Robert Hunt learned he needs to take a more active role intalking to his children about safety and social networking on theInternet.
Suzanne Cook aimed to pick up some pointers on saving for heryoung daughter's college education.
Rebekah Miller got to put her study at Virginia Tech intopractice while teaching a dozen children at a time how to countcalories while choosing ingredients for trail mix.
It was all part of Roanoke public schools' annual ParentUniversity, which drew more than 150 parents with children to theKirk Family YMCA on Saturday.
Brian Robertson came with two young sons, Tommy, 8, and Skyler,5, who attend Preston Park Elementary. His goal for the day:"Anything that would help me better myself as a dad and help mychildren."
Parents took classes on Internet safety, encouraging good readinghabits, preparing their children academically and financially forcollege and improving their own fitness. They were giventransportation to the event (via school buses), child care, lunchand a bag of school supplies.
Victoria Jean-Pierre, with three daughters in the school system,finished a Zumba group exercise class for parents with a smile onher face.
"I loved it. You exercise, you dance and you learn copingskills," such as taking a deep breath to relieve stress, she said.
Children, meantime, got to learn about nutrition and choosinghealthy foods, got to exercise in a "Kids Fit" class, and got tohit the YMCA's heated indoor pool for a January swim.
Superintendent Rita Bishop told parents that she hoped the schooldistrict could help them set high expectations for their children,and provide them with training they might need to do so. It was allpart of her message for the day: "You let us know what we can do tohelp you."
"There's no WD-40 in education. You just have to work," Bishoptold the parents. "It is that effort and that dedication that makesall the difference."
Parent University had been held in earlier years, when Bishop wasan administrator here before leaving to lead a school division inPennsylvania. When she returned to Roanoke in 2007 assuperintendent, she revived the program.
Since then, Parent University has been held in the city's twohigh schools and two of its middle schools. This was the first yearthe school division and the Junior League of Roanoke Valley havecollaborated with the YMCA to hold the event at the Kirk FamilyYMCA, the facility near downtown Roanoke that just opened the topfloor of a new wing Friday.
The outreach effort comes as the school division strives to boostthe improving but still too low graduation rate, pushes for fullaccreditation of all schools under Virginia Standards of Learningtesting and seeks to ensure that all schools make Adequate YearlyProgress in meeting federal testing benchmarks.
All of those goals are set against a backdrop of a city with asluggish tax base, an 8 percent unemployment rate and with morethan two-thirds of its 13,000-plus students who qualify for free orreduced-price lunches, a marker of poverty.
During his morning session, Assistant Attorney General Lawrence"Chip" Muir walked about 20 parents through a demonstration, basedon a real case from Hampton Roads, of how a sex offender could usecommon social networking sites, such as MySpace, to make contactwith teens by posing as a peer and eventually learn their realnames and home addresses by gleaning clues from Google searches,blog surveys the teens have taken and reverse directories.
Muir, in the computer crimes section, said many parents eitherdon't think Internet safety is a serious issue, or don't realizethat they need to set limits on the technology they're allowing intheir homes.
Robert Hunt, a 1988 graduate of Patrick Henry High, is a fatherwith children in elementary, middle and high schools. Although heseldom uses the family computer himself, all three children do, andhe tries to keep an eye on what they're doing. Still, afterlistening to Muir, "we will be doing more parental blocks on it,"he said.
Right next door at "Kids in the Kitchen," two registereddieticians from Carilion Clinic and an intern from Virginia Techgave groups of a dozen or so children at a time brief, hands-onlessons about making good choices in the food they eat and drinkand the exercise they get.
Brooke Mercedes demonstrated the amount of sugar in variousbottled soft drinks by taping an equivalent number of sugar packetsto the front of a table and asking the kids to try to match thedrink to the volume of sugar. They seemed awed by the 65 grams ofsugar in a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola, at 240 calories more thanhalf the caloric intake of a typical child's meal.
"Our biggest thing is applying, making it real for them," saidMercedes, who is involved in a state-funded childhood obesity studythrough the clinic where she works.
Suzanne Cook, mother of a first-grader at Round Hill Elementary,was headed to the afternoon session on saving for college.
"Even though she's in first grade, it's never too early to thinkabout the expense," said Cook, who had high praise for the whole,bustling event spread over two floors of the YMCA.
"It's nice to see the schools take an interest in parenting,"Cook said.
YMCA expansion
The next phase of the addition to the Roanoke YMCA will be an"Xrcade" for children that should open this spring and combinegames with fitness in the form of a climbing treadwall and otherdevices, branch director Nancy Brattain said.
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