Time Bank, PTA, Family Leadership & Me. Part 1

The hook: Journalist Juan Pablo Tapia's twitter post: Time Bank in Chile begins:

“When we received the letter with the sample copy of the textbook Society for Fifth Grade from Santillana and we saw that in our hands was the proof that the Time Bank project for Chile had a future which we couldn't yet measure, we were truly moved as a team." (my translation)

This wonderful announcement reminded me of some experiences and connections that relate to my education advocacy and the dilemmas I face in building partnerships to further the action.

Keeping the faith & the focus I've been an activist in education for over 40 years. I didn’t start out as that: I was a naïve, peppy high school English teacher who was amazed at the acceptance and wonderful connections I was making with students and families. Isolated and socially disconnected in college and previously even more alone in high school, I was basking in the Del Rio, Texas San Felipe community. Over my first four years as a public school teacher & faithful evening Catholic Church bible teacher I began to experience the inequities of schools for poor children and the intransigence of the church in addressing social needs. I acted on my righteous indignation but I was mostly angry at how blind and naive I had been.

Along the education activist way, I’ve met and connected with many social events and projects that merit support and whose fundamental principles I value. I’ve had to learn, the hard way, that keeping a clear direction and focus is very important: many a good group/organization has lost its way through dispersal (being all things to all people). In my 33+ years with IDRA I’ve learned tough lessons about advocacy & staying on track. Our founder, Dr. Jose Cardenas, regularly guided us with some pithy lessons i.e., Never Promote a Promoter. Part of our history has been as much the fending off projects that would distract us from the public school advocacy at our core as reaching out and collaborating with efforts which have something in common. I'm regularly reminded by my boss, IDRA President & CEO Dr. Maria Robledo Montecel, about straying from our path to other clearly virtuous but different directions. Our yellow brick road goes directly to the excellent neighborhood public schools that work for all children.

Possible Partners I’m going to highlight (in two posts) two examples of worthy movements that might eventually be a partnership for the specific goals of IDRA: Time Bank and PTA.

Time Bank In the spirit of learning about & giving assistance to a possible partner I connected with Edgar Cahn and a movement then titled Time Dollar Time Bank . Edgar is a brilliant man with a marvelous, intelligent and courageous history in social justice efforts, from founding such programs as federally funded Legal Aid, to helping students in Washington D.C. become legal advocates and mediators. I met him several years ago through a mutual friend who was helping Time Dollar firm up a national training program, now wisely renamed Time Bank. I offered my pro-bono services with the reciprocity expectation to apply the concept to parent leadership in education. I invited them to come to Texas and facilitated some planning and also invited selected key Time Bank trainers to participate in the WOW Workshop on Workshops bilingual training of trainers that I developed and provide to emerging parent leaders and school family liaisons. Eventually Edgar invited me to the annual Time Bank conference in Canada. I really appreciate the gift and the honor from a sister non-profit group with budget challenges, but was not able to move any single local project in the direction of directly championing and nurturing parent leadership in education: two good ideas whose real partnership time has not yet come.
As befits any valuable effort, Time Bank proponents spent most of their communication time with me attempting to
1) Convince me in the power & efficacy of their project (unnecessary because I quickly saw the depth & breadth of a movement that validated the rich resources present within the most economically disadvantaged of communities and also set up a practical means of organizing, documenting and managing the reciprocity of services).

Time Banks Weave Community One Hour at a Time -- For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one Time Dollar. Then you have a Time Dollar to pend on having someone do something for you. It's that simple. Yet it also has profound effects. Time Banks change neighborhoods and whole communities. Time Banking is a social change movement in 22 countries and six continents

2) Recruit me to their effort. That would happen just after Edgar Cahn was convinced to move to San Antonio, join IDRA’s education advocacy effort, and lead our effort to create a public will to support equitable, excellent and fully funded public education. :)~ I’m focused on, committed to and live for creating schools that work for all children. My and my organization’s coattails are no longer than those of any other effort with focus, integrity and elegance of action. Many, many important, necessary and laudable efforts exist to meet the many critical social needs of our society. Effective movements make choices: we make transparent, tactical and strategic connections, but only where the VENN diagrams of our goals, objectives and activities overlap. None of us have survived and had critical impact by taking on other’s broader or distant goals.

