The Fox C-6 School District will hold both its Student Summit and Parent Summit from 6:15-8:30 p.m. Thursday,
March 5. The Student Summit is for students in grades five through 12 and will be held at Fox Middle School. The Parent Summit will be at Fox High School. The schools are on the same campus at 745 Jeffco Blvd. in Arnold.
“It is very exciting any time you have the opportunity to bring the community into our buildings to share what we are doing and learning,” said Superintendent Nisha Patel, who started the Parent Summit when she was Fox’s assistant superintendent in charge of secondary education.
“I’m thrilled to see how the Student Summit plays out. It aligns with one of my three goals as a new superintendent, which is to amplify our students’ voices. I can’t think of a better way to amplify student voices then to give them the opportunity to be part of an event where they learn, grow with each other and lead a lot of the sessions.”
Before the summits begin, a family dinner and vendor fair will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. at Fox High.
After dinner, parents will have the opportunity to attend three 40-minute sessions on topics of their choosing, while students will attend an introductory assembly featuring a keynote address by Patel before they attend two 40-minute sessions of their choosing in the building.
Parents and students are encouraged to register for the sessions they plan to attend on the district’s website at fox.k12.mo.us/parent_summit. Fox spokesman JP Prezzavento said parents and students are welcome to attend, even if they have not pre-registered.
Student Summit
While the district’s summit committee is organizing the event, students help shape the evening.
Antonia Elementary fourth-grade teacher Sherrie Bonastia said the district surveyed students to find out what they wanted to learn more about, and the 31 topics they may choose from appeared on 40 percent or more of the thousands of anonymous surveys.
Topics include how to deal with social and emotional issues, how to create a healthy diet and how to handle being a student-athlete. Some sessions will cover economic topics and even car maintenance.
“We initially thought (the Student Summit) was going to be a career pathway summit,” Bonastia said. “We learned kids are interested in banking. They are interested in taxes. They are interested in insurance, how to make a doctor’s appointment, all of these things around being an adult.”
Parent Summit
Those who attend the Parent Summit will have 40 topics to choose from, including some geared towards parents with kids at a specific grade level, along with sessions that cover broader school topics.
Prezzavento said the screening of the documentary “Screenagers,” which was shown last year, is expected to be popular. The documentary offers ideas to help children navigate the digital world.
He said other popular presentations will cover what parents can expect when students make the transition from elementary school to middle school or from middle school to high school and how to pay for a college education.
“The great thing about the parent summit is that we offer variety,” Prezzavento said. “We have sessions about curriculum, day-to-day instruction in the classroom and bigger-picture sessions.”