In partnership with state and community partners, PIC offers several family leadership trainings annually.
The PIC Family Leadership Academy (FLA) helps cultivate parent and caregiver leadership skills. The Family Leadership Academy uses the structured curriculum Parents as Collaborative Leaders developed at the University of Vermont and the Minnesota PACER Center.
Academy participants discover how education and politics merge and learn how effective communication skills can help them become better advocates. By understanding how to work with school leaders, politicians, and other parents, FLA participants build essential skills for council, board, and committee membership where decision-making often takes place. FLA graduates have gone on to become constructive partners for positive change at the local, state, and national level!
For parents and caregivers who have completed all of the foundation workshops in the Family Leadership Academy, PIC offers the Parent’s as Agents of Change, and Serving on Groups Trainings. These workshops are designed to provide advanced topics that further develop the fundamentals introduced during the Family Leadership Academy.
Registration for the Family Leadership Academy is available either by phone or via the PIC event registration form. Please visit the PIC Events page to see if the Family Leadership Academy will be hosted soon. If you do not see it on the calendar, please call PIC at (302) 999-7394 or use the Contact Us form so we may alert you when the next Family Leadership Academy is scheduled.
This initiative funded in part, by the Delaware Department of Education and facilitated by Parent Information Center of Delaware will provide comprehensive training for parents and stakeholders in special education and advocacy. The program is designed to train parents with lived experience to become leaders by helping other families secure more effective services supports, and to promote systems change children and families through creating agreement among families, professionals, and other system stakeholders. Graduates of the program will serve as trained parent advocates avaialble to provide peer support to families statewide
Nine year old disabled boy in wheelchair laughing with teen sister in kitchen
According to Title 14 Education, Delaware Administrative Code §25 Parent Councils:
25.1 Each school district and charter school enrolling a child with a disability shall, on an annual basis, contact the parents of each child to attempt to facilitate the creation and maintenance of a Parent Council for the parents of students with disabilities.
25.2 Parent Councils will advocate generally for students with disabilities and provide individualized support with individual parents and children.
25.3 Each school district and charter school shall coordinate with existing parent groups and other information and support groups to facilitate creation, maintenance, and effectiveness of the Parent Councils.
The role of Parent Councils is to:
1) act as a conduit of information for parents;
2) provide a place to share experiences; and
3) to provide a platform to advocate for children with disabilities
Parent Councils offer the opportunity for families to become more informed and activate participants in their child’s education
Families and Educators can work in partnership to improve school programs, practices for students with disabilities
Parent Information Center of Delaware, in partnership with Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens (GACEC) and Delaware Department of Education offers trainings specifically tailored for parent councils. Trainings include but are not limited to:
Parent Council one-pager (English)
Parent Council One-Pager (Spanish)
To learn more about parent councils, or for technical assistance & training on any of the above topics, contact Meedra Surratte parentcouncilinfo@picofdel.org
Find your district’s parent council HERE!
The Parent Information Center of Delaware is committed to providing access to our web pages for individuals with disabilities. The content of this site has been tested for usability and accessibility using a combination of standards-based, automated procedures and accepted heuristic methods. We make every effort to comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Compliance is an ongoing process and we encourage notification when information on our website is inaccessible. If for any reason you are having difficulty accessing any of our resources please call us at (302) 999-7394 or email us at picofdel@picofdel.org.