My hope/expectation was to pilot a Time Bank project within an existing community organization with Parent Leadership in Education as it’s strongest if not singular direction. My dream has yet to materialize. Sad fact: I would be hard pressed to find in any TB literature specific mention of, or support for IDRA and our work: why would they even think of giving reciprocal ink -- even for this free plug in my blog!

I will persist in support of parent leadership in education because they are the inherently prime defenders of their children’s education --directly supporting excellent neighborhood public schools. I will support the organizations and the tools that will promote & maintain Parent Leadership in Education.

Bottom line for Time Bank and IDRA: We are neither mutually overdrawn nor bankrupt but friends with balanced accounts, investing -- at a distance.

Next Blog: PTA & Time Bank connection for Parent Leadership? Maybe

7 Resolutions To Make for our Student's Sake

This post is mostly taken from the e-newsletter my colleague Laurie Posner produces for IDRA , our organization.
● ● ● Seven Resolutions We Must Make and Keep for Kids ● ● ●
Resolution #1: Count All Students; Make Sure All Students Count As 2008 drew to a close, the U.S. Department of Education set final regulations for a uniform way to calculate graduation rates across states. We’re making progress on the issue. But a 2008 survey by the Data Quality Campaign finds that just six states now have all 10 essential elements of a robust longitudinal data system.
Take Action: Be the voice for transparent counts and accountability in your community. Visit the Data Quality Campaign to find out how your state is faring, then press for all needed systems to be in place to count and account for every student. If you are a school leader, convert data to action by convening a school-community forum to set out a joint vision for students, look together at outcome data and form a plan for improving results. IDRA can help. For a model of how cross-sector, cross-race leaders have gathered for such forums as part of IDRA’s Pathways to Graduation project in southern and southwestern states, see: A Community Speaks – A Report on Little Rock’s Coalition-Building for Education: Blueprint Dialogues for Action or IDRA’s Blueprints for Action teamsite.
Resolution #2: Replace Silver Bullets with Sea Changes Education Week’s Diplomas Count 2008 found that while graduation rates have “inched up” nationwide, still only 71 percent of ninth graders graduate with a diploma four years later. IDRA’s most recent study of attrition shows that eight Texas regions have higher school attrition rates than they did two decades ago. When one in three students doesn’t graduate with a high school diploma, it’s time to stop tinkering around the edges of the problem.
Take Action: Holding on to all students and preparing them for success calls for comprehensive action. We must make immediate changes to keep from losing students who are right now at risk of dropping out. But we must also transform teaching and learning so that all students thrive. For a model of coordinated action, visit IDRA’s Quality Schools Action Framework or tune in to “Action for School Change” a Classnotes podcast episode that features IDRA president and CEO, Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, describing the four elements needed for school success. In promoting systemic change, school-community-family partnerships are key. Organized Communities, Stronger Schools, research findings from the Annenberg Institute, found that “successful [community] organizing strategies contributed to increased student attendance, improved standardized-test-score performance, and higher graduation rates and college-going aspirations in several sites.”
Resolution #3: Value All Children, without Compromise Research on IDRA’s Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, implemented in the United States and Brazil, shows that the single most important factor in keeping students in school is to ensure that there is at least one caring adult who values them, follows their progress and helps keep them on track. The results are evident: since the program’s inception in 1984, over 98 percent of participating students stay in school. To date, the program has kept in school more than 25,000 young people who were previously considered at risk of dropping out.
Take Action: Refuse to define students in terms of deficits; instead, recognize and build on their strengths. To learn more about how to put a valuing model and service learning at the core of dropout prevention, visit the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program web site , listen in to: “Learnings from the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program,” “Dropout Prevention for Students with Special Needs,” “Creating Leadership Opportunities for Students,” or visit “Valuing Youth with Disabilities Educational Outcomes and the Art of Culture.”
Resolution #4: Start Early, But Don’t Stop There Investment in quality pre-K programs pays off, according to study after study including state data released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten, Robert G. Lynch reports that annual benefits of investing in pre-K education outstrip costs by more than 12 to 1. Lynch finds that the benefits don’t fade over time: quality pre-K programs result in greater student success in school, higher graduation rates and job earnings.
Take Action: Support students from the start. To make the case in your community, click here for EPI factsheets on the costs and benefits of pre-K programs in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and here for data from Annie E. Casey’s Kids Count Data Center. Beyond promoting access to early childhood education, press for high quality programs for children of all backgrounds. To learn more on how to transform early learning centers into “centers of excellence” visit: http://idra.createsend3.com/t/r/l/jyurdd/uyyhilu/z.
