By STACY DRIKS
sdriks@liherald.com
Two Uniondale district schools are among 321 nationwide that have been recognized by the National PTA for strengthening connections between families and schools, and using community feedback to improve students’ educational experiences.
Lawrence Road Middle School, in Hempstead, and Grand Avenue Elementary School, in North Baldwin, were named 2025-27 National PTA Schools of Excellence on Aug. 1, a designation earned through a yearlong process with a two year national designation focused on building family-school partnerships. The designation recognizes schools and PTAs that work to strengthen those partnerships to support students’ educational experiences and overall well-being.
The PTA surveyed families, used feedback to identify and address needs, and then measured progress.
“Strong partnerships between families and schools are critical to student success — academically, socially and emotionally,” Bill Datema, president of the National PTA, said in an Aug. 1 news release.
At Lawrence Road, the PTA surveyed families about what was working and what needed attention, then worked with administrators to address their concerns. Claudia Barnes, the school’s PTA president during the 2025-26 academic year, said the surveys identified communication as one area that needed improvement. Some parents reported that they did not always know what was happening at school or where to find information.
“One of the things we really kind of hammered in for this survey was communication between the school and families,” Barnes said. “They didn’t know what was happening. They weren’t sure where to look for information.”
The process of improving communication was a team effort led by the PTA board, Barnes said.
The PTA’s vice president of funding, Judine Duquesnay, brainstormed ideas on what to send to parents. Hafeesah Wellington, vice president of programs, also followed through on Barnes’s point, ensuring that parents received timely information.
After the PTA gathered information from parents, it shared their concerns with Lawrence Road’s assistant principal, Leigh Sumpter, and the dean of students, Adeola Tella-Williams. The school, Barnes said, worked to improve communication with families, and Tella-Williams added that the school used robocalls, online fliers and Google Classroom to reach parents.
“The PTA proactively reached out to parents’ homes to encourage attendance (at Lawrence Road)” Tella-Williams said. “The school supported the initiative by sending out robocalls to every household.”
“Some parents preferred communication in one medium,” Barnes said. “Others prefer an email.”
Barnes said that the recognition by the National PTA reflects the work of more than just the school’s PTA. “This recognition belongs to the entire school community,” she said. “Everyone should really feel proud.”
At Grand Avenue, PTA President Kristle Simms-Murphy used parent surveys to determine what families wanted from the organization and how the school could better connect it with community resources. The PTA created a website to serve as a resource hub for families, and began working with community organizations to offer parent workshops during the coming school year. The workshops, Simms-Murphy said, could help parents navigate challenges ranging from technology and screen time to finding support services in the community.
“We wanted to hear from parents in our surveys about what things do they want?” Simms-Murphy said. “What do they want to see? What do they want out of PTA?”
She added, “Parents just need better access to resources in our community. For Grand Avenue, we created a website, and we’re going to continue to build on that so that parents have resources and we have a resource path for families.”
Simms-Murphy said that receiving the School of Excellence designation shows that the PTA’s efforts are moving the school community in the right direction.
The organization also offered an incentive for parents to complete its survey. Parents who took part were entered in a raffle for three $50 gas gift cards, an effort that Simms-Murphy estimated roughly doubled participation.
“Parents don’t need another task to do,” she said. “It helps to think there’s a reason for me doing this, not just to get feedback, but I’m getting something in return.”
Simms-Murphy said that persuading more families to participate gave the PTA more information about what was working at Grand Avenue and what needed to change. “We need more opinions,” she said. “We need more critiques so that we can improve.”
The incentive also provided a bit of financial relief to the three families that won the gift cards, she said. “We helped families not have to sacrifice between getting groceries for their house or getting a full tank of gas.” she said. “That warms my heart to know that we were able to do that.”
During a virtual National PTA School of Excellence celebration Aug. 13 the PTA leaders learned about additional programs and awards their organizations could pursue.
Geye Samuda, the incoming Lawrence Road PTA president, said that those opportunities would require additional planning and collaboration among PTA board members, but the group intends to explore applying for more recognition.
“This is about every child in the community,” Samuda said. “But then it takes a village. It doesn’t just take a village for one school in particular; it takes a village for the entire community.”
She added that earning the recognition from the National PTA was challenging because, although School of Excellence is described as a yearlong program, PTA leaders largely work within the roughly 10-month school year.
“It’s really challenging, but at the end of the day — and I mean at the end of every day, every event, fundraiser, meeting,” Samuda said, “the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment that drives all these leaders that led the PTA, whether they’re president, vice presidents or any PTA member — they all deserve this.”
