Parent Engagement at Gentrifying Schools - WaPo feature story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White PTO president here, and it was an interesting read, although, like another poster said, the article read as a promotional piece for Kindred.

It's really tough because the parents that tend to step up to help are white and/or UMC. We flier, send text messages, emails, etc., but we rarely get new faces at our meetings or volunteering at our events. The dad at YY walked into a room, didn't see a lot of faces that looked like his, and walked out. How is that the fault of the PTA leadership? And how would Kindred get him to stay and help?

Kindly, did you read the article? The point is -- that your methods of engagement are literally premised on facilitating involvement of white people. If you want engagement, you have to change what you're doing. Sending out emails and fliers then throwing up your hands is not enough. It is absolutely your fault if you don't make more of an effort. Perhaps you don't care because you just think there's work to be done, and that what you are doing benefits everyone regardless of race. That's not a completely wrong position. But if you are troubled by lack of engagement and think the beginning and end of your responsibility is to send out an email to the listserve -- then yeah, it is your fault.

Dp. I strongly disagree with this take. What are you waiting for - a printed invitation with beautiful calligraphy and a limo to bring you to the meetings? What other excuses do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most schools can not afford Kindred on their own. I am a parent at a DCPS school that has partnered with Kindred and the program was brought to our school by our outstanding principal who has made race and equity work a top priority for our entire community. He got the program funded by reaching out to stakeholders in our neighborhood (local businesses, neighborhood organizations, churches, and the PTO itself). Kindred has not been a quick fix and the work is ongoing, but the impact of just a year partnering with Kindred has been invaluable. For our school, the burden of addressing these issues has not been placed solely on one subgroup or another. It’s all a matter of the powers that be making it clear that this should be and can be a top priority for all stakeholders. Treating this work as critical to a school’s success is half the battle.
Instead of blaming families for their lack of engagement, I would suggest holding your school leadership accountable for engaging the entire school community (including the systems and organizations responsible for the harmful affects of gentrification and displacement) in critical conversations about race and equity. An organization like Kindred won’t be a magic bullet. But I can say from experience that it’s a great place to start.

Thank you for the reminder that the school admin needs to take thie lead not PTO alone. Partly just due to the costs involved.

Also...which school? I think some are worse hit by gentrification than others.

Garrison Elementary in Shaw.

Good work, Garrison. I really think it's unfair when people attack a small PTA for not successfully solving this problem in a few years of existence. There are so many large and serious obstacles, and often the school administration itself is a big part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Kindred also came to Miner and I’m pretty sure the school didn’t pay for it there either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article is bullsh*t. It says nothing about how Yu Ying is inhospitable in so many ways to low-income families and that's why its at-risk percentage is rock bottom low. Come on WaPo. Do better.

Baloney - YY is chock full of low income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This article is bullsh*t. It says nothing about how Yu Ying is inhospitable in so many ways to low-income families and that's why its at-risk percentage is rock bottom low. Come on WaPo. Do better.

Baloney - YY is chock full of low income families.

Didn't say low income, I said at-risk. It's a different income standard and statutory definition.

5% at-risk last year, according to this.

https://dcschoolreportcard.org/schools/160-1117

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White PTO president here, and it was an interesting read, although, like another poster said, the article read as a promotional piece for Kindred.

It's really tough because the parents that tend to step up to help are white and/or UMC. We flier, send text messages, emails, etc., but we rarely get new faces at our meetings or volunteering at our events. The dad at YY walked into a room, didn't see a lot of faces that looked like his, and walked out. How is that the fault of the PTA leadership? And how would Kindred get him to stay and help?

Kindly, did you read the article? The point is -- that your methods of engagement are literally premised on facilitating involvement of white people. If you want engagement, you have to change what you're doing. Sending out emails and fliers then throwing up your hands is not enough. It is absolutely your fault if you don't make more of an effort. Perhaps you don't care because you just think there's work to be done, and that what you are doing benefits everyone regardless of race. That's not a completely wrong position. But if you are troubled by lack of engagement and think the beginning and end of your responsibility is to send out an email to the listserve -- then yeah, it is your fault.

Dp. I strongly disagree with this take. What are you waiting for - a printed invitation with beautiful calligraphy and a limo to bring you to the meetings? What other excuses do you have?

