Do you know a business or organization that allows employees to be actively involved with their children’s public schools? Do their employees attend parent-teacher conferences or volunteer in the schools?

Give this employer the recognition it deserves by nominating it for the State Board of Education’s Employers for Education Excellence (EEE) Award. This annual award, created by the Texas Legislature in 2007, recognizes employers who support employee participation in school activities.

Any Texas employer is eligible, including private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governmental and educational entities that meet the criteria.

Awards are given at the bronze, silver and gold levels. Recipients of the 2019 award will be announced in January.

Following are the requirements for each award category.

Bronze

The bronze-level award recognizes an employer that implements a policy to encourage and support employees who attend parent-teacher conferences during regular work hours. Specifically, the employer does the following:
• Has a policy or procedure that allows employees to attend parent-teacher conferences during regular work hours
• Maintains records that show evidence that employees attended parent-teacher conferences, or provides a signed letter from the human resources director or president/chief executive officer confirming that employees are permitted to attend parent-teacher conferences during business hours

Silver

The silver-level award recognizes an employer that meets the requirements of the bronze category and implements a policy to encourage and support employees who volunteer in school activities. An employer qualifies for this award if it does the following:
• Has a policy or procedure that tracks employees' volunteer hours
• Maintains records that show evidence that employees attended parent-teacher conferences or took part in school volunteer activities or provides a signed letter from a supervisor confirming this participation
• At least 1 percent of the employer's workforce with school-age children attends parent-teacher conferences or takes part in volunteer activities on an annual basis

Gold

The gold-level award recognizes an employer that meets the requirements of the silver category and implements a policy to encourage and support employees who participate in student mentoring programs in schools. An employer qualifies for the gold award if it does the following:
• Has a policy or procedure that allows employees with school-age children to attend parent-teacher conferences, take part in school activities, or participate in student mentoring activities during regular work hours
• Establishes a mentoring program in partnership with a local school or district for employees to meet and mentor students with the goal of promoting academic success and social interaction. Structured mentoring activities may include traditional one-to-one activities, group, team, or online mentoring and should be built around regular, frequent contact.
• Has a designated employee who oversees internal coordination of the mentoring program and has a policy or some procedure that tracks employees' volunteer hours and mentoring activities
• Maintains records that show evidence that employees attended parent-teacher conferences, took part in school volunteer activities or participated in student mentoring activities or provides a signed letter from a supervisor confirming the participation
• At least 1 percent of the employer's workforce participates in mentoring activities for a minimum of one calendar or school year

To nominate an employer, complete the Employers for Education Excellence application.

Those employers selected to receive the award will receive a plaque that designates the level of recognition. The State Board of Education will also approve a resolution recognizing the award recipients. The EEE designation is valid for three years. At the end of this period, the employer may reapply for the award.

Learn more about the award and past recipients at http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/News_and_Multimedia/Awards/Employers_for_Education_Excellence/

For additional information, email or call the SBOE Support Division at sboesupport@tea.texas.gov or (512) 463-9007.