What in the SAM HILL?!!?

Hello PEPers;

I've just spent the last 8 hours at Job Corp with a room full of Latino and African American young men who have either checked out or been discarded by our educational system. All of them are just looking for a way out/up! Thank GOD for options! Well that explains my late posting, but as promised I wanted to share with you my latest endeavor towards educational excellence.

OK -- so I've been lobbying for a Parental Involvement Policy for our district. I’ve had five parents ask about it/for it and me being the sixth – thought it to be a fair request…

Tuesday’s Board Meeting was dichotically challenging. There was an AWESOME presentation in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month. It was delightful to say the least. The children in their awesome array of colorful attire representing Spanish countries around the globe, danced, sang and cited poetry. There was a musical ensemble that filled the air with guitars, drums, a wind flute and other Hispanic cultural instruments for which I do not know the names. This was followed by a presentation of recognition for – I believe it was 5 or 6 – Plainfield students who achieved a PERFECT Score on the NJASK math test!

Folks – this IS what it is all about!!!

Then it happened –out of nowhere-- the sonic boom of a proclamation to the audience and I quote: “Don’t Talk to Me About Parental Involvement!”…wonder who that was meant for ;-).

Well how outrageous! What was so blatantly overridden/discarded/marginalized was the PERFECT opportunity to tout Parental Involvement. Here lay an opportunity for parents to hear from and network with the parents of those remarkable students to find out EXACTLY what they were doing with regard to education that enabled their children to achieve such outstanding results.

If no one else will say it – I will -- I know that it is BECAUSE OF THE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT -- these children achieved such phenomenal results. If it were ONLY the schools – then every child that was in the classroom with those students would have achieved the same results. A time to celebrate the true value of teachers and parents working together and obtaining PERFECT results was squandered.

Say it ain’t so…

You cannot have it both ways! “Don’t talk to me about parental involvement…” or “I remain open and available to respond to and work with … as well as all parents and organizations promoting the well-being of the students and community of Plainfield.”

So which is it? So – what is it?

I approached the board tuesday night to request the creation of a PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY, which is a RECOMMENDATION, put forth by The New Jersey Department of Education - NCLB GUIDANCE DOCUMENT. This 80- page document spells out clearly and precisely what the provisions of NCLB are in terms of support, implementation and sustaining parental involvement.

I also gave them copies of New Providence and Westfield Parental Involvement Policies, as well as offered up the webpage for Westfield’s Citywide PTO group. Heck – if we can benchmark our football team against Westfield for the past 50+ years – we can certainly use them as a benchmark with regard to what true, authentic Parental Involvement and District Partnerships look like.

OK – so here’s the deal – Do you ALL even care if we have a parental involvement policy in this district? I will discontinue my efforts if you comment to this Blog saying “NO” we don’t care about or want a parental involvement policy. But hold on – one small caveat – I will only post your comments if you provide your “verifiable name and an email address”… And finally – if I get 2 people who say our district should have such a policy (and that doesn’t include me or the other 5 who have already asked) I will continue to pursue this until we get what we need to effectively participate in the education of our children.


P.S.: So that you all don’t think I went too lofty using New Providence and Westfield…Check out these two school sites: Newark and Camden <--They even have a District-wide Parent Group [fancy that].