Parent Power!
Helping You Make Sense of Schooling Today

Kristen P. Lasker
Managing Editor

Libby Sternberg
Contributing Editor

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Washington, DC 20036
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Published Monthly by
The Center for Education Reform
Jeanne Allen, President

Please contact us to share a unique experience as a parent educating your child or to comment about the contents of this newsletter.

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A Parent's Turn:

ORGANIZING ON THE SIDELINES OF THE SOCCER FIELD: A Story About One Mom's Struggle to Overcome Complacency In Her School

By Roberta Stone

I learned about my children's education on the sidelines of the soccer field. As a "soccer mom" I spent my weekends talking with other parents about everything but soccer. In 1994, when my middle daughter, Caroline, was in sixth grade, and my oldest daughter, Erica, was in eighth grade, I discovered that they had slipped between the cracks of an educational system that focused on the polar components of the spectrum - the special education kids and the gifted. The eighty percent who fell in between the cracks were silently ignored.

          The sidelines became the perfect breeding ground for our parent group. That fall became the "winter of our discontent." We soccer moms were learning a great deal from each other about what was or was not happening in our children's classrooms.

          These informal meetings led me to scrutinize the report card Caroline brought home that fall. I remember the "A" my daughter was awarded in Composition and Reading. This puzzled me as I had not seen or read one composition she had written, and she had read only one book the entire quarter. We compared notes on this and discovered that required reading lists varied widely in each school and classroom. There was no continuity in the system. We found this, and other discrepancies, appalling.

          I was prompted to write a letter (copied to the principal) requesting a copy of all compositions my daughter wrote that quarter, plus a current copy of the sixth-grade book list. The teacher, an experienced veteran ready to retire, could produce no such items by Christmas, nor could the principal. Several failed conferences later, I learned that the teacher took an early retirement due to health reasons.

          This event propelled me into organizing our small group of soccer moms into a grassroots coalition called the Parent Education Group (PEG).

          The first meeting, which took place in my living room, was with a meager six people. Our mission statement was nebulous at first- we just wanted to get involved, but involvement led to control. We wanted some sense of ownership in our children's education. No more was the principal to take us one by one and placate us into believing that they were doing the best for our children, pat us on the back, and send us on our way. She now had to meet with all of us together face to face and explain the curriculum and the goals the school had for each of our children. She was where the buck stopped - she had to explain those inequitable book lists, empty composition grades and math groups to all of us.

          Reluctant but guardedly cooperative, she brought along the Assistant Principal, Reading Specialist, Assistant Superintendent and other notables to talk to us. You could cut the tension in those monthly meetings with a knife, but the ultimate results of our efforts were dramatic.

          Reading lists were composed for the first time. Curriculum issues were slowly resolved to both sides' mutual satisfaction. One time, I convinced our principal that our group wanted to see a written syllabus for the year from each teacher we visited on Parent Night. She at first rebuffed, but two weeks later, every teacher produced a written syllabus for the year. Every Parent Night since, the school has provided that addition to their presentation - another way to hold them accountable for what they teach.

          Buoyed by our momentum and commitment, and convinced we were here to stay, our town education leaders invited parents like me to participate in a curriculum revision. Our input carried a great deal of weight. After four years, the sixth-grade social studies curriculum was changed from South America and the Caribbean to Ancient History, a fight we finally won, but unfortunately, too late for my own children to benefit. But future students did benefit and will continue to, as long as their parents hold a constant vigil over their educational lives.

          The solitary six who sat in my living room that October 1994 grew over the course of the next few months and years. Word spread quickly (soccer fields notwithstanding). The six turned to sixteen and nearly sixty. There were a lot of malcontents who were silently suffering until they were given the right to their voice - a voice that was never heard at the PTA or PTO meetings where the only discussion was who was baking for the next bake sale and other non-sequiturs. These topics had little to do with our mission or goals. Parent groups such as ours need to separate themselves from PTO's and PTA's for this reason.

Epilogue:

          Though I never did secure a teaching position in my own town, I did land a wonderful one as a middle school social studies teacher in a neighboring town, a job that I love and take very seriously. On Open School Night, I provide the parents with a detailed syllabus of my yearly goals and a weekly agenda of my plans, so that they can play an active role in their children's education. I attempt to keep up with the town's curricular goals, as do my colleagues in the same grade. I am not a member of the teacher's union because I feel that if I am not fulfilling my duties as an effective inspiring educator, they can rid themselves of my services without the bureaucratic red tape so often the case in this field.

          The principal in my story and I have maintained a mutual respect and admiration for each other, for despite her reservations, she turned out to be a wonderful partner in elevating education to its rightful place and I applaud her for that.

Roberta is a parent and teacher living in Fairfield, Connecticut.