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

Children's Spirit vs. Platitudes & Myths

Right now it is vital for us to remember the Spirit of the Child. Embrace the special qualities of wonder, curiosity, creativity, imagination, dreaming, love, joy and happiness. begin to let go of the myth that was instilled in you to work hard and begin to play as you once did. If you do not remember how, find a child and ask them to teach you.

The quote is from a blog/zine I just read. The complete post that precedes this section is a harsh but, to my view, true indictment of the myths and platitudes we scatter so easily to our children, our young and expect all the long-suffering wage-earners to accept: work hard and you will be rewarded. Imagine if I chose to list the tired phrases often used by leaders (especially of the party that just lost the presidency & congress). The reader would not be rewarded from the hard work of reading the cliches. I thought the post Hard Work Leads to Poverty had been written by some crusty old community organizer from the 60s. See below and judge whether my prejudice was correct:

Female 46 years old Live Oak, FL I am a kid who refuses to grow up. I inspire people to have fun and stop the endless cycle of working yourself to death. I am a mother of two daughters and my best playmates. I am a speaker, playshop leader and a creative muse.

I don't publicly rant (much) about the general abuse and disregard of our blue-collar workers, our working-stiffs who do the dirty, difficult, under-paid and maligned grunge work. But I can't help but being hooked by the tone: rage, frustration, righteous indignation and ultimately hopelessness and despair. I want to keep myself honest about how complex and difficult the life is for the families of the children I'm most concerned about.
In defense of social civility & my excesses, I still have trouble distinguishing which battles to pick, when to hold my tongue and especially discerning between telling a truth clearly, politely but assertively in contrast with an-out-of-control tantrum with tonsils extending beyond the lips.
It's especially difficult when I ignore the ridiculousness of social organizations we form, supposedly to deal with the needs of children in our schools: I blurt out humor-from-hell dipped in absurdist/60s hippy confrontation of hipocrisy in some middle-class norm-ruts. I've been reported to officers of a national organization (on whose board I sit) for actions unbecoming to a board member. Ok, I won't tell a presenter with a sleepy audience if there is no response to attempts to facilitate conversation and keep a workshop alive, to 'take his clothes off'. Yes, it's an inappropriate cheap-shot. A national media reporter if present would have quoted me and the organization would have a public and general membership image problem.

Forget that we do have unconscionable classrooms and public schools, children not being supported to learn and love learning, families vilified, students stigmatized and our urban public schools in danger of being shut down by the private sector slathering at the mouth to get those public education dollars. It's hard to sit politely listening to themes far from the urgent problems. The organization was lucky I didn't really go berserk, take my civilized mask off and release not just inappropriate humor, but scream about the Titanic furniture we are rearranging about five minutes before it's date with big ice-block.

I learned in the 60s & 70s that just getting my social-injustice-anger jollies off is counterproductive, distracts from the message and hides the problem. I agreed to be an upstanding board member...but jiminy-crickets, the children in our public schools, our children, not 'those children', our students, our treasure and our future are in danger. We need to put a fire under public opinion, public will, public support for our public schools.

Many, many entrepreneurial and creative educators have quick answers for what is wrong. But the underlying message is "Public Schools are Hopeless" That righteous indignation is not mine nor on my side. I want the schools to be excellent and equitable, but I don't want to close the doors, any more than I want to erase the neighborhoods where families live.

Return to the brilliant and passionate writer of Hard Work Leads to Poverty, & see she ends up exactly where I do: on the side of hope, possibilities and re-connecting to the vision of the schools (and world) we want to create. It's in the quote opening this note & the opening Wordle created from positive words.

Keep the faith in the children and their families. If we don't, who will? If not now, when?

What Price Bilinguals? How much is the Statue of Liberty valued at?

