Last year, Reagan Berry was tasked to build a partnership with the community she serves daily as the principal at Wylie High School. From that blossomed It Takes a Pack – a special event that gives parents and schools an opportunity to focus as one on the challenges faced by our youth today.
On June 24-27, she and Rick Sanders, the LCDC for the district, attended the Texas School Safety Center Conference to share at the state-level about It Takes a Pack (ITAP). Districts from all over Texas attended their sessions at the conference that had around 2,000 attendees, according to Berry.
WHS hosted their first ITAP event last February. The response from parents was positive; so positive Berry plans to host the event bi-annually with the fall one slated for Oct. 23. Additionally, she plans to host engagement group sessions intermittently throughout the year to continue providing education and tools to parents.
Berry said other districts welcomed the opportunity to learn from Wylie’s first-year experience with hosting an event such as this – an event that is not commonplace across the state.
“Our goal was to share why we believe there is a need for an event like this, provide our resources and share the feedback we received,” she said.
Berry said she feels very strongly about public education and repairing any gaps that keep students and their families from having the best educational experience possible.
“Public education has been so good to me and my family. It’s a passion of mine to bridge the gap between untruths [about public education] and parents as well as building partnerships between us.”
Be sure to mark your calendar for ITAP on Oct. 23. This event is open to any family in Abilene who has school-aged children.
By Kristen Johnson
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