Reply to There Needs to Be Enforced Equity Among PTA's

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][i]I was President of one of these more wealthy associations and we donated a huge amount of money to the county to disperse to other schools that didn't have the same level of participation as the more successful schools.  We also mentored their association on fund raising etc.  It isn't that they don't have the money in those areas, it is they lack participation.[/i]

And why do you think they lack participation? People are working! People that don't make as much money have more inflexible jobs. They also tend to work in the evenings when these meetings are held (like me). They also probably can't afford a house cleaner, so they have to keep up their house themselves after work. They also probably can't afford to order take out as much either-- cooking dinner takes time. They might also not have two cars, or might have to rely on public transportation to make it to the school-- public transportation that stops running or gets scarce later in the day. It blows my mind that people don't see the connection. A lack of participation doesn't mean that parents don't care-- it's that they don't have the energy to do so after all the other work they have to do. The wealthy have easier lives in a million little ways that add up to them having more energy to participate.[/quote]

I was a PTA officer of a very poor school with high FARMS and ESOL rates.  We made dinner available to people, encouraged them to bring their whole family to PTA meetings, had childcare and babysitting provided with movie nights, ran shuttles, to get the parents to participate. Crickets! None of the poor people showed up. Did not matter when we had the meetings, did not matter if we had translators, if we had coffee and breakfast made available to them, had weekend events for the family. LOL! These people did not show up.

I don't resent the rich school. Because rich or poor, no one wants to parent their children it seems and parental participation is very little in both rich and poor school.  Yes, the rich can still throw money for outsourcing their kid's education, opportunities or EC activities because they are  aware of the path to a MC/UMC/Rich life and what education and ECs their kids will need to at least get into a good college.

The awful truth is that for uneducated parents or poorly educated parents in poor schools, they have no idea of what the education that opens the door to college and career even looks like. They are not the guides that their children can get help from. As a result, they completely cede control to the school and not question any made up statistics that the school tells them.  They are gullible and they are powerless. They are fed the lies by unscrupulous administrators that the achievement gap is completely filled in their schools.

They do not even understand what they hear because they themselves are poorly educated.  They will not be involved with the PTA because they see  no reason to advocate for their child. They can easily be manipulated by MCPS and school administration to advocate for dismantling programs that they think give unfair advantages to other children doing better than theirs.  They are fed the lies that their kids are doing poorly because other kids have taken the resources of their children.  They never ask more of the administration and the teachers, but somehow their sense of entitlement to get some sort of restitution from others doing better than them is immense.

I think the PTA of rich schools should not feel guilty for what they do for their own children. I find this misplaced guilt even more annoying than the fact that they have money. Seriously.

MCPS provides the same to rich and poor schools. However, the parents of poor school cannot even maximize what opportunities MCPS provides.  However, they will bellyache about the icecream socials that the rich school kids get through their PTA.  They don't know that they need to ask MCPS for more Math and English tutoring, more experienced teachers, more aides in the classrooms.   This is the level of understanding of their own problems.

Rich parents want their kids to go to college and know what career path they will choose. Poor parents don't have any idea of what this path will mean. They are aware that other kids are doing better but it is easier to be the fake victim of others pickpocketing their "golden"  opportunities rather than to accept that they are in a deep, deep hole because of whatever reasons and they need to get the help to get out of it.  That is the reason this thread was started.  To blame for your own misfortunes and shortcoming someone else, rather than face what your own disadvantages are and find a way out.  They don't acknowledge their problems and swallow the bitter pill, so their ongoing chronic disease of underachievement is never addressed. [/quote]

Did you stop to consider it was either you or a past president/board that was not welcoming.  You can offer all those things but not be welcoming or inclusive and why would people participate.  The other issue is the schools run separate groups and generally its very segregated.[/quote]

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