The energy in the room was electric as educators from across our Family Engagement Partnership (FEP) filled the auditorium at the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. Full of warmth, laughter, and a genuine spirit of openness, everyone was ready to start a meaningful day.
This community didn’t come together by accident. Over the school year, Flamboyan has intentionally nurtured spaces where school leaders and educators can connect, collaborate, and build trust within and across campuses to improve family engagement practices. This Community of Practice culminates that effort and is an area rooted in relationships and shared purpose.
A Gathering of Leaders and Learners
Members of FEP schools’ Family Engagement Leadership Teams (FELT) reflected on their growth, shared best practices, and inspired one another for the work ahead. Some key highlights from the day included:
- Storytelling and Reflection: Schools shared powerful stories of transformation, showcasing how their commitment to family engagement has strengthened school communities.
McKinley Middle School called out how celebrating wins, like reaching specific family engagement goals, motivates their staff. Championing each other is ingrained in their day-to-day, and families and caregivers also feel that sense of community when teachers connect with them. Another school talked about being the spreaders of joy, and that resonates with their families. Families get and expect information and feel like they get what they need.
- Peer Learning Circles: Participants exchanged ideas, strategies, and lessons learned from their journey so far, fostering collaboration and collective growth.
Brookland Middle School hosted a fair-style event called the “Brookland Blitz” that allowed educators to do community visits and touchpoints with several families in a fun and motivating setting. Another secondary school peer, Friendship Tech Prep High School, heard about this successful relationship-building event. They are now working to implement a similar event before the end of this school year to reach more families.
- Looking Ahead: As schools transition into the next school year, they explored strategies to ensure the sustainability of their family engagement initiatives.
A big trend among partner schools is to have solid administration support because leadership prioritizing family engagement cements it into the foundation of school culture. Houston Elementary School and other partners leverage their administrators to communicate expectations and support teacher-related goals like planning APTT days, etc. They also lead by example and nurture relationships with families by greeting students at parent drop-off, like Turner Elementary School.
Honoring Graduating Partner Schools
A highlight of the day, the community celebrated Brookland Middle School and Patterson Elementary School as they graduated from Flamboyan’s FEP program. While “graduated” marks the completion of the FEP program, it doesn’t mean the work is done. Instead, it signifies a shift—these schools are ready and focused on sustaining strong family engagement practices for the long term by the systems and structures they’ve put in place during the FEP that will carry the work forward.
Brookland, part of the inaugural cohort of secondary schools in the FEP, has demonstrated an intentional and strategic approach to fostering strong family connections, ensuring that students feel supported and families feel valued. Similarly, Patterson Elementary has set the bar high for authentic family engagement, consistently engaging over 80% of their families in meaningful relationship-building and academic-partnering activities.
Brookland and Patterson have not just implemented family engagement—they have embedded it into their school cultures, proving that it is integral to student success. By challenging old mindsets, building new practices, and demonstrating the impact of prioritizing relationships, they have paved the way for other schools to follow. We are honored to have played our part in their successes and look forward to cheering them on as they move forward.
Keep an eye out for more on Brookland and Patterson.
Our Impactful Partnership
The FEP is at the heart of our work with schools across DC. Through our flagship program, we support schools in embedding equitable family engagement practices into their culture, ensuring that relationships between educators and families are rooted in trust and collaboration. With Flamboyan resources, partner schools establish Family Engagement Leadership Teams (FELT) to develop and sustain meaningful practices that strengthen school communities and enhance student success.
Our partner schools deepen their commitment to Family Engagement by:
- Building authentic relationships between educators and families
- Creating welcoming and inclusive school environments
- Engaging families as true partners in student learning
- Developing sustainable strategies to ensure family engagement remains a cornerstone of their school culture
Continuing the Journey
As we champion the progress made this year, we recognize that the work of family engagement is ongoing. This Community of Practice may be the last of this school year—but it served as a launching pad for continued partnership, innovation, and a commitment to creating school environments where every family is valued, heard, and engaged.
We’re also excited to welcome nine new partner schools into the FEP. Educators from each school attended the Community of Practice to hear from their peers who have already spent time in the partnership and ask questions. We look forward to sharing this journey with them, and we’ll also be sharing more about them soon!