I'm with the person imploring someone to read.

Part of the solution lies in how you talk to and greet people of color in your school. Are you sharp with the teachers or principal/AP? Do you engage other parents -- out side of those you knew from playgroup -- during dropoff and pickup? Have you tried to get to know the parents of OLDER students in the school? If a parent of color tries to step up, even something as small as buying a tshirt, do you thank thank them (anecdote from the article).

There are lots of small signals that a gentrifier parent can send and be oblivious to and it's worth stepping back and considering your own behavior. And yes, I absolutely believe that ANY new preschool parent has the burden of listening more than they talk, asking polite questions rather than busting in and trying to upend things (food, after care, PTA dues, etc) in the first month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found this story pretty interesting. It talks about some of the cultural clashes and pitfalls when a school begins to gentrify in DC or there is a wide disparity in experiences and expectations about school. It describes what happens when new to DC (usually white families) clash with native Washingtonians. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/as-cities-gentrify-and-schools-diversify-ptos-grapple-to-ensure-all-parent-voices-are-heard/2019/09/20/50314488-7277-11e9-8be0-ca575670e91c_story.html

It features Kindred, a nonprofit founded by Laura Phelan, that is going into PTA/PTOs to get parents within a school community to talk, share and hopefully find ways to collaborate. It says that they are in 12 schools, including YY, Bancroft.

One anecdote stood out to me -- that many black parents see school leadership as authority figures and they perceive white parents as coming in and making demands and not respecting the administrators.

Did anyone else read this? Is your school working with Kindred? Do you see this dynamic at your children's schools?

THIS is YY's biggest problem? Not enough AA parents these days?

How about the actual problem of the school enrolling no more than a handful (literally) of students who mainly speak Chinese at home? How about the fact that great majority of YY students hardly speak Chinese after 7 or 8 years of 50% immersion in the program?

As a native Mandarin speaker, I hear the two dozen upper grades YY students around the neighborhood I've known for years speaking at roughly the same level as my PreK4 kid.

Ludicrous. I've posted this comment on the Post comments.

You post this comment everywhere. Perhaps you could start your own YY sticky so we can return to the main topic of this thread?

Or his own Mandarin immersion school

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster who said that these efforts really need to be led by the school administration and school leadership, not the PTA. Efforts like Kindred's program can feed into the work the PTA is doing and (potentially) help identify potential PTA leaders, but it is really, really hard for parent leaders to successfully execute this work themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White PTO president here, and it was an interesting read, although, like another poster said, the article read as a promotional piece for Kindred.

It's really tough because the parents that tend to step up to help are white and/or UMC. We flier, send text messages, emails, etc., but we rarely get new faces at our meetings or volunteering at our events. The dad at YY walked into a room, didn't see a lot of faces that looked like his, and walked out. How is that the fault of the PTA leadership? And how would Kindred get him to stay and help?

Kindly, did you read the article? The point is -- that your methods of engagement are literally premised on facilitating involvement of white people. If you want engagement, you have to change what you're doing. Sending out emails and fliers then throwing up your hands is not enough. It is absolutely your fault if you don't make more of an effort. Perhaps you don't care because you just think there's work to be done, and that what you are doing benefits everyone regardless of race. That's not a completely wrong position. But if you are troubled by lack of engagement and think the beginning and end of your responsibility is to send out an email to the listserve -- then yeah, it is your fault.

Dp. I strongly disagree with this take. What are you waiting for - a printed invitation with beautiful calligraphy and a limo to bring you to the meetings? What other excuses do you have?

I'm with the person imploring someone to read.

Part of the solution lies in how you talk to and greet people of color in your school. Are you sharp with the teachers or principal/AP? Do you engage other parents -- out side of those you knew from playgroup -- during dropoff and pickup? Have you tried to get to know the parents of OLDER students in the school? If a parent of color tries to step up, even something as small as buying a tshirt, do you thank thank them (anecdote from the article).

There are lots of small signals that a gentrifier parent can send and be oblivious to and it's worth stepping back and considering your own behavior. And yes, I absolutely believe that ANY new preschool parent has the burden of listening more than they talk, asking polite questions rather than busting in and trying to upend things (food, after care, PTA dues, etc) in the first month.

