Reply to Title 1 Schools - Parental Involvement

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been down that road.  For several years, I took off work, left work and volunteered, organized and ran programs, with the support of a few teachers and a few parents along with occasional admin support.  It is a daunting and exhausting task.

The things that worked best when it came to parental involvement were having activities like awards programs at night so working parents (which was most) could come.  Fundraisers, had to be simple (a fall festival at the school, which did get parent volunteers). We also had a successful fundraiser that was largely supported by community members ('gentrifying' neighborhood) and a few business partners.  Free activities also help with community building, but you need sponsors for them.

Does your school have a website and listserv?  What about a newsletter?  Things that promote open lines of communication can be very helpful.

A parent organization seemed like a good idea, but that's when things really started to fall apart- too many chiefs, and unfortunately some who didn't have the skill set for the positions they volunteered for.  I think in the start, a more 'loosely organized' group with simple goals would have been better initially.  Everybody suggest some activities and see which have the most traction and go from there...

Eventually my husband and I decided it was time to move on, and placed our children in fantastic charter schools, but I truly wish things had worked out differently.  I wish you well.     [/quote]

OP here, thanks for your response! We have done some fundraising this year in the PTO, but most of our focus has been on community-building. The old PTO (under different leadership) was much more top-down, and as a result didn't have families, teachers, and administrators attend; the new PTO leadership is trying to get more families to come to meetings, so they've focused on bringing in external speakers, engaging teachers and the administration in the meetings, and such. They also offer free babysitting so it is easier for parents to attend. But over time, I think naturally the PTO will begin to engage in more fundraising. The school has a lot of extra $ coming in from things like being title 1, having lots of high-risk kids, etc., so there is not as much pressure to fundraise as at some of the wealthier schools.

I am very lucky that I have a flexible job and a two-parent household, so that I can more easily take time off for things like attending an open house, chaperoning field trips, and doing after-work events like PTO meetings and such. Thus, though I definitely give a good amount of my time to the school, I don't feel overwhelmed by it; essentially, I have replaced the volunteer work I used to do before my child went to public school with volunteer work for the school, and it does not feel hard. And I am far from the only parent who volunteers--the PTO president does a ton, and a bunch of the families have helped on a day-to-day basis and with specific projects.

The thing that being involved in the school and engaging with the kids and parents gives me is a feeling like my family is really a part of the community, rather than the "gentrifier" coming in and trying to "save" the school. The school is great--obviously not without its challenges, but we wouldn't send our daughter there if we didn't think it was a place that she would do well. That is not to say that there aren't changed we would like to see--but I see those as requiring buy-in from the whole community and happening slowly over time. [/quote]

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