One of the most impactful decisions ohanas make in life is that of their child’s education. We are our children’s first and strongest advocates, who have intimately witnessed their learning development from the start. As parents, we play a pivotal role in shaping what we see as valuable for public education in Hawaii; that means choosing a learning environment that matches our family needs and truly partnering with our state educational leaders.

As an education advocate and Native Hawaiian, I have a passion for empowering families to understand the unique workings of education in our state. Here in Hawaii, we are fortunate not to be limited in education by our ZIP code, and we have many diverse learning environments, from home- schooling to neighborhood schools, to choose from. Our diversity of options has allowed me to find three very different schools — a traditional in-person public school, a charter school and a public school with a 100% distance learning program — that meet my own three children’s unique needs.

Playing a role in your child’s education starts with knowing your educational options, but it doesn’t stop with it. I have seen that, here in Hawaii, many families are eager to advocate for their child’s needs, but don’t yet know all the ways they can participate in the education system. If we truly want to empower parent voices in the education conversation, there is important work to be done to demystify how the education system works in Hawaii.

For example, our educational system is less layered than in some larger states, where the state Board of Education can feel distant and abstract. Our BOE’s directives here in Hawaii have immediate effect, for good or ill. This makes including parental perspectives in discussions even more pressing. The more we as parents bring our insight and children’s needs to education conversations, the more we will see our voices have an impact. Every parent should have the opportunity to advocate for their child’s needs, not just those on state level education boards.

A silver lining of school disruptions during the pandemic is that it pushed information and access about these education forums to more families. In my school, I was able to form a small collective of parents who dialed in to our Board of Education meetings. Previously, several of these parents had no idea that this forum existed; once they knew, they were able to use their voice to affect positive change.

Even as the pandemic recedes, social media and parent groups hold more untapped potential for supporting families in exploring their school choices and realizing the voice they can have in education. Through these online tools, I have hope that we will see significant growth in the number of ohanas participating in the public education conversation over the next few years. By doing so, we as parents can be positive change agents in our communities, who educators can lean on for support.

At heart, my passion for public education is because I know that the right schooling decision can set a child on a course for a lifetime of learning and growth. No one desires a child’s happiness and wellbeing more than a parent, and that’s why it’s our role to be involved every step of the way. Each of our children has different needs in learning and in life, and fostering dialogue helps educators better meet those needs.

As School Choice Week takes place in Hawaii this week, Jan. 23-29, let’s celebrate our school choices and continue the work of demystifying how parents can participate in shaping public education.

Marissa Baptista is an education advocate and mother of three.