Parent Education Forums (formerly PPGs)
The Parent Peer Group (PPG) program is part of the SAAS Parent Education Committee’s mission to support and serve SAAS parents’ continuing interest in the educational lives of their children. We invite all parents to take advantage of the value offered in the PPG conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are PPG discussions?
Parent Peer Group (PPG) discussions are lively and informative, grade-level parent-to-parent conversations facilitated by experienced professional parent educators. During the first part of each grade level discussion our facilitators focus on grade-relevant questions and topics determined in advance of each session. For the last 30 minute, the discussion is an open forum where parents can bring up other questions of interest that might not have been addressed. Main topics are grade-specific and run the full gamut of parenting issues, including but not limited to: homework, friendships/relationships, anxiety, technology, supervision, academic stress, drugs/alcohol, communication, and much more.
Who should attend?
PPG discussions are open to all SAAS parents — whether you have a particular parenting issue on your mind or not. You should come if you are interested in:
- Comparing notes with other parents
- Sharing parenting challenges and successes
- Getting advice or hearing a different point of view
- Building relationships with other parents in your child’s grade level
When and where should they be held?
Discussion Dates
Facilitators
Sue Bennett
Sue Bennett is the Senior Leadership Director at Leadership Tomorrow, an organization whose purpose is to cultivate, inspire, connect, and engage an effective community of leaders. Prior to this, she was the Senior Learning Manager at Philanthropy Northwest, an organization that works with grant makers in six northwest states to promote effective, collaborative grantmaking. Sue has worked for corporations, foundations, and not-for-profits and had a consulting business for many years. She has served on the boards of the Washington Women’s Foundation, Child Care Resources, Planned Parenthood, Cancer Lifeline, and the Reed Coleman Family Foundation. Sue facilitates Parent Peer Groups for schools around Puget Sound and volunteers with Year Up Puget Sound. She graduated from Stanford University with honors.
Cubba Reese
Cubba Reese is adjunct faculty at Bellevue College’s Parent Education Program, whose mission is to provide parents with the information and skills necessary to raise caring, competent, and resilient children. She graduated from the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work with a concentration in Family Systems and has over thirty years’ experience working in clinical, community, and educational settings with families, including families at risk. She currently maintains a private practice working with parents of toddlers to teens. Cubba is a Positive Discipline Educator. She volunteers with Mercer Island Youth and Family Services and is an amateur animal trainer.
Beth Larson Loken
Beth Larson Loken is a clinical social worker who has been in private practice for thirty-five+ years. In her office, she works collaboratively with parents who find themselves perplexed by current challenges they are facing with their children. Her goal is to provide individualized information, ideas, practical skills, support and inspiration that enrich the parent-child relationship and enhance family life. Beth also leads private, monthly parenting groups which focus on child and adolescent development and parenting information and skills tailored to a particular age group. For many years, she has facilitated Parent Peer Groups for schools in the Puget Sound area. She is an honors graduate of St. Olaf College and the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Community Planning.