Reply to Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?

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Reply to "Can Gentrifers Use Their Skills and Resources to "Make" a Great School?"

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[quote=Anonymous]Here is my impression from years of experience with DCPS:

What many parents don't understand is that making a school succeed takes a ton of work. It doesn't matter if the kids are from high-SES families or poverty stricken. All that changes is who contributes to do the work to make it succeed. In a school with high poverty, it will require outside groups, nonprofits, and dedicated staff to out in lots of extra work while DCPS outs in additional resources (which it does). In a higher SES school, you won't get much outside help from community groups or even DCPS. But no matter where you go in DCPS there will be limited resources, some weak staff, and plenty of children that need extra help.

Raising money isn't going to solve all the problems and it isn't where the real change is made. Many people may choose not to believe it, but the JKLM schools have been successful for generations because parents stay involved, informed and worked together as a community. If there wasn't a library, parents volunteered to create one and staff it. If there weren't afterschool activities, parents volunteered to create and run them. If something was broken, a parent volunteered to fix it. I admit that some schools have a parent base that has more capacity - time, skills, and connections - to do these things. If the parent base doesn't have them, work with the school to identify outside groups that do. But some of it can be done by anyone with the goal of helping the school and not just their child.

In short, you should get to know the school and work to continue strengthening the community that already exists at the school. (At Powell, in particular, they already have a good community. Work to stregthen what already exists.) Work with others to identify and fill whatever gaps are there. It isn't enough to identify the problems, you have to help identify solutions and the resources to create change. And remember that time and energy are the most important resources you can offer. There is plenty of work to go around.[/quote]

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