Resolution #5: Secure 21st Century Teaching Quality – for All Students In spite of the emphasis on quality teaching built in to the No Child Left Behind Act, children in high-poverty schools in America are more likely to be taught English, science and mathematics by an out-of-field teacher than those in a low-poverty school. Teaching quality and student-teacher relationships are critical to success, but as education researcher Dr. Linda Darling Hammond asserted in an interview with PBS, schools are still “constructed as though teaching doesn’t matter.”
Take Action: Take a lead role in promoting equity and 21st Century teaching quality in your district and state for all students. Help shape the conversation about teaching and learning for today’s students and how this must be tied to professional development by visiting the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ “Route 21” web site. To zero in on strengthening teaching quality, see: “Seven Principles for Effective Professional Development for Diverse Schools” by Dr. Abelardo Villarreal, director of Field Services at IDRA.
Resolution #6: Overcome Inequities It is not news that we continue to face structural inequities in our public school system. As one example, citing “palpable injustice” in July 2008, Judge William Wayne Justice ruled that the state of Texas failed to effectively educate secondary level English language learners and to monitor school district compliance with the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. Texas is not alone. Education Week’s Quality Counts 2009: Portrait of a Population points out that across the country, academic achievement gaps between English language learners and their peers are significant and persistent.
Take Action: Be an advocate in the capital, courtroom and classroom for quality schooling for every student. The basic rights of English language learners to a quality, equitable education are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, in federal and state legislation, and court rulings (EEO of 1974, Lau vs. Nichols of 1974, U.S. vs. Texas of 1970). For a review of court rulings that establish children’s rights, visit: http://idra.createsend3.com/t/r/l/jyurdd/uyyhilu/yd and “A Framework for Effective Instruction of Secondary English Language Learners ” by Dr. María Robledo Montecel. To help schools and communities look together at questions of educational equity and create a plan of action, the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity (SCCE) has outlined Six Goals of Educational Equity (#1: Comparably high academic achievement and other student outcomes; #2: Equitable access and inclusion; #3: Equitable treatment; #4: Equitable opportunity to learn; #5: Equitable resources; #6: Accountability). You can use these as a yardstick to measure your progress or as a lightening rod to galvanize change.
Resolution #7: Open Pathways to College We know that schools are most successful when they see high school graduation as a minimum milestone and look to prepare their students for the future beyond secondary school. At Ysleta ISD in El Paso, for example, kindergarteners don gowns and sashes naming their selected future university – an approach at the outset that is tied to the district’s long-term goals for student achievement. But the future does not look so bright when students are not adequately prepared to succeed in college or find that college costs put this option out of reach. Measuring Up 2008 national and state report cards on higher education awarded almost every state in the country an “F” in college affordability.
Take Action: Develop partnerships with local community colleges and universities, make sure all students get the kind of college and financial aid counseling found in elite schools and advocate for adequate funding for higher education. Tune in to "College Access for Low Income and Minority Students" for a conversation with Aurelio Montemayor, M.Ed., director of the IDRA Texas Parent Information and Resource Center, on how K-12 schools can actively support college access for their students. Promote Sound Preparation: Make sure, for example, students "get math." In Students Whose Parents Did Not Go to College: Postsecondary Access, Persistence and Attainment , Susan Choy reported that more than three out of four high school graduates (76 percent) who took advanced mathematics courses in high school enrolled in a four-year college or university. Robert Moses, founder and president of the Algebra Project said: “I believe that the absence of math literacy in urban and rural communities throughout this country is an issue as urgent as the lack of registered voters in Mississippi was in 1961… and I believe that solving the problem requires exactly the kind of community organizing that changed the South in the 1960s.”

Outreach to Latino Families (continued)

The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished. George Bernard Shaw

About four weeks ago I reported on an incident at a PTA conference:

One incident stays with me. I had made a comment to the group at large about sensitivity to families that held two or more jobs, single parent homes and families that spoke a language other than English. At the end of the session quite a few participants came up to me to ask for contact information and also to ask questions. A Latina local PTA officer asked me about Spanish speaking mothers who she would see on campus joining their children for lunch or taking their children to school and picking them up in the afternoon, but she would not see them at PTA meetings. Yet they didn't seem to be easily accessible for her to invite to participate.

