Families for Everson Elementary Parent Group Revived

The pandemic stifled the vigor of many things. One of those was the efforts of the Families for Everson Elementary (F4EE) parent group. The group existed pre-pandemic but suffocated among the restrictions of the following years. 

The group was gone. Now it is back. 

"The main purpose of the group is to bring our school families together with fun events and activities," says Rhonda Brown, the new president of F4EE. "This was always the purpose of the group, but since COVID there has been very little to no coming together for anything."

Restarting the group has been an effort of a mix of parents and Everson Elementary staff. The conversation started in July and the group kicked off with a successful welcome back to school barbecue.

"It was one of the largest turnouts I have seen at Everson Elementary in my past nine years of being a parent here," Brown says. "At the barbecue we continued to see parents and families become excited about F4EE."

The next major event should be a Harvest Festival near the end of October. 

Already Brown is on board as president, Christina Hjort as secretary, Jake Hjort as treasurer and Tiffany Ramirez as advertising coordinator. And several other parents have stepped up to help. 

Ongoing goals include movie nights, a craft fair, a jog-a-thon, restarting the Watch Dogs program that brought fathers, grandfathers and uncles into the building, Breakfast & Book days and visits to the school from outside groups.

Ramirez, parent of a first grader says having only a few parents still around from the pre-pandemic group made it important for new parents to join with teachers to help generate ideas and bolster support. 

"It is highly important to have parents and staff involved," Brown says about continuing to grow the group. "This creates a great mix of ideas and bridges the gap between home and school."

Ramirez says creating opportunities for the school's staff and families to connect while providing fun events for the entire community offers an exciting purpose of the group. "We want everyone to feel welcomed and have that feeling of they belong here," she says. "We hope to truly bridge the gap between the school and families." 

As the group gains momentum, the new school year has brought a renewed excitement. "I think just the opportunities to get back into the school as parents has really upped the excitement of things," Ramirez says. "We want everyone to come to events and feel like they are truly part of the school." 

Brown agrees. "There is definitely a newfound excitement from all of Everson Elementary staff and so many parents," she says. "Our group is growing, and the support and excitement is phenomenal. We are very excited for this year and years to come."