Awareness campaign begins fourth year

LITTLE ROCK — To encourage ongoing communication throughout the school year, the Arkansas Department of Education and State Board of Education launched the 2017-18 “My Child/My Student” public awareness campaign.

The campaign, in its fourth year, encourages positive, productive and ongoing communication between parents and teachers. The campaign provides questions, tips and resources that will help parents and teachers begin those discussions and build a strong partnership.

A college and career readiness topic and student safety topic have been identified for each month between August and May. The August topics are setting goals, college and career, and school bus safety.

The college and career readiness topics and student safety topics, respectively, each month will be Reading Initiative for Student Excellence Arkansas and mental health awareness in September, parent-community engagement and Red Ribbon Week in October, volunteering and cuber and social media security in November, building character and the hazards of texting and driver in December, preparing for the future and child abduction and human trafficking in January, digital learning and health awareness in February, testing and Severe Weather Awareness Week in March, internships and job shadowing and National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, and keep learning and summer safe habits in May.

A ready-to-print newsletter in English and Spanish will be posted on the ADE website each month, along with links to articles, websites, blogs, activities and more. Parents are encouraged to learn more about the topics and use the resources as home. Teachers are encouraged to share the newsletter and use the additional resources in their lesson planning and classroom activities.