Several suggestions for creating and encouraging parental involvement:
1. Again, genealogy - the pros and cons have already been voiced by
others. It really depends on the make-up of the class or classes. Some
teachers seem to handle this very well despite what looks like a delicate
situation(s) - others, after carrying out their own cursory survey of the
students opt not to touch this topic, or if they do - they often pick
historical figures from the community, or even the teacher's family for
everyone to research.  There are creative solutions that allow everyone
to participate with positive outcomes and great research experiences.

2. Selecting houses or buildings in the community and having the
students conduct deed searches at the County Court Clerk's office for
these buildings. Some students may want to select their own family's
house or plots of land. The buildings, with the deed search information,
could bring your class around to genealogy again - tracing the owners'
histories in the community and where they came from and why they
settled there.

3. Compiling a history of your school district, or one aspect of your
school's history (centralization, one-room schools, architecture, cultural
life of the district, etc.), or organizing an anniversary celebration
commemorating the construction of a school building, consolidation, and
so forth.  Projects that involve the history of community schools really
bring in parents, grandparents, and others who live in the community - or
used to live in the community. The school is something many people have
in common and have an interest in (if they live in the community they are
even paying for it!).  Holland Patent Central School District has been
studying the cultural life of their school district for four years. Students at
all grade levels - elementary thru seniors in high school - are studying
some aspect of the district's history. This rural school district now has a
list of 150-200 people from the community who are willing to come into
the classroom and share their experiences. Many graduates and former
teachers have dropped by to share historical records and artifacts -
many of these items have been donated back to the district, or in the
case of historical records, photocopies have been made and the
originals returned to the owners. A contact for this project is Patrick
Peterson, the district's teacher center director. He can be reached at
(315) 865-7226.

Burnt Hills Ballston Lake Middle School has also been working on
school district history with much success. They have now created a
cultural resource center in the Middle School for students and teachers
to use. This resouce center houses copies of historical records and
artifacts. Many items in the center were donated by the public who
found out about the project through local media coverage. A contact at
Burnt Hills Ballston Lake is Allan Chapman, Assistant Superintendent
(518) 399-6408. This summer they will be adding their historical material
to the district's web site.

Poestenkill Elementary School and the Town of Poestenkill are
researching the history of their school and community. They are
developing a publication (1998) that will explore the history of Poestenkill
through the eyes of the children who have gone to school there - now
and in the past. They have incorporated art and music with local history
and have included alumni and others in time capsule events and
theatrical performances. Open meetings have been held in the
community. The public was invited to share their stories about growing
up in Poestenkill and any historical records and three dimensional objects
they may have. The contact person for this project is Nancy Strong,
Principal, Poestenkill Elementary,  (518) 283-5115.

All of the projects mentioned above have two important aspects in
common -  1. excellent local media coverage - this was key to community
participation; 2. they all received Local Government Records
Management Improvement Fund grants from the New York State
Archives to get them up and running. If you are interested in finding out
more about the grant program, please give me a call (518) 473-8037, or
e-mail [log in to unmask] I hope I hear from you!
Julie Daniels
NYS Archives
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