By Vickie Baldwin, Director of Institutional Advancement
Eastside Prep’s Head of School, Sam Uzwack, often refers to the school’s relationship with parents/guardians as a partnership and a pivotal one in shaping the collaborative and supportive educational environment available at EPS. At the heart of that relationship is open communication, with information flowing freely to parents/guardians about everything from students’ daily activities to the changing academic landscape. Nothing can replace invaluable face-to-face interactions, which remain a priority met through large social events such as Fall Harvest and smaller grade-level experiences such as Head’s Table meetings and Association of Parents and Guardians-sponsored socials. The focus now extends to bridging the gap between those in-person opportunities through written communication. In my thirteen years at EPS, technology has revolutionized communication, offering us myriad innovative platforms to connect with parents.
Some tools have remained constant. Although our Weekly News has changed platforms over the years, it remains our main communication effort between school and families. We’ve also added new platforms as they have become available. BrightArrow, for instance, was added in 2013 for emergency notifications, such as school closures due to weather events. This year we’ve added the podcast Insightful Questions as an opportunity to introduce Sam to the community in a brand-new format. And the Association of Parents and Guardians (APG) continues to refine their communication efforts as well, in order to reach our community through multiple avenues.
Both avenues are explored on the following page.
Listening to Learn: The EPS Podcast Experience
By Cristina Hadden, Director of Administrative Services
As we navigate the evolving communication landscape, we strive for innovative means to relay new information. Last fall, we needed a fresh approach to introduce Sam Uzwack in his new role as the Head of School. The idea of recording podcast-style emerged in our search for an engaging medium to convey our message.
Podcasts provide an interactive way of relaying information. Each episode we plan involves a conversation between Sam and somebody else. We hope this approach helps build a personal connection with the school head. Through these dialogues, listeners will gain insight into Sam’s personality, the EPS culture, and what we value at EPS.
Podcasts also offer the convenience of learning on the go. We publish once a month, and episodes are available through various platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Subscribers can listen to the recordings anytime and anywhere.
The podcast’s significance also lies in its dynamic approach to addressing diverse topics each month. This deliberate thematic exploration ensures Sam can share insights on matters directly relevant to the school and the broader community. We call our podcast Insightful Questions as we aim to ask thought-provoking questions in each episode. In our inaugural year (season 1), we focus on Sam’s new role as Eastside Prep’s Head of School, exploring his vision for the school and his EPS history. Next year (season 2), we will continue with a monthly podcast covering various topics, from educational trends to professional development. We will discuss the world of education through the lens of Eastside Prep. We hope to collaborate with more people as we invite guests from different segments of EPS and the education field.
Finally, like any other project at EPS, this podcast endeavor is also a result of collaboration. We have many people to thank, including Alek Edmonds for providing the technical expertise in recording and editing, Vickie Baldwin for content refinement, Derek Clarke for his experience in web and social media publication, and our student Oliver Crosby for the original music!
Join us on this exciting journey by subscribing to Insightful Questions or suggesting a topic for discussion. Let’s build a community!
Promoting Community Through Communication: The EPS Association of Parents and Guardians
By Katharine Pike, APG President
The Mission of the Eastside Prep Association of Parents and Guardians (APG) is to promote community, hospitality, and volunteerism, and facilitate and enhance the relationship and communication between our community of families and the school. For years, the APG has sent out community-wide emails regarding opportunities that impact everyone, i.e., volunteer requests, events such as Fall Harvest, or faculty/staff appreciation efforts. In addition to those community-wide efforts, APG Class Representatives—the two to three per grade parent/ guardian volunteers—play a critical role in fostering transparent communication with families. This includes real-time moderation of grade-level WhatsApp text groups. The first grade-level WhatsApp group was formed in 2017, but now each class uses this communication tool. Parents and guardians feel empowered to ask questions and elevate concerns, both big and small, in this forum. In the spirit of “if one person has a question, ten others may,” these chats serve to both educate and inform our families proactively about important things day-to-day.
Class Reps also aggregate and reinforce key messages along with a monthly list of events in email form in case families prefer that mode of communication. “The monthly email is super helpful in looking at what is coming up ahead for my kids’ grades in one brief snapshot. It also makes it easy to go back and reference the various dates and activities,” says Michelle Peyree, EPS parent and member of the APG Faculty/Staff Appreciation team.
The goal of each of our communication efforts is not just to disseminate information, but to cultivate a sense of partnership and trust in the educational journey of our students. We will continue to refine our current efforts and seek the best possible new tools for communication. And we welcome your suggestions and feedback! Feel free to reach out to any of the authors of this article with ideas on how we might engage our community more effectively.