- Tell families you will be "looking for them"
the day/nightof the event.

- Translate whenever possible.

- When sending a notice of an event home
with a student;  Have a "tear off" bottom
portion that the parent signs saying they
recieved it.  Have that "tear off" portion
get returned by the student for a raffle prize.

- Create a phone tree .  4-5 families per
person.

- Notify families in writing that you will use
a phone tree.

- Have parents sign a permission slip
to allow the use of photos of their
child for educational purposes
regarding your school.

- Be careful what you promise. 
Someone will remember.

- When information is requested
that you don't have...
write it down, get their number,
commit to getting them the answer .

- When parents are anxious about something that
has not yet been decided, such as start times, 
facilities, afterschool programs, types of interventions,
it is important to share at least:
     - How it may get decided
     - What the priority considerations will be
     - A possible timeline
     - Examples of how it has been dealt with in the past
     - What you hope or expect will be true

- HELP YOUR FAMILIES COME TO TERMS WITH 
THE AMBIGUITY OF CHANGE.  This will be your
window of permission to be allowed to gestate
what otherwise typically is expected to be a finished 
product.  If families are led to believe that what is
unknown can and or should be known, simply
because it would be nice or "logical" or because
it would "make sense", that would ignore the 
reality that this work is an effort to shift a paradigm
and that often that is not a nice, clean process.
Most of the time it is very, very messy.   

.