Family & Community

Your Family is Important to Deep River

Research has shown that if family and community are highly involved with the school experience, then the students are more likely to have higher achievement, improved behavior, and increased support (This We Believe, p. 40). So at Deep River Middle School we promote many programs and activities to encourage our families to get involved with your child's learning. These include:

Curriculum Nights that teach and offer info to parents on subject content
Family Learning Center: dedicated space on school campus that parents can come & obtain info, have materials translated, meet other parents
Every teacher maintains communication with parents through avenues such as webpages, blogs, smartphone apps, or newsletters
Parent-Teacher Conferences every 9 weeks
Volunteer Programs like school beautification, tutoring, Booster Clubs, PTA, fundraisers, Teacher Appreciation
Student-led conferences in which students present to parents what they’ve been doing in class

We have also worked to build a strong partnership with Deep River's local businesses. Here are some ways they have gotten involved:

Teachers & businesses work together to create apprenticeships, shadow studies, service-learning projects, and after-school programs that use our community as a learning site.
Professional presentations in classes to enhance learning
Allow employee time-off to attend conferences & programs
Provide support & sponsorship to student achievement initiatives

In addition, we have a Community Liaison Dr. Jordan who works right here on campus and does amazing work in promoting our community involvement:

Coordinates festivals and Block Parties where the community is invited to come on campus, celebrate one another, and enjoy our beautiful surroundings.
Coordinates a Diversity Fair, a one-day event that promotes knowledge, respect, and inclusion of diverse backgrounds.

The English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher helps connect with diverse families:

ESL teacher to provides assistance to the students and parents of those students whose first language is not English.
The ESL teacher will be available for school conferences and functions to assist on any language issues that might arise.

We feel very privileged to have so many diverse families be apart of DRMS. Our philosophy is that this diversity can be utilized to enhance student learning. We recognize the “funds of knowledge” that a student experiences. They do not just learn between the hours of 8am-3pm, they are learning and developing 24/7 and what they learn at home and in their communities is just as important. In addition, we work diligently to make sure our families feel connected with the school and that their children are safe from bullying and discrimination. We believe the first defense against bullying is knowledge, so therefore we invite families to come into the classroom and teach students about their culture. Perhaps bring a traditional dish or artifacts/historical items to show-and-tell. Integrating this into our curriculum with help expose our students to diverse cultures and prepare them to function in a diverse society.