Inside - Outside...Upside...Down?

If you have not had a chance, please take a gander at the CSA’s November Address on the district's website. Of course of interest to this writer is our CSA’s statement with regard to parental involvement. More to the point -- his continued need to siphon out a call for and a concentration on parental involvement at the school level – as oppose to what?

PEP, has always and will always be made up of parents who have children in the district’s schools. We just donot exclude our community members because we understand and embrace the concept that it "takes a village". The issues, recommendations and causes our parents undertake are as a direct result of their experiences within their particular schools. PEP only serves to bring them all together to have one UNIFIED conversation about what’s going on in the individual schools. More specifically – we are there to share recommendations and success stories on how to implement effective conversations and/or strategies to meet those needs identified.

As a PTO, President – I am still trying to understand why I am exclusively “uninvited” to the table of meetings with all other PTO Presidents. What’s up with that?!?

I have had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with 5 of these PTO Presidents over the past few months and quite honestly I am a little concerned with the District’s positioning of PEP with these parents. Please allow me to speak for myself. Nothing I have said or have to say or will say – will do anything less than lead us to a better parental involvement structure in our District. That is the goal? Right?

An organization; Parents for Public Schools shared this profound thoughts with regard to public awareness for parent engagement:

“It truly dawned on me that school is not a place I am shipping my kids off to everyday. The school administrators and staff work for me. It’s a nice feeling of empowerment. It’s nice to know parents should not be outsider.” Helen Barnes (PLI Graduate)

Parents – do you feel like “INSIDERS”?

For more information about this organization: Parents for Public Schools (PPS) has created a statewide parent leadership and public action strategy to engage parents to develop and support policy and program changes from the local school district to state policymakers. Public School parents are everywhere—and we want their voices to be heard so that high-quality public education opportunities are available to all families and their children. http://www.parents4publicschools.com/Work_advocacy.htm

Also for an outstanding research project and report on A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement checkout: http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/evidence.pdf