I counseled that she establish a relationship with them, initially just greeting and asking how their family was doing...how their children were doing in school. I advised that she hold back on recruiting them to be school volunteers or to become PTA members.
I said: Instead of approaching them with a 'sales pitch' become an acquaintance, concerned about the education of their children, and eventually a trusted friend. I peppered my conversation with Spanish and gave snippets of how I establish that kind of relationship with the families I come in contact with. She didn't speak much Spanish with me but clearly understood everything I said. Even if her Spanish was not as strong as her own parents', she obviously had enough facility with the language to communicate with the parents she wanted to connect with on her campus.
"Buenos días señora ¿como esta? ¿Como están los niños? (Good morning, ma'am, how are you? How are the children?).
I continued: As you establish these 'qualitative' relationships, then you can identify the 'live wires', the ones that are centers of communication within their own social circles. As each of these "emerging leaders" becomes an active participant, volunteer and PTA member, (and in time, if you persist, they will) she will bring others with her and also take information to many who might not ever attend a PTA meeting but are acutely interested in the education of their children and want the information the school can offer through these 'intermediaries'."

New incident, different cast of characters, same lesson:Last week I was conducting training of trainers in south Texas for a group of parent involvement specialists. On the day that I was setting up for the training, I visited a large room, very welcoming with smiling hosts, flowers and many service providers awaiting parents to come in and select supplemental education services for their children. The coordinator told me that over 1500 packages of information had been sent to families that qualified for the services.
The next day I asked how many showed up. Response: less than twenty. The frowns and under-the-breath comments seemed to blame the families. The coordinator told me she didn't know what to do because she had done what the state agency required: that each family receive a complete list of all the service providers.

What was learned? To me it is obvious. Most families, across class, ethnicity, language and neighborhood will not pay much attention to a large, multi-page mailing.

If only 50 families had been contacted personally and explained what was available, there would have been far better results.

It seems that personal, intentional outreach is still too difficult a task.

I certainly have my work cut out for me, as a director of a Parent Information Resource Center. In Texas!

From Jane Beach at Parents for Public Schools (PPS)

Jane Beach puts these very informative links together very often. There is always good information.

August 15, 2008
(Some links are time-sensitive and may change or expire.
If you unable to access a link, contact the PPS Clearinghouse for assistance.
Remember to check for copyright guidelines from individual resources.)



THIS WEEK'S TOPICS INCLUDE:
Parent involvement
Public opinion of public schools
Vouchers
Middle school students
Expanded school schedule




The Overall Benefit of Parent Involvement in Education
A recent Science Daily article describes a study of parent involvement conducted by an economist at the University of New Hampshire and her colleague from a research consulting firm. Their findings, which frame parent involvement in terms of school-level economic benefits, confirm the positive association between parent involvement and student academic outcomes.


SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS - A new opinion poll by Harvard University indicates that the public has a more critical view of public schools and many reforms designed to improve them, compared to a similar survey last year. Support for No Child Left Behind has slipped and a considerable portion of those surveyed remain undecided about charter schools.
http://www.ecs.org/00CN4012



Parents must have choices on their children's education
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Instead of worrying about what would happen to the public schools if vouchers were available, the moral question to ask is, what will happen to children ...


FOR NEW TEACHERS: THE ORGANIZED MIDDLE SCHOOLER NOTE: good tips for parents also!
http://snipurl.com/organized_ms
Little wonder new middle schoolers are so disorganized, wrote Laurie Wasserman in this 2007 "Teaching Secrets" essay at the Teacher Magazine website. Most "have spent their first five years of school with a single teacher for the majority of the day." When they enter middle school "they are given a combination lock, a hallway locker, a homeroom, and a schedule that often has four or more subject-area teachers...This is where the child with significant organizational challenges becomes both overwhelmed and frustrated." Wasserman, a sixth grade special ed teacher who works with ADD/ADHD students, offers some ideas for building an "organized" middle schooler. (We're recycling this resource with all our new-teacher subscribers in mind. Teacher Magazine will begin a new series of "Secrets" next week. Meanwhile you can find more 2007 articles at our new-teacher page: http://snipurl.com/NewTeacherResources)



