Reply to A PS3 Parent's Perspective on Bancroft

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[quote=Anonymous]I'm a parent at a growing EOTP school (and don't quite feel comfortable outing myself or the school) but even though we have some similar issues I feel much more positive and optimistic.

Communication is done by every avenue available from phone call to email to text message and parents have set up a message board and active parents are frequently working together via email.  Parents have good relationships with teachers and administration.  Administration always, always communicates as much as humanly possible, though faster would always be nice.  As OP mentioned, finding about an assembly less than a week out means working parents usually can't get time off.

The really big issue is [b]institutionalization[/b]. The parent organization is active but is building the car as it is being driven. The organization does not have set officers so every event is put together by recruiting willing parents and self-assigning roles.  Active parents put together events with cooperation of administration on a one-off basis rather than a strong set schedule that lets everyone know what to prep for, how much money should be on hand to do it or to raise.

And in classrooms anyone active can participate, sign up to bring snacks, etc., but no one is assigned a role as home room mom or anything.  So a snack assignment can go missed.

It's the institutions that are still being created that make it tough.  We have limited knowledge of how to create such institutions and it feels like reinventing the wheel sometimes. A strong existing PTA west of Park just pulls you in and I assume mostly has to just acculturate you to what is happening.  We are deciding whether X, Y or Z are good/important/unnecessary, etc. by the seat of our pants.

On the other hand for parents like me, it has been really rewarding to build up those institutions and see everyone get behind new events and institutions we are creating.  And I feel optimistic we are adding social capital to the school and the neighborhood.  The optimistic scrappy attitude at the school is infectious - like the montage scene where the little guy trains/studies/works all night to overcome the low expectations set for him confident he's gonna come out successful and jaws are gonna drop.  It feels great despite being the PTA equivalent of one-handed pushups.

So it must be tough to be at Bancroft.  Everyone thinks of it as post-gentrified but Bancroft's parental complaints seem to persist despite change.  The overall vibe seems to be stagnation, which is no fun.[/quote]

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