Can anyone provide nuts & bolts advice how parents have gotten together to improve their local DCPS?

[Anonymous]

That's all fine and good, but what happens after you get there? You have the parents, and they've committed to going, and they show up. How do you then translate that into action? It seems to me that many of the parents think they've done enough just enrolling their kids, and that's where things just START.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another Cooke parent here. Ditto. My kids are getting a great education so far, and the teachers are top notch. We struggle with the same issues as everywhere else (disorganized administration, not great aftercare, lack of communication), but we are really working hard to try to address these issues. I don't think that Cooke can be characterized as "awful."

Disorganized Administration? This is a new sentiment about Cooke? How So?

[Anonymous]

I'm a potential WJ parent - has a group been formed OP? I'd be interested if you all are going to meet.

[Anonymous]

To the PP who homeschooled - Can you give specific examples of how the DCPS curriculum, even at the JKLM schools, is inadequate? I truly don't see this (so far), so I'm interested in your view.

[Anonymous]

0747 and all other potential Walker Jones Parents,

The potential WJ parent group that is in the process of forming has been communicating via the Penn Quarter Parents listserv.
PQ Parents is a fantastic community resource for this, and multiple other reasons.
To subscribe, email [e-mail] or go to google groups to enroll.

BTW Bill Turque from the Washington Post did get back to me, suggested that I contact Tommy Wells and/or Kaya Henderson directly.
After the first meeting of the WJ potential parents, I'll proceed.

Best,

Jen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My question is, how do you get them engaged when they get there? We have a critical mass of such middle & upper middle class folks, but we struggle to get them to do anything. They are always "too busy," or asking why someone else can't help out. Meanwhile, my friends at Oyster are staying up late on Sunday nights baking 300 cupcakes because the PTA at Oyster said they had to. How do I get that power??????

The answer (in my opinion) is to call individual parents and ask them to do specific jobs. Otherwise, everyone assumes that someone else will take care of business. We recently had a bake-sale at our E.S. and a general email was sent to the listserv asking "people to sign up and bake cakes". Very little chance I was going to do that--unless someone said, "Hey! Ms X! Step up and bake a cake sometime in the next week!" You have to actually ask people, and unfortunately a bulk mailing isn't an "ask".

Second thought: previously DD was in a preschool where you were required to either accrue a certain number of points over the course of the year, or pay a cash penalty. Obviously you don't want to make PTA membership contingent on that, but you could have a pledge form of some kind at the beginning of the year where you ask individual parents to pledge to follow some sort of system like that: kind of a "room parent" -lite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent parent here - first thing (and this is key) you need at least 5 or 6 professional parents to form a base. This needs to be a solid group of commited parents (AA, white, blue, purple...but they need to be commited to going to the school no matter what). Once it appears that real, deadicated professional parents are going to be going to the school - and leading an effort - people will follow.

Why I fought to get my kid into Brent? On the backs of the hard work of the few parents who met regularly and started the change at that school. It wasn't the greatest...but now people choose to go there. People were commited to go there.

If you want to make WJ a better a school (which appears OP to be your intent) - get a few other families from your neighborhood and start meeting. Meet regularly. Get to know each other...know the school. Know the principal, know the teachers, visit, know the parents of students.

Ask the school "what do you need" - and then see if there are things that you as professionals can bring to the school to make it better.

THanks how you fix a school.

Okay, I know you mean well, but this is like so much smoke being blown up our asses. Honestly? Those Capitol Hill law partners who are willing to throw tens of thousands of dollars at Brent for their annual fundraiser, so that they have a viable elementary option before going private or charter aren't really the example the rest of the city can rely upon for a school turn-around.

That seems a bit caustic. From what I can tell, this is the same model that Maury, and every other "good" Capitol Hill school has followed. Do you really think it all boils down to $30k or $40k from a yearly fundraiser?

That seems a bit naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Cooke parent here. Ditto. My kids are getting a great education so far, and the teachers are top notch. We struggle with the same issues as everywhere else (disorganized administration, not great aftercare, lack of communication), but we are really working hard to try to address these issues. I don't think that Cooke can be characterized as "awful."

Disorganized Administration? This is a new sentiment about Cooke? How So?