EXPANDED LEARNING - Two reports by the Center for American Progress explore expanded learning time for students. One report examines more than 300 extended learning initiatives in high-poverty and high-minority schools and districts. The other provides a framework for policymakers and practitioners to identify the key cost components involved in expanding learning time for schools.
http://www.ecs.org/00CN4011



Jane Beach
Clearinghouse Director
Parents for Public Schools, Inc.
200 N. Congress St - 5th Floor
(p) 601/969-6936
(f) 601/969-6041
800/880-1222
www.parents4publicschools.org

All I can add is, thank you Jane and thank you PPS.

Evaluating Committee Work at National PTA

I've served on many committees, chaired some, and have mixed feelings about the work of committees and my own contribution and effectiveness as a member.
We had a very useful after-dinner session on the roles and effectiveness of committees, but more importantly, on how to evaluate yourself and the committee as a whole...how to hold yourself and your colleagues in the group accountable.

There were sample committee meeting evaluations, and checklists and even ways to organize the work of the committee in a format that clarifies tasks and responsibilities.

It was a good way to prepare for tomorrow, a day of committee meetings, each with awesome responsibilities with this venerable, old and challenged organization, the national PTA.

Nevertheless, as a newby to PTA, (two + years is new when I'm surrounded by grandparents that began in PTA when their child entered elementary school) my interest and my commitment is still with the quote from my campaign speech:

We in PTA still have a way to go in bringing on board those millions of parents whose children are in public schools and who depend on public education to realize the American dream. Nevertheless PTA is the organization, and the PTA members are the people, who have the history and the power for the dream of this democracy to become a reality for all of our children

Parents for Public Schools (PPS) repeated

I put this up last week and am repeating it because some new visitors might not look at previous blogs. New PPS members are joining our newly formed LinkedIn/Google group and I want them to see this blog up front.

Years ago I met members of a school advocacy group and respected them as good, progressive advocates for public schools but I didn't really know their history. What I eventually learned deeply moved me. This organization is rooted in the courageous civil rights and social justice movement. In the sixties there was white flight to private schools to avoid the mixing of white with black students in the public schools. As schools were forced to integrate, a group of white families in Jackson, Mississippi decided to keep their children in the public schools and to support integrated public schools. And that's how Parents for Public Schools (PPS) was born.

I need to create some space after that last sentence. I need to reread it. Sometimes activist people of color, as I have been most of my adult life, tend to forget that there are strong and persistent allies, and we need to acknowledge, celebrate and support them. Our public schools were then, and continue to be, the one institution where democracy has a chance to be nurtured and developed. If we cull and separate the beautiful mix of students coming to our schools, we fertilize the seeds of elitism, classism and racism. Challenged as many of our public schools are, and tempting as other choices might be for some, we must create and support the public will to put the resources into our public school system to have world class classes and schools. We must have schools of excellence in every neighborhood, inner city and rural town rather than dangle a few choice exceptions to the many puzzled and beleaguered poor families...

My soap box is always close by.

Anyway, back to PPS: Parents for Public Schools continues to be a strong advocate for excellent public schools for all children. They just came out with a new website. Full disclosure: I'm on the national board and am one of the oldies in the banner picture. School children would look much better, certainly than this balding oldster, but I bow to the wisdom of the designers.

The PPS new web page says "You are plugging into an important resource for those who value public education and acknowledge its impact on the lives of children and our democracy."

I truly believe that organizations and networks such as these are extremely important and vital to the revitalization and salvation of our public schools. Families organizing, informing themselves and others, testifying, demanding and creating a public will for vibrant and excellent schools are the ones to keep the doors open. We educators are accused of having narrow, selfish goals and rarely show our numbers in the ballot box, and sometimes even vote against our own self interest!

If your community doesn't have a strong advocacy group for public schools, consider starting a Parents for Public Schools chapter.

Excellent Public Schools for ALL Children

Announcing the start-up of a new Google group that is also a LinkedIn connection:

Excellent Public Schools for ALL Children

The purpose of the site is to create a network of advocates for children to have the best possible neighborhood public schools - especially for families that are poor, of color, English learners and/or recent immigrants.

