Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a white person with money supposed to do. We go to all rich schools with high test scores we are greedy racists who don’t share. We go to poor schools and try and raise the standards and abdicate for our kids (the horror I know) we are oppressive and not sensitive to people who can’t keep up. If we go private we are elitist who are the scum of the earth.

What you really want is rich people to go sit in the corner and be quite. That isn’t how power works even if the new generation has confused outrage with power.

Advocate for your kids, please.

But don't advocate ONLY for your kids.

Will an URM parent ever advocate for UMC children? Will poor parents ever advocate for the rich kids in the school?

"Them that has, gets" is a well-established principle, but this is the first time I've ever seen anybody support the principle that them that don't has should advocate for them that has to get more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a white person with money supposed to do. We go to all rich schools with high test scores we are greedy racists who don’t share. We go to poor schools and try and raise the standards and abdicate for our kids (the horror I know) we are oppressive and not sensitive to people who can’t keep up. If we go private we are elitist who are the scum of the earth.

What you really want is rich people to go sit in the corner and be quite. That isn’t how power works even if the new generation has confused outrage with power.

Advocate for your kids, please.

But don't advocate ONLY for your kids.

Will an URM parent ever advocate for UMC children? Will poor parents ever advocate for the rich kids in the school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Agree. I work at a high FARMS school where the PTA president refuses to spend PTA money on interpreters to attend the PTA meetings, which essentially keeps the Spanish speaking majority away from participating in the PTA. When we looked closely at the budget and expenses, we saw that the amount of money spent on book fair decorations would pay for the interpreter for the whole year but the president still wouldn't budge. They said that if a staff member would volunteer their time to interpret then they would be ok with it. Staff members ended up finding high school students needing SSL hours. The PTA serves the interests of the English speaking UMC minority, and not the majority of the school's population.

The PTA President doesn't get to make all the decisions. Even the Board doesn't get to make all decisions. Votes should be open to members at meetings to vote on budget items. Anyone can propose an amendment on the floor for a public vote. Get more involved in your PTA and more educated on how PTA is *supposed* to work, then you can effect change. If there is an issue with the PTA board at your local school, go to your Cluster Coordinator or Area VP for support. Contact the MCCPTA if you don't know who your cluster coordinator or Area VP are.

I suggest you read the article. You can't expect poor, non-English speaking parents who barely have a high school education if that to walk into a PTA meeting and take on the 4-5 mothers with advanced degrees who are controlling everything by calling for a floor vote and an amendment to get interpreters. The point of the article is that the low income parents are intimidated by them and have neither the time nor debate skills to prevail.

Excuses and more excuses. You are an enabler to a population that keeps considering themselves as inferior. Keep catering to them and they will never step out of their comfort zone. Why not empower them to stand up and speak up for themselves rather than doing it for them? Sounds harsh but it is indeed a harsh and competitive world.

It's a special kind of gift to see immigrants who move somewhere where they can't speak the language as people who don't leave their "comfort zones."

All immigrants that come to the US should learn to speak English. There are free adult ESL classes all over the county, at libraries, churches etc. Some people do not make the effort because someone keeps on translating for them. Learning to communicate in English will help them communicate better with their children, get jobs etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been that mom.
Always provided interpretation yet participation was low. I choose to think it is because they can’t, not won’t.
Advocated for my child, yes, but kept being told that teachers don’t have resources to really differentiate (except if a kid is really gifted and willing to do extra work after having done what is busywork for them).
My kid finally lotteried into a middle class school recently and I am so happy.
I have come to think that the needs and wants of UMC and farms/ESOL are almost the opposites. They are so different that it is impossible to cater to both groups in the same school unless they are separate groups maybe (tracking).

PTA is a lot about fulfilling the wants, the extra stuff in a more affluent school. In higher farms schools it’s about fulfilling the needs. When you have a mixed population one group is gonna get the short end of the stick. Same thing with the classrooms, high performers and low performers have very different needs and they cannot equally be fulfilled. Diversity is good thing but how do we handle these issues?

Anonymous wrote:What is a white person with money supposed to do. We go to all rich schools with high test scores we are greedy racists who don’t share. We go to poor schools and try and raise the standards and abdicate for our kids (the horror I know) we are oppressive and not sensitive to people who can’t keep up. If we go private we are elitist who are the scum of the earth.

What you really want is rich people to go sit in the corner and be quite. That isn’t how power works even if the new generation has confused outrage with power.

Anonymous wrote:I have been that mom.
Always provided interpretation yet participation was low. I choose to think it is because they can’t, not won’t.
Advocated for my child, yes, but kept being told that teachers don’t have resources to really differentiate (except if a kid is really gifted and willing to do extra work after having done what is busywork for them).
My kid finally lotteried into a middle class school recently and I am so happy.
I have come to think that the needs and wants of UMC and farms/ESOL are almost the opposites. They are so different that it is impossible to cater to both groups in the same school unless they are separate groups maybe (tracking).