Clermont PTA: A Journey to Excellence

Clermont Elementary School PTA’s School of Excellence Celebration was a perfect example of a party at an elementary school—filled with the joyful laughter of children and based on values that bring communities together. I had the pleasure of attending the event, and it was wonderful to see firsthand exactly why they deserved to be designated a 2019-2021 National PTA School of Excellence.

The National PTA School of Excellence designation is awarded to PTAs that commit to and prove success in building effective family-school partnerships at their school. Clermont Elementary School PTA is one of just 326 PTAs nationwide to earn the two-year 2019-2021 National PTA School of Excellence designation—and one of only 19 PTAs to earn the designation in the state of Virginia!

How does the School of Excellence program work?

PTAs make a commitment by enrolling in the program and worked throughout the school year last year to make gains.

They start by surveying their school community members and, with their feedback, work for months to create and implement an action plan for improved programs, policies and procedures.

At the end of the school year, they survey their stakeholders again to see if they made progress and then provide a final application with a narrative outlining what they did and why you all deserve to be recognized.

So, what did Clermont Elementary School PTA to earn the designation?

To engage and inform the “Clermont community,” Clermont Elementary School PTA started using a variety of new-to-them methods—Facebook, Twitter and weekly PTA newsletters—to better communicate with families. Two-way communication, including inviting their families to participate in meetings, was also used to ensure that the parent voice was active in discussions with district administrators in the selection of and priorities for their new principal. All of that hard work certainly paid off. In their end-of-year survey, Clermont Elementary School PTA showed a 20% improvement in Communicating Effectively!

But that’s not all! The PTA also wanted to improve the sense of community and family-school partnership at Clermont Elementary. So, they hosted a Veteran’s Day program in collaboration with school board members, state delegates and community leaders. Active military and veterans visited classrooms and set up stations for students to visit with the goal to bring families closer together, share stories about what it is like to serve in the military and show just how many veterans there are in their community.

Are you ready to start your journey to excellence? You can learn more about the School of Excellence program by visiting PTA.org/Excellence and you can enroll starting May 1.

Amy Weinberg is a Manager of Programs & Partnerships for National PTA.