I get what you are saying, and yet this idea that the white/PTA folk need to walk on eggshells seems premised in the perspective that they are intruders or guests and need to show deference?

What if there were just mutual respect as neighbors?

What if the t-shirt buyer thanked the volunteer(s) for giving time on behalf the school to design, order, store, and market the t-shirts to build community and raise money?

[Anonymous]

As a white parent in a predominantly black school, I am very careful about what I advocate for the school. I generally focus on obtaining extra money and resources. Things that benefit teachers and the school community. If parents have problems with that I wish they would tell me. I can stop because it’s a huge time suck. Teachers have told me they really appreciate my work. I read the article and it’s interesting how people approach things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:White PTO president here, and it was an interesting read, although, like another poster said, the article read as a promotional piece for Kindred.

It's really tough because the parents that tend to step up to help are white and/or UMC. We flier, send text messages, emails, etc., but we rarely get new faces at our meetings or volunteering at our events. The dad at YY walked into a room, didn't see a lot of faces that looked like his, and walked out. How is that the fault of the PTA leadership? And how would Kindred get him to stay and help?

Kindly, did you read the article? The point is -- that your methods of engagement are literally premised on facilitating involvement of white people. If you want engagement, you have to change what you're doing. Sending out emails and fliers then throwing up your hands is not enough. It is absolutely your fault if you don't make more of an effort. Perhaps you don't care because you just think there's work to be done, and that what you are doing benefits everyone regardless of race. That's not a completely wrong position. But if you are troubled by lack of engagement and think the beginning and end of your responsibility is to send out an email to the listserve -- then yeah, it is your fault.

Dp. I strongly disagree with this take. What are you waiting for - a printed invitation with beautiful calligraphy and a limo to bring you to the meetings? What other excuses do you have?

I'm with the person imploring someone to read.

Part of the solution lies in how you talk to and greet people of color in your school. Are you sharp with the teachers or principal/AP? Do you engage other parents -- out side of those you knew from playgroup -- during dropoff and pickup? Have you tried to get to know the parents of OLDER students in the school? If a parent of color tries to step up, even something as small as buying a tshirt, do you thank thank them (anecdote from the article).

There are lots of small signals that a gentrifier parent can send and be oblivious to and it's worth stepping back and considering your own behavior. And yes, I absolutely believe that ANY new preschool parent has the burden of listening more than they talk, asking polite questions rather than busting in and trying to upend things (food, after care, PTA dues, etc) in the first month.

I get what you are saying, and yet this idea that the white/PTA folk need to walk on eggshells seems premised in the perspective that they are intruders or guests and need to show deference?

What if there were just mutual respect as neighbors?

What if the t-shirt buyer thanked the volunteer(s) for giving time on behalf the school to design, order, store, and market the t-shirts to build community and raise money?

Yeah. I'm white parent largely sensitive to many concerns of families of color in my kid's school, but I do a big internal eye roll over that one. Some people will think your mere presence in your boundary school makes you entitled and nothing will change that perception. I don't even get into the high numbers of OOB students at the school . . . or the occasional boundary cheats.

[Anonymous]

Coming in and getting to know people before advocating for big changes is not walking on eggshells.

It's both respectful and common sense.

And given what has been state above and in the article, OF COURSE the teachers will tell you they appreciate what you do. Because you are a white person who has more power than they do.

Implicit bias runs in every direction, and the reality is most of us rarely confront it head on.

[Anonymous]

It seems odd to me that YY is so prominently featured in this article since the school's demographics have been pretty consistent for years; i.e. it's not been affected by the gentrification that's the whole premise of the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems odd to me that YY is so prominently featured in this article since the school's demographics have been pretty consistent for years; i.e. it's not been affected by the gentrification that's the whole premise of the article.

They're trying to build bridges between people who want their child to learn Mandarin, and people who don't actually care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems odd to me that YY is so prominently featured in this article since the school's demographics have been pretty consistent for years; i.e. it's not been affected by the gentrification that's the whole premise of the article.

Eh, it strikes me that YY is just where the reporter had sources and could find a black parent to go on the record. But yeah, it's not a great example of a "gentrifying" school.