It’s the time of year when students and teachers have settled into the school year, the new boxes of crayons are all broken and dumped into plastic tubs, and students are starting to wear jackets to school. The rhythm of life in the PK-12 world is that there are seasons of professional learning that work around the traditional school calendar and the “easiest” times for educators to be away from school. Late September and October are common fall professional learning times. 

We were invited to facilitate a workshop at the Kern County (CA) Equity Symposium, held September 26-27, in Bakersfield. The theme of this event was “Embrace,” and the organizers from the Kern County Superintendent’s Office took that theme seriously. They welcomed attendees with cheers in the parking lot, highlighted beautiful student and community performances, and scheduled thoughtful sessions that supported and challenged educators to deepen their commitment to efforts for educational equity for all students.  

PTHV Co-Founder Yesenia Ramirez and I presented a workshop on the importance of relational trust, and how PTHV’s model of home visits builds and amplifies trust between educators and families for the benefit of children. We heard powerful testimonies from educators in the session and left feeling inspired by the day.  

It was powerful to see how the organizers honored their educator colleagues and created a space where educators could build relationships around educational equity work. We also heard a keynote address from Dr. Victor Rios, whose personal story and professional work demonstrate the importance of relationships to student success.  

Our team then headed to the National Family Engagement Summit in Kansas City, MO. This hybrid convening was held October 7-11. PTHV national trainers Don Diehl and April Ybarra and I presented a workshop introducing Parent Teacher Home Visits, highlighting our training approach, and sharing personal stories of the impact of relational home visits.

While we always hope that conference presentations encourage schools and districts to adopt the PTHV model of home visits and work with us for training, that’s not the reason we present. When we share our history and our five core practices, we invite educators to consider how applying these principles to their efforts to engage families might improve their relationships. It’s always a pleasure to feel the energy in the room as educators consider new ways to share power, center hopes and dreams, and collaborate with families and colleagues through relational trust. We were also so pleased to hear Dr. Steven Constantino shout out PTHV during a plenary session and to see many colleagues from our PTHV national network at the convening.  

As always, we learned as much as, or more than we shared with our colleagues at both these sessions. We are grateful to the organizers from Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE), and Successful Innovations for hosting us and for creating such enriching and dynamic learning events.