Reply to If you don't join and/or volunteer in your school's PTA, please explain why

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Reply to "If you don't join and/or volunteer in your school's PTA, please explain why"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Halloween is a beloved American holiday, celebrated primarily by white families who are part of the mainstream culture. [b]There are plenty of families, disproportionately families of color, who don't celebrate Halloween.  Unfortunately these family's voices are rarely heard at school, and even more rarely heard at PTA meetings.  [/b]The irony is that many schools have Halloween celebrations, with large number of students staying home or attending "alternative activities" in the library, but the same schools would never have a Christmas party and expect non-Christian kids to sit in the library or stay home.  As far as denying your kid a party, no one is doing that.  My kid attended an elementary school with no Halloween party and yet managed to celebrate every year, when we hosted a party at our home.

As far as PTA's hiring staff, it's a practice that is illegal in most parts of the country, and yet congress has forced it upon us here in the District.  In my opinion, [b]allowing wealthy schools to supplement their budgets in this way provides a disincentive for those who are most able to advocate for better allocation of funds, and citywide support of small class sizes and arts instruction to do so. [/b]

Regarding the Halloween parties, I'm not familiar with the situation you are talking about and who the "families of color" in question might be. We used to live in a city with a very diverse population, and when we were out on Halloween night, there were tons of "families of color" running around the streets trick-or-treating. To the extent that there is a significant number of  families that object to this practice, it is up to them to let the administration or the PTA know so that their objections can be taken into account. If they don't say anything, they can't complain. FWIW, I'm not Christian, grew up in a predominantly Christian country (not the US) and always thought Christmas parties were great and looked forward to them, so I'm not defending anybody's traditions in particular.

Regarding the practice of allowing wealthy schools to supplement their budgets with 501(c)3 money, I completely disagree with you about what would happen if you prevented that, having lived in an predominantly dismal urban school district in which our school shone precisely because of the socio-economics of the parent body and the support they were able to provide. Simply put, the only reason the parents took a chance on the school was that they were able to bring it up to the standards they expected by throwing money at it. Had they not been able to do that, they would simply decamp to privates or to the suburbs. The idea that they would pin their hopes on advocacy or even be willing to put in the time and effort rather than writing a $1000 check simply doesn't chime with the reality I experienced. As a result of that, a significant number of children from families of more modest means who would have been relegated to yet another dismal school were able to benefit from that support. [/quote]

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