SACAC Session C.6 Helicopter Parents in a Public School

1. HELICOPTER
PARENTS IN A
PUBLIC SCHOOL?
You Bet!

3. Who are we?
Benjamin Franklin High School
New Orleans, LA
■ 900 Students - 3 Counselors – 1 Freshman Counselor, 2 others split grades 10 – 12
■ 1 full time social worker
■ Dedicated freshman counselor because we have a history of high attrition in the freshman year –
used to be 20% loss in the freshman class. Now between 14 – 16%
■ All of the counselors work with students with regard to academic preparation or lack thereof –
robust student tutoring program, teacher tutoring, Saturday tutoring
■ Mary and I do college, academic, and social counseling for 660 students. Our time per
student is limited – like we know your time is limited.
– We have duty, we work on scheduling, we each sponsor multiple clubs, I have coached
– We speak to the Board of Directors
– We visit with college reps
– We write TONS of letters of recommendation
– We participate on the Student Assistance Team and are therefore heavily involved in 504
IEPs and IAPs
– AND MORE...

4. Who are we?
Benjamin Franklin High School
New Orleans, LA
■ Started as a city-wide access, public magnet high school as a result of the Russians going into space with
Sputnik
■ Selective Admissions – all students test ITBS and we recalculate their academic GPAS.
■ Matrix lets students know if they will get in or not.
■ Drawing students from across Orleans Parish (county)
■ Diversity – about 1/3 African-American, 1/3 White, 1/3 other
■ About 1/3 of the population is free-reduced lunch
■ Everyone is admitted to four-year colleges, 99% go to four-year colleges
■ Approximately 40 to 45% of students go out of state/out of the country, the rest stay in state – of those,
most attend LSU, Tulane, Xavier University Louisiana, Loyola University New Orleans
So yes, we have helicopter parents and they are not just
the wealthy parents with high expectations.

5. “To effectively collaborate with
overly involved parents, we need
to accept that we can’t control
their parenting choices.What we
can do is model positive and
healthy behaviors and gently
encourage them to do the same.”
ACAWebsite

6. To make the college process (and the heli-
parents) a little more manageable…
■ Programming by grade level
– For freshmen/sophomore parents – evening program
■ Tell them to calm down and let their children be children
■ Talk about what we want them to do in school – study hard, learn to ask for help, get
involved in activities they enjoy
■ Talk about the testing their children will participate in during high school
– Junior Programming
■ Fall meeting for parents and students – Introduction to the process – this is often a
college presenter
■ Meet with Juniors during English classes – first day of second semester - Process and
more in depth coverage of Naviance
■ Junior Q & A in January – for parents
■ Numerous individual meetings with students and parents
■ Juniors Evals
■ Recent grads – speak about their experience
■ Facebook pages for each grade level – run by students – a way to get info to the
students

7. – Senior Programming
■ August Group Meeting with students– first Friday morning of school
■ August Group Meeting with parents – same info as students received
■ August afternoon into evening application workshop
■ Senior English teachers work on a college essay as their first assignment
■ Individual student and parent meetings
■ Fall Financial Aid Meeting (typically November)This year, all but two seniors had applied
to college prior to Thanksgiving break.
■ If needed, we will help students complete the FAFSA and CSS Profile
– Teacher Programming
■ Naviance workshops
■ Letter writing workshops
– Other programming
■ 95 College reps visiting campus mostly during the fall
■ Fall College Fair with 120+ reps
To make the college process (and the heli-
parents) a little more manageable…

8. What we do NOT (cannot) do.
■ Because of our student load and other responsibilities, we do NOT:
– Meet with every junior and/or senior parent
– Create “lists” for every student
– Read every application (including essays) before it leaves the building
– Read every teacher letter of recommendation
Helpful hints to keep parents updated
 Morning homeroom announcements to ask students to remind parents
about meetings
 Robo calls or text messages to parents
 Feed them and they will come
 Class Facebook page – we ask the students to add info to the page
 Quarterly Bulletins
 66 page College Handbook on school website

9. 3 keys to dealing with
Helicopter parents
■ 1. Decreasing Parent Anxiety - we do this by providing them with information through
regular communication and structured programming throughout the year.
■ 2. Communicate to Empower the student - The responsibility for HW, studying, AND the
college application process should be placed on the student. Conversations with
parents should emphasize this.
■ 3. Reinforce Healthy Parent Boundaries - Creating healthy boundaries is key. Instead of
checking the HW every five minutes, it is important to set healthy boundaries. It is useful
to use the "If - then" concept to do so. “If you do ___, then I will do ___.” Ex. If you
complete all of your Hw, then you can watch TV."

10. So let’s collaborate
and share ideas.
What do you do at your school?

11. And it never ends with some parents…