The welcome message at the site:

Bienvenidos and welcome. If you are here, it is because you have a magnificent vision about what our children deserve and are capable of. You believe and act upon the belief that all children merit the best possible schools.
We are advocates for our public schools as the sites where democracy has a chance to be nurtured and developed. If we cull and separate the beautiful mix of students coming to our schools, we fertilize the seeds of elitism, classism and racism. Challenged as many of our public schools are, and tempting as other choices might be for some, we must create and support the public will to put the resources into our public school system to have world class classes and schools. We must have schools of excellence in every neighborhood, inner city and rural town rather than dangle a few choice exceptions to the many puzzled and beleaguered poor families.

If you are interested in participating, let us know. Membership is carefully screened for anti-public school fleas.

The google site address is:http://groups.google.com/group/excellent-public-schools-for-all-children?hl=en
My gmail address: aureliom08@gmail.com
Send me a note if you are interested, and especially if you are already an activist/advocate.

Welcome, again, 3rd time

Since I'm at 500+ on linked in, I'm going to welcome new people for the third time. I'm new to all this so it'll take a while to get it all functioning. The google dialogue is picking up and more people are giving opinions.

This blog, my maiden voyage into a public journal is an invitation to an online dialogue with others interested in supporting the educational leadership of all families, especially those that are blue-collar, poor, minority, or speak a language other than English. One key premise for me: public schools must flourish. I do not wish to debate that. I champion excellent public schools for all children and equitable resources for public schools; I expect excellent teachers and curriculum for all students.
I'm especially concerned about the schools where economically disadvantaged students predominate (Title 1 schools) and need support for all students to succeed academically. I envision schools where students are prepared for access and success in higher education. I also see it necessary to encourage parent leadership to collaborate with schools and accelerate the movement toward schools work for all children.

Public schools are the first and last venue to keep democracy alive and vibrant and to make the American dream real for families who expect education to provide a future for their children that is better than what they (the parents) have had.

My organization, the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) has advocated for excellent public schools for all children for over 35 years. I am the lead (point person) for parent involvement within my organization. I have been working with schools and organizations on these issues, and have written articles, recorded podcasts and continue to train, speak and advocate for parent leadership in education. I am currently on the National PTA board and also on the national board of Parents for Public Schools (PPS).


I'll be posting specific ideas, concerns and questions.

Parents for Public Schools

Years ago I met members of a school advocacy group and respected them as good, progressive advocates for public schools but I didn't really know their history. What I eventually learned deeply moved me. This organization is rooted in the courageous civil rights and social justice movement. In the sixties there was white flight to private schools to avoid the mixing of white with black students in the public schools. As schools were forced to integrate, a group of white families in Jackson, Mississippi decided to keep their children in the public schools and to support integrated public schools. And that's how Parents for Public Schools (PPS) was born.

I need to create some space after that last sentence. I need to reread it. Sometimes activist people of color, as I have been most of my adult life, tend to forget that there are strong and persistent allies, and we need to acknowledge, celebrate and support them. Our public schools were then, and continue to be, the one institution where democracy has a chance to be nurtured and developed. If we cull and separate the beautiful mix of students coming to our schools, we fertilize the seeds of elitism, classism and racism. Challenged as many of our public schools are, and tempting as other choices might be for some, we must create and support the public will to put the resources into our public school system to have world class classes and schools. We must have schools of excellence in every neighborhood, inner city and rural town rather than dangle a few choice exceptions to the many puzzled and beleaguered poor families...

My soap box is always close by.

Anyway, back to PPS: Parents for Public Schools continues to be a strong advocate for excellent public schools for all children. They just came out with a new website. Full disclosure: I'm on the national board and am one of the oldies in the banner picture. School children would look much better, certainly than this balding oldster, but I bow to the wisdom of the designers.

The PPS new web page says "You are plugging into an important resource for those who value public education and acknowledge its impact on the lives of children and our democracy."

I truly believe that organizations and networks such as these are extremely important and vital to the revitalization and salvation of our public schools. Families organizing, informing themselves and others, testifying, demanding and creating a public will for vibrant and excellent schools are the ones to keep the doors open. We educators are accused of having narrow, selfish goals and rarely show our numbers in the ballot box, and sometimes even vote against our own self interest!

If your community doesn't have a strong advocacy group for public schools, consider starting a Parents for Public Schools chapter.