LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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School Rejects Parent Input

Mr. Coulson:

     Some parents at my son's Cobb county elementary school in Georgia are asking "Why all the fund raising by the PTA at our school, and then not spending the money?"  I think there are many parents at this school who want to be involved but are blocked, because they can't get volunteer run enrichment programs started.

     When my son first came to Timber Ridge two years ago, I cut out some photos from a national magazine of wonderful things elementary schools were doing, across the nation, to improve the quality of life for kids at school. One of the photos was of an outdoor pond /aquatic habitat next to where children attended outdoor classes. When I showed other parents at our school the photos and mentioned proposing that volunteer parents install such a pond, I was told not to bother - that a pond had been proposed at least twice in years past and had been nixed by the principal. As time went on, I repeatedly heard of suggestions being turned down by the principal and/or PTA.

     Last year, in my son's class of twenty children, we had seventeen parents sign up to volunteer, eager to participate at school. With two thirty minute "classroom centers" a week where parents could help, volunteer parents were only able to help in class once every month to six weeks.

     Timber Ridge is a school where proposals for volunteer operated enrichment programs such as a student photography club, in-school TV broadcasting, regular ongoing outdoor classes, more field trips, additional nature habitats, and volunteer maintained gardens have been denied. Ours is a school where the PTA turned over $20,000 it had raised back to the school last year, collected but unused.

      The general PTA meetings at our school usually include a performance by the children and the presentation of an award. This is not an environment conducive to having a forum for parents to discuss openly how they'd like to improve the quality of life at school and to participate more. With the children waiting in the wings and parents holding video cameras, no one's going to bring up serious issues, which lead to a healthy open discussion between parents and school administrators.

     My next step will be to propose to the PTA at my school that we establish a series of general PTA meetings for parents only, that are not tied to awards or children's plays - meetings that create an atmosphere where parents may speak openly and even brainstorm about our school.

     Our children deserve the best. We must set an example of how to maintain an open society, where free speech and assembly are cherished. Nothing grows in a vacuum.

Joy Cox

The Editor's Reply

Dear Mrs. Cox,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me about your situation. It's gratifying to hear of the school in Atlanta where parents seem to be working effectively through the PTA, and if you decide to follow this route I wish you all the best. If you are concerned that your local PTA and school are unresponsive, however, you might also wish to consider forming a parent-only organization that would meet on a regular and public basis with the school administration.

If there is a genuine will in your community to organize activities not approved by your local school or PTA, a separate parent-only organization would go a long way to achieving your goals. If you want to build a pond (an excellent idea, by the way) and the school/PTA refuse, your group could carry out its own fundraising drive, and withdraw its support from PTA fundraising. If you would like to organize an extra curricular activity for your children, you could do so, and simply withdraw your children from school on the day or days in question so that they could participate. The
idea that schools can dictate to parents on these issues is horrendous, appalling, and inappropriate. There was a time in this country when schools existed to serve families. That spirit of service was lost over the past century, but there are many people working to reignite it. 

The lack of responsiveness you are experiencing is one of the many unfortunate but inevitable side-effects of our nation's move away from a competitive market of schools and to a government monopoly. In the short run, a separate parent-only organization with public meetings is one of the few courses open to you. In the long run, the reintroduction of competition between schools and parental choice will force schools to stop dictating to parents, and return them to the role of serving families that they once
fulfilled.

If you would like to speak with an expert on the national PTA, A friend and colleague of mine (Charlene Haar) recently wrote a book about the PTA, and may have some words of wisdom. You can reach her at haar@educationpolicy.org

I wish you the best of luck in resolving your difficulties with the school and PTA, and empathize with your desire to increase your child's exposure to daylight and the natural world.

Yours sincerely,
Andrew

Andrew J. Coulson
Editor, www.schoolchoices.org

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