views and their creative ideas.?
Doris is aware of the difficulties that can arise when you introduce passionate parents into the school environment but she has the background to ensure things run smoothly.
She is a trained social worker with several years experience working closely with communities and youth. ?I used to coordinate a youth organisation in Brisbane. I also used to be involved in establishing policy and procedure manuals, community education and program development.
?Part of the job will involve the development of appropriate procedures so people are aware of the communication channels, the boundaries and the expectations.
?Difficulties may arise when there are no clear and defined communication processes. The advantages of empowering parents in this way far outweigh any perceived disadvantages.?
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Range News 2005 - ON 
