From Site Coordinator Dakari Taylor-Watson at Brookland Middle School:

This school year has been anything but normal. Due to the pandemic, DCPS has had to rethink how schools communicate with families and support them. In addition, many families have rethought the idea of returning to an in-person learning environment and school because of the perceived risk of COVID-19. As a school, we understand the importance of students being at school physically because of the social, emotional, and psychological development that is cultivated. We had a lot of work to do to support families, make them feel more comfortable about returning, and enrolling students for the upcoming year.

As a member of the enrollment team, I helped create a plan that addressed some of the families’ social and emotional needs along with enrolling their students for the 2021 school year. We were worried about losing many of our students to other educational institutions. My outreach efforts included phone calls, Framily Friday feeder school events, parent engagement meetings, organizing a Day in the Life event for prospective students, and even registering students through the DCPS application. I spoke with and recruited over 75 prospective families to Brookland Middle School.