Last week marked the grand opening of Kilough Elementary's Parent Resource Room.

The resource room, which officially opened last Thursday, will provide books, games and activities designed to address all learning needs, from remedial to gifted. Supplies will be available for when special projects are assigned by teachers as well.

"We want parents to know that this resource is available to all parents of students at Kilough," said Karen Skorich, Kilough Elementary Title One teacher. "Many items have been purchased and donated by teachers."

During conferences, teachers will have an inventory list of the items in the room.

If a child needs to work on a particular skill, the teacher will circle the item on the inventory list and the parent can take it to the room and have someone help them locate the game and explain how it can be used.

"We want parents to feel comfortable coming by the room and browsing for items when they need a little help or direction at home," Skorich said.

The room is intended to serve as a collaboration between faculty and parents, according to Tracey Compton, principal.

"Kilough Elementary strongly believes in collaboration and leadership," said Compton. "The Parent Resource Room will provide parents with resources and materials to enrich and remediate their children at home."

Also, from 7:40 to 9 a.m. each school day, a bilingual translator will be on hand to assist parents in the room.

Teachers and administration at Kilough have been working on setting up the Parent Resource Room.

"The development of the KES Parent Resource Room has been a process that started with an idea," said Compton. "We built our KES Coaching Room, which is a learning center for staff and quickly realized that we wanted the same thing for our parents."

Compton said representatives from Kilough visited Midway Elementary in Forsyth County, who also has a Parent Resource Room. Compton used some of their ideas, as well as suggestions

Title I funds were used to supply the room with resources.

"It is an ongoing project, but we feel that we have enough resources to begin to assist parents with their needs," said Skorich. "Since this is an ongoing project, we will survey parents periodically to see how the room can evolve to meet the needs of parents helping their children at Kilough Elementary School. We want parents to use the room daily and let us know how we can work to make it more accessible and productive for them."

Parents at the opening night had already taken a liking to the room.

"We'll absolutely be coming here, for projects or if the kids are having any kinds of problems," said Shelly Boggus. "This is definitely a place we'll come to."

"I think it is something [Tracy] Compton has envisioned at this school for some time and I think it's going to be a great resource for parents to come in and look at different resources that they may not have at home," said Abby Liberatore, parent and Kilough Elementary PTO member.

"We envision the teachers, students and parents continuing to work together to build a culture of learning and success in and outside of school," Compton said.