Stop the Silence: How to Reach Parents Who Won't Call Back
The key strategies, scripts, and systems from today's session — in one downloadable reference for breaking through the silence and building the partnership your school needs.
Get My Session Slides ↓Presented by Dr. Thomas W. Glanton, Jr., Ed.D. · 30+ Years in K–12 Education · Former Area Superintendent · Georgia PTA Most Outstanding Principal
When parents go silent, most schools interpret it as apathy. In almost every case, it is not. It is the predictable result of a communication system that trained parents to avoid contact — one bad call at a time.
Today's session gave you the framework to break the silence and rebuild the relationship. These slides are the reference to bring that framework home.
After three negative contacts, most parents stop answering. After five, they stop listening even when they do. The school trained them to avoid the number.
Parents who are told "we need to talk" with no specific action to take default to avoidance. No ask means no reason to respond.
A parent who has only heard from the school during crises has no reason to trust the next call will be different. Silence is self-protection, not negligence.
Many parents of struggling students carry their own school trauma. The moment a call feels like judgment, the wall goes up — and it stays up.
A parent who won't call back is not the enemy. They are a parent who learned — from your school — that calling back leads nowhere good. Change that, and everything changes.
— Dr. Thomas W. Glanton, Jr., Ed.D. · The Education Company
These are the key slides from today's session — the ones worth keeping on your desk.
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Thomas Glanton, Ed.D. | President, The Education Company
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