Columbus Parks and Recreation calls for more parent engagement.

COLUMBUS, Miss (WCBI) – It was a call to action from Columbus city leaders to parents and other residents in the city tonight at Trotter Convention Center.

“We got to find a way to get our parents back engaged in the community with their children, ” Lewis said.

Greg Lewis, Director of Parks and Recreation, emphasized the need for parents to join the team as the city prepares to enhance its parks. He sees the meeting as a first step towards this goal.

To boost parent engagement, Parks and Recs is partnering with the school district, police department, and fire department.

“Citizens and parents are affected by the mission of all of those agencies. They need parents because the police can’t do their job without the citizens telling them, the school can’t do their job if their parents are not there participating brings the children to school. The park can’t do its job if the parents do want to participate, coach, or volunteer. It takes a whole community. We need all parents and citizens,” Lewis said.

Eric Thomas has been coaching softball for 27 years, he believes that his team could benefit from the additional support from the adults in the community.

“Slow pitch is no more around here. It’s strictly fastpitch, so we are trying to get the girls engaged and get them involved in fastpitch softball,” Thomas said.

According to Thomas, involvement and passion for sports start early, and parental support can help maintain their children’s interest.

“Come out and see what we are doing. We welcome all the help we can get,” Thomas said.

Lewis acknowledged that the turnout for the first meeting was low. However, he sees this as an opportunity to gather ideas on ways to reach out to parents and encourage their participation.

“We want our parents to be more involved, and there may be some reasons why they are not involved, and we want to address those reasons so we can better involve our parents,” Lewis said.

Lewis says this meeting was one of many to come. There has yet to be a word when the next meeting will be. For more information click here.