Call it code-switching, using English and Spanish interchangeably, or language flip-flop, it’s a bear to carry out and made more difficult in the face of vociferous critics.
Those of us who use both languages in parent meetings have had to face serious obstacles. Some educators criticize the use of both languages, confusing bilingual methods used in classrooms with children where the goal is teaching English. The main goal of a parent meeting should be two-way communication…regardless of the languages needed. A methodology for a bilingual classroom is not applicable to a meeting where we want English and Spanish speaking families to come together and connect.

A different but equally stressful reaction is the judgment made on the facilitator when some of the participants in the audience have highly developed language skills in their native language and the presenter is a U.S. reared speaker of the language that uses ‘incorrect grammar’, slang and anglicisms in the presentation. Those of us who grew up bilingually but did not receive much formal instruction in the home language are stronger in our English language skills and would actually prefer to present in English. We will obviously sound more correct, more educated and feel better about ourselves.
Case in point: Once, while conducting a bilingual training-of-trainers, a note was handed to me at the end of the day “For your professional self-improvement” with a listing of all the ‘incorrect” usages in Spanish. The critic was a highly degreed professional from Central America whose English left much to be desired. A less-determined presenter would have given up on the spot. I recalled all the times my Mexican cousins called me a 'pocho': one who speaks an inferior form of Mexican Spanish, and therefore is undeducated and low-class.
Us U.S. bilinguals, born and/or bred here, must take the ego risks involved if we are to bring families together and build connections among families across language and class in support of good education and good schools for all children. I’ve been told that my Spanish is very close to a native-speaker’s. While that might be true and it makes me feel good, the greater pride for me is that I continue to take the risk. My advice to all bilinguals is to take the risk and provide an ongoing translation and keep everyone at the table figuring out what each one is saying. Even when there is translating equipment and individual earphones are providing an ongoing translation to the non-English speakers, there is a separation of the individuals and a focus on the speech of one expert. I’m looking for dialogue, interaction and connection…the lifeblood of democracy.

School meetings, educational gatherings and other school and education related sessions must have good communication and two-way interaction. If there are families present who don’t understand English, it is critical that every effort be made to communicate with them, both to give them information and also listen to them. Any bilingual person present, whether it be the facilitator, a teacher, a student or another parent should be invited to provide ongoing translation of the interactions. The overall goal must be to have families that are informed, listened to and connected to the school community.

Us bilinguals are worth our weight in ‘Statue of Liberty’ marble.

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.

PTA All Committees Weekend

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. NeverthelessPTA 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

I'll be in Chicago this weekend for the Membership Committee meeting, officially my first with this group. I've been on the Diversity and Finance committees. I was originally appointed to the National PTA board and now I am an elected member. This is no small thing because, (A) I do not come from the PTA ranks, (B) I'm not PTA polite: in fact diplomacy and politeness are not my strong suites, and (C) In my 40 years of education activism and 30+ in advocating for parent leadership in public education from the poor/minority/non-English-speaking/recent-immigrant communities I had not seen PTA as a natural ally.

BUT, WAIT, SLOW DOWN
and now let me drop in my campaign blurg...

