Welcome Parents Booth

the whole picture

Every year our school board puts on a parental involvement fair to encourage parents to learn more about our schools, our teachers, and our policies. There's all manner of legal must-do and better-not-do rules but I won't bore you with all that. 

I'd rather we just get to the finish of the week. It is sort of interesting in a how-are-we-going-to-pull-this-off kind of way. The central office, preschools, K-6 elementaries, and 7-12 high schools all have to create a booth where parents and community members can pick up information and learn about our services, special initiatives, and programs. 

I won the opportunity to head up a PFE committee. The perk: a half-day off to haul stuff to the venue and create the booth. The theme: Louisiana's Best. The plan: get a committee to help. The committee: administrators who didn't want to have to explain why there was no booth. Okay, then! We are ready to roll.

The front table for meet and greet

The first order of business was to bring everyone up to speed on all the details of the event itself. This event has become something of a keep-up-with-the-Jones kind of thing, but we weren't buying it. We decided we wanted to showcase our school and our new magnet status.

a large screen television to show
videos and pictures of our students.

That being said, we quickly came up with some ideas and pulled together a plan. On Wednesday I gathered all the red/white, panther-like, BHS stuff I could put my hands on. On Thursday I garnered some Louisiana trinkets and home decor stuff. By noon we were ready to go. Our counselor, teaming coach and I arrived at the venue and started setting up. 

The schools next door to us had gone all-out and set up banners, backdrops, pirogues, Spanish moss, bamboo, cypress knees, and a plethora of other stuff. "Too much," we said as we went about our business.

The main stage--mixing it up

We had fun and pulled together a great-looking booth. Parents and others came for visits, picked up information about our new magnet status, and learned about the Louisiana Quick Start Program. 

Decorating became easy as we had all the basic items. Once those were in place, we added Louisiana trinkets, mementos , and magnolia leaves to the mix. And, while we didn't have the biggest or the faniest booth, we are quite proud of the one we did have. 

Is it a finish in the technical sense of the word? Probably not, but it was difficult and creative. Besides, it's all I have for now!