SOUTH
Parents Make the Grade
"We think the more educated and savvy the parents are, the
more exposure to educational opportunities the child will have,"
explains Dr. Breedlove.
At Meridian, parental involvement in the educational process is
more than a fleeting wish. The school has a Parent Center, which
aims to help parents improve their own education. Parents can
go to school at the same time as their student. While the student
is in his or her classroom, the parents attend the Parent Center,
where they can engage in a variety of classes such as English as a
Second Language (ESL), Spanish literacy, General Educational
Development (GED), and computer courses. As the parents
become more involved in improving their own education they are
likely to become more involved in their child's.
Parents are also an integral part of the discipline plan at the school.
The whole discipline approach doesn't begin when misconduct
occurs; it starts by teaching character development and encouraging
positive classroom behavior. If a student does go too far, the school
schedules a meeting with the parents.
"We pride ourselves on being partners with the parents to make
sure behavior is addressed at school and we get to the root of the
problem," says Dr. Breedlove. "We try to also teach parents about
other ways to handle problems at school."
The Future of Meridian
"Our goal is to continue to create a world-class school of dedicated
teachers, meeting all the standards, and creating a larger Parent
Center to service them, so they can support the student," says Dr.
Breedlove. Looking down the road, Dr. Breedlove hopes that the
school will be in a new building, since they have outgrown their
current one.
While the objective of Meridian Public Charter School will
continue to be one that places an emphasis on helping children
achieve high levels of reading and mathematics, they are also
building the foundation for future and lifetime learning. Brick
by brick, they use the tools they have to help guide these students
to achieve more, believe in themselves, and have a strong moral
character.
44 | CHARTER SCHOOLS TODAY SPRING 2009

Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Page 45Page 46Page 47Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52Page 53Page 54Page 55Page 56Page 57Page 58Page 59Page 60Page 61Page 62Page 63Page 64Page 65Page 66Page 67Page 68Page 69Page 70Page 71Page 72Page 73Page 74Page 75Page 76Page 77Page 78Page 79Page 80Page 81Page 82Page 83Page 84Page 85Page 86Page 87Page 88Page 89Page 90Page 91Page 92Page 93Page 94Page 95Page 96Page 97Page 98Page 99Page 100Page 101Page 102Page 103Page 104Page 105Page 106Page 107Page 108Page 109Page 110Page 111Page 112Page 113Page 114Page 115Page 116 Produced by PageSuite