Comments on: Next debate: what should more parental involvement look like?

By: How Do We Define Parent Involvement? The Bake Sale Model versus the Parent As Advocate Model « Ed In The Apple

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:03:35 +0000

[...] the Assembly bill will be passed on the Senate side, or, will the Senate pass its own bill? The latest snippets hint that the Senate will pass the Assembly bill, but, may pass a “chapter amendment,” [...]

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:46:18 +0000

New Yorker:
We voted for term limits. What happened to THAT — or should I say THOSE — trips to the “voting booth”?

That the city is “diverse” is all the more reason it should be run, if not like a giant caucus, than at least by some people qualified for their positions and with an open ear to earnest input.

Lack of an open ear for community level input, and related compliance with the just-expired law, is exactly why two CEC’s SUED the Chancellor Klein and the DOE.

By: Marie V.

Marie V. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:44:07 +0000

Talk about parent engagement: how about VOLUNTEERING in the school on a day to day basis? 12,000 people (mostly parents) do this through Learning Leaders. This is a great way to be involved in a school’s success. Ask your Parent Coordinator if your school has a volunteer program. If not, call LL and request one. For more information: http://WWW.LEARNINGLEADERS.ORG.

By: Ellen McHugh

Ellen McHugh — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:00:13 +0000

Aw phooey….the VAST majority of parents are invovled and engaged…they work to provide a home, they help with homework, they feed clote and protect their children, they help their children strive to succeed. I do not know one parent who wants their child to fail.
The issue is public particpation in education for all children

By: New Yorker

New Yorker — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:43:40 +0000

Parents should not be involved in citywide policy making. More voice at their school/community level, sure, but citywide policy making, get real. The city is too diverse for non-elected officials to start setting policy. At some point you just gotta rely on the principles of representative democracy and make good decisions in the voting booth. If you want to set public policy, get an MPA, become an expert, run for office etc. Just because it’s easier to scream and shout and create a bunch of BS positions to satisfy the ego of every parent-wannabe politician doesn’t make it a legitimate way to run things.

By: Ann Kjellberg

Ann Kjellberg — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:44:16 +0000

These things sound very nice and useful–it’s been esp clear to me how involvement in a local school is a sort of starter drug for larger community involvement, and could be very empowering for communities. But on the level of governance I don’t think there is going to be meaningful change unless parents–and I would say, more broadly, the public–has a meaningful structural presence in policymaking. Otherwise you’re just training more people to be driven bananas the way we active parents are now.

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:49:10 +0000

GGW,
(With humor…)
My kids’ teachers aren’t paid enough to listen to me on the phone. ; – )

And that does nothing about all the policy-making outside the classroom that directly impacts their education — and $22 BILLION of the city’s budget.

Plus, I have not heard ANY gripes at the in-class level from others… except as driven by test-mania from Tweed.

By: GGW

GGW — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:35:01 +0000

Parent involvement should be centered on the idea of parents talking by phone to teachers. Frequently.

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:23:25 +0000

Greg,

The two topics are hardly mutually exclusive: parent input and school choice.

Note that there is NONE of the first part city-wide, and in many cases “choice” is being made by DOE not by the parents, both in terms of school assignment and creating of charters in otherwise non-charter public school buildings.

I would suggest it’s a triply false choice.

In a free market “supply & demand” model, the supply side would provide more of a product in high demand (setting pricing issues aside). But in NYC, many high-demand schools have been limited in their ability and willingness to expand. In this regard, Principals are hardly CEO’s. (And I’m not talking class size — I’m talking building size.)

By: Ellen McHugh

Ellen McHugh — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:32:16 +0000

I was a person who benefited form UPAs activities in the far distant past. While there may have been problems in the last few years….a lack of leadership being the biggest issue…I take great exception to your comment about corruption.
As far as organizing parents go, there is only one way to organize, door by door, house by house, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. That kind of money, 3-5 million dollars, will not create unity, just suspicision.

By: Dissenter

Dissenter — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:12:24 +0000

The UPA was a corrupt and terrible organization and should not be revived. If parents want to organize, why don’t they just organize themselves? The reason is that parents are not some monolithic body that can just be lumped together. There is a huge diversity of incomes, races and education level in public school parents, and so it’s a given that parents do not want the same things. I’ve written before that I’m happy with the level of participation and interaction I have with my child’s school; others are not, so do you think “being organized” means the same thing to me (an upper middle class parent) as it would a poor parent. The answer’s no.
I would be highly suspect of any effort to “organize parents” that focuses on the government providing them funds to get organized. If that’s not institutionalization of a movement, nothing else is.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:53:39 +0000

Here’s a much more simple, cost effective, and empowering idea than another state-funded bureaucratic political entity….Give all parents choice in the school their children attend, regardless of geography. Let them choose good ones, leave bad ones, and generally have their voice heard by finding a fit that is right for their own family.