Oct. 3, 2019 -- Schools across CHUH participated in Cuyahoga County’s 14th annual Fathers’ Walk on September 19, 2019. The event is designed to promote the engagement of fathers and father figures in their children’s educational experience and is sponsored by the Healthy Fathering Collaborative of Greater Cleveland.
Oxford Elementary has worked over the past few years to make this event a “thing” that their students are eager and excited to participate in, and it seems to be working! There were over sixty fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and neighbors in attendance for this year’s Fathers’ Walk.
“The kids were very excited,” said school counselor Kimberly Woods, who spearheaded the initiative. “They wanted to spend even more time with their fathers.”
Once the students went to class, the men were invited inside to listen to guest speaker Sheldon Glave, past PTA President at Oxford, who spoke about the importance of fathers participating in their children’s education. Driven by his own goal of being deeply connected to his children and their community, Glave’s message “was that the role of the father is as important as the role of the mother. And that being a dad in the PTA isn't as hard as they might assume.”
Ms. Woods, who captured participants’ contact information as they arrived, plans to reach out and invite the men back to future school events, thus building on the success of this one.