Disorganized administration = any school. Maybe at the top privates there is seamless communication with parents and flawless fieldtrip organization, but I doubt it. Anytime you are dealing with school, kids, teachers etc, there is disorganization. My kids are in a charter that most people on this forum would love to get into, and guess what, disorganized administration and lack of communication. One of my best friends has her K DD in a JKLM and her tales of disorganized administration sound just like mine. So, Cooke parent, you are in pretty good company there. Its hard to be appear organized when running a building full of little kids. And, when you have a principal like my Charter school (and like the Cooke principal, if I remember correctly) who is very involved with the kids, administrative tasks can slip, i.e. e-mails don't get answered immediately, demanding parents of rising PS kids don't get a return call about a private tour, but kids are getting educated and they are also getting listened too, and hugged when they need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its hard to be appear organized when running a building full of little kids.

God, they should carve this in granite, and cement it over the entrance of every pre- and elementary school in the universe.

[Anonymous]

Let me just echo 10:25 and 10:34. I've a happy Cooke parent, and have talked to many parents at many other schools. Yes, Cooke has some disorganization, but no more or less than any other DCPS or charter school. It just is what is is. Some schools (particularly the smaller ones, from my random sample) might have a better handle on overall organization, it seems.

I'd love to think of parents raising tens of thousands of dollars and hiring a person who coordinates information flow. (cooke has a good parent outreach person, not criticizing him, but it is just such a big job). Freeing up teachers to do what teachers do best seems like a great use of funds.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. My child attends a very large school (900 kids) and the word disorganized doesn't come to mind.

[Anonymous]

You have to ask the school directly where they might welcome the help. Otherwise, they will resent it. Talk to your kids teachers and have others do the same.

[Anonymous]

Based on my random sampling, people define disorganization differently and schools have varying degrees of organization. It's all variable. I have a friend whose child is at Cooke and it seems fairly average. I've heard some stories! And think about a thread from the start of the school year of parents griping about the disorganization at Murch!

[Anonymous]

To the original poster:

Consider reaching out to nearby schools and to their PTAs. In Capitol Hill, we have the Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Orgarnization (CHPSPO) http://chpspo.org. School leaders (PTA, Principals) and interested parents have come together (for 5+ years now) to collaborate on shared issues and to advocate for each others' schools.

For several years, this model focused on leveraging resources to improve 'non-academic' (green space, libraries, etc), elements of all the participating schools (which do have a psychological impact on parents who are evaluating the 'health' of the school). Last year, this group waded into academic/curriculum territory by developing a Middle School plan that represented 7ish schools (most of this plan has been embraced by DCPS and is being implemented).

It's not at all an instant solution. I doubt any will be, but there is something to be said about reaching out to the community, collaborating across schools and the visibility this gives you w/ DCPS, the DC SBOE, and city council (we're really lucky Tommy Wells is so focused on education). Sounds like you've kicked off the process via the tapping in to the local listservs.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Cooke parent here. Ditto. My kids are getting a great education so far, and the teachers are top notch. We struggle with the same issues as everywhere else (disorganized administration, not great aftercare, lack of communication), but we are really working hard to try to address these issues. I don't think that Cooke can be characterized as "awful."

Disorganized Administration? This is a new sentiment about Cooke? How So?

Disorganized administration = any school. Maybe at the top privates there is seamless communication with parents and flawless fieldtrip organization, but I doubt it. Anytime you are dealing with school, kids, teachers etc, there is disorganization. My kids are in a charter that most people on this forum would love to get into, and guess what, disorganized administration and lack of communication. One of my best friends has her K DD in a JKLM and her tales of disorganized administration sound just like mine. So, Cooke parent, you are in pretty good company there. Its hard to be appear organized when running a building full of little kids. And, when you have a principal like my Charter school (and like the Cooke principal, if I remember correctly) who is very involved with the kids, administrative tasks can slip, i.e. e-mails don't get answered immediately, demanding parents of rising PS kids don't get a return call about a private tour, but kids are getting educated and they are also getting listened too, and hugged when they need it.

14:20 here (the "disorganized administration" commenter). Disorganized administration was not meant pejoratively. The teachers and principal can't predict their days, and I'd much rather have them dealing with the kids than sitting in an office responding to e-mails and drafting lots of fliers. The key is figuring out how to be productively supportive. In many of the JKLMO schools, the PTAs are very large and well-funded, so the parent volunteers help with the communication and forwards planning. in the Title I schools, this type of support doesn't exist.