Rooted in Advocacy Reared in Laredo, TX and growing up fluent in Spanish and English, Aurelio began his career as a public high school English teacher in San Felipe High School in Del Rio, Texas in 1964 and has been an activist for equitable schools since then. He continues to advocate for excellent and equitable public schools for all children, specially those that are economically disadvantaged, are of color or speak a language other than English. (For friends who are challenged in pronouncing his first name, one English speaker offered the following: Oh? Really? Oh!)
Professionally Skilled Aurelio is a senior education associate and master trainer with the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA). IDRA is in its 35th year of advocacy for schools that work for all children. He is the lead developer of the organization’s Family Leadership in Education Model. His four-decade professional career has been a mission driven journey in education as teacher, community organizer, curriculum developer, master trainer, and for the last 30 years at IDRA, as an advocate for parent leadership in education. He developed a fully bilingual training-of-trainers model, WOW Workshop on Workshops for educators and parents. Over 200 emerging parent leaders, many who are English-language learners, have participated in that course alone.
Proven Leadership In over 8 years of directing a statewide federally funded Parent Information and Resource Center, Aurelio has led hundreds of workshops, written many articles, participated in conferences and colloquiums and disseminated thousands of pieces of information on Parent Leadership in Education. In 2007 he wrote monthly articles related to parent involvement and No Child Left Behind. Under his leadership, the Texas IDRA PIRC was honored last year as one of five in the nation whose practices and processes were considered exemplary in a Department of Education publication Engaging Parents in Education: Lessons From Five Parental Information and Resource Centers.
Board Experience In the summer of 2006 he was named to the National PTA board as a member-at-large and served on the Diversity Committee. This year he is part of the Finance Committee. He is a member of the Horace Mann M.S. PTA in San Antonio. He is also on the national board for Parents for Public Schools (PPS).
Persistence His strongest recommendation is persistence (40+ years) in advocacy for excellent public schools for all children, and in that battle, supporting parents as the central and strongest advocates for all children to get an excellent and equitable education. Beyond all the training, writing and program development and evaluation he has done, his most cherished skill is the loud and persistent voice for families and children; especially those who most need the benefits and blessings of an accessible, high quality and equitable public education. Graduation for All!
PTA Challenge 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. Many of the families and schools Aurelio works with in Texas don’t see PTA as a necessary and critical part of their children achieving that dream.
PTA Answer Yet, he believes that 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.

I didn't put my campaign brochure in here to brag. In fact, it was very difficult to run for office because I don't like having to sell myself in that way. The last time I ran for office was in 1959 -- student council parliamentarian -- and I won! I swore never again.
I was encouraged by colleagues, co-workers and friends to run so that the advocacy issues that are important to us would continue to have a national arena and platform.

In my 2-minute speech, and at the convention much hinges on the speech if you are not known to the troops, I chose not to speak much about my qualifications, but rather about the issues I consider important. My emotions got the better of me when I spoke. See my speech notes below:

Buenas Tardes.
I’ve been a teacher since 1964…and have had to reeducate myself constantly.
In the late 60s I realized how my formal education had not taught me to value my community.

20 years later parents reeducated me about communication from school: I asked, “Has school contacted you this year?” one lady responded, “Este año no me han llamado, gracias a dios” They haven’t called me this year, thank God.

Children, their parents and schools! This is the bedrock of PTA’s amazing history.
Over a year ago, I was privileged to walk through the early history of PTA with former national president Lois Jean White. PTA’s courage and valor is needed now!
We need the heft to uplift and defend our Title 1 schools, not-meeting- AYP !

…To provide excellent schools to families hanging on by a thin economic thread.
These families might never be PTA polite nor learn Robert’s rules of order,
yet they’ll continue to tell their children
“educate para que no sufras lo que sufri yo”
get an education so that you don’t suffer what I have gone through.

PTA must persist in creating a public will for equitable funding for all public schools.

PTA must keep schools accountable without penalizing the students and burning out our best teachers…

PTA is the organization, and we are the people who have the history and the power for this American dream to be the reality for all of our children.

Just as the teachers in Appalachia acknowledged the culture of poor white families and created Foxfire…

And as Cesar Chavez & Dolores Huerta encouraged farmworkers and created a union …

As Bob Moses believes that all children can learn math and created the Algebra Project

as Alice McClellan Birney, Phoebe Apperson Hearst…as Selena Sloan Butler advocated for children and families

So we must welcome and become relevant
to the millions of potential PTA members in our communities…
who in their hearts dream “todo nino, una voz” every child one voice…

Let their dreams lead our actions.

I was elected along with my other colleagues on the proposed slate.
Now I've got to really work hard to make sure that the membership of the public school families that are from the poor/minority/non-English-speaking/recent-immigrant communities increases 100fold.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
We will be moved.
Venceremos.
The torch will be passed on.

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.