Comments on: Preventing parents from helping children http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/ Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:50:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Anonymous http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-7049 Anonymous Wed, 06 May 2009 02:56:04 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-7049 If the rising tide will lift all boats then why does everyone feel as though they are on a sinking ship? If the rising tide will lift all boats then why does everyone feel as though they are on a sinking ship?

]]> By: Julie http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6986 Julie Tue, 05 May 2009 02:52:38 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6986 They are going about this all wrong. What Klein and Bloomie should do is just unzone every district and make them all lotteries for elementary school. I guess district 2 would have to be made a little smaller (my goodness, perhaps district 2 and 1 could be redrawn to actually make geographic sense?) Then all these whiney PTA types would be would be dispersed over a broader spectrum of schools, some not the most desirable, and the rising tide would lift all boats. They are going about this all wrong. What Klein and Bloomie should do is just unzone every district and make them all lotteries for elementary school. I guess district 2 would have to be made a little smaller (my goodness, perhaps district 2 and 1 could be redrawn to actually make geographic sense?) Then all these whiney PTA types would be would be dispersed over a broader spectrum of schools, some not the most desirable, and the rising tide would lift all boats.

]]> By: Rosa Flores http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6954 Rosa Flores Mon, 04 May 2009 04:50:12 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6954 What the DOE is doing is sick, they are taking away all the power that parents have and this is time to fight back, parents unite and fight back, they want to divide us, we are all parents who want the best for our children. Lets stand together and say not, this is our money little or alot what ever the amount is it belong to us and we decide how to use it. What the DOE is doing is sick, they are taking away all the power that parents have and this is time to fight back, parents unite and fight back, they want to divide us, we are all parents who want the best for our children. Lets stand together and say not, this is our money little or alot what ever the amount is it belong to us and we decide how to use it.

]]> By: bkparent http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6952 bkparent Sun, 03 May 2009 18:18:37 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6952 Wow. Klein and Bloomberg can go no lower. Why is this story not on the front page of the NY Times? Preventing parents from supporting their schools? Isn't this what they spent years urging PTAs to do - raise money? The very organizational purpose of the typical PTA is to support the school attended by the children of the parents (the P in the PTA) and where the teachers (the T in the PTA) teach. As a former PTA president who spent many hundreds of hours raising money for my child's elementary school, most of which did not particularly benefit my child, I would testify under oath that no PTA would any longer be able to raise money if they had to turn it over to DoE. Many would be prohibited from doing so by their organizational documents, and moreover, most parents do not trust DoE or believe it has their children's best interests in mind. Instead, some individual parents would buy things for their child's classroom, or slip extra money to the teachers when they ask, as they always do, for supplies and contributions to fund classroom activities. Overall, parent support would decline drastically - think 90%. And in the areas where schools are sort of marginal and really depend on parent funding, the schools will become more and more impoverished and parents will move away. Boy, I feel sorry for the principals! My son's current Brooklyn middle school, which is economically and racially quite diverse, is -- at the principal's pleading -- in the middle of trying to ramp up fundraising. If the PTA is going to have to put the money raised in a DoE slush fund, never to be seen again, well... forget about it. We have other things to do. District 15 Parent Wow. Klein and Bloomberg can go no lower. Why is this story not on the front page of the NY Times?

Preventing parents from supporting their schools? Isn’t this what they spent years urging PTAs to do - raise money? The very organizational purpose of the typical PTA is to support the school attended by the children of the parents (the P in the PTA) and where the teachers (the T in the PTA) teach. As a former PTA president who spent many hundreds of hours raising money for my child’s elementary school, most of which did not particularly benefit my child, I would testify under oath that no PTA would any longer be able to raise money if they had to turn it over to DoE. Many would be prohibited from doing so by their organizational documents, and moreover, most parents do not trust DoE or believe it has their children’s best interests in mind. Instead, some individual parents would buy things for their child’s classroom, or slip extra money to the teachers when they ask, as they always do, for supplies and contributions to fund classroom activities. Overall, parent support would decline drastically - think 90%. And in the areas where schools are sort of marginal and really depend on parent funding, the schools will become more and more impoverished and parents will move away. Boy, I feel sorry for the principals!

My son’s current Brooklyn middle school, which is economically and racially quite diverse, is — at the principal’s pleading — in the middle of trying to ramp up fundraising. If the PTA is going to have to put the money raised in a DoE slush fund, never to be seen again, well… forget about it. We have other things to do.

District 15 Parent

]]> By: district 13 parent http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6916 district 13 parent Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:33:24 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6916 The elementary school my child attends has an active PTA that funds enrichment and teacher's aides, the latter increasingly necessary as classes reach 30. This funding benefits the well-off and needy children in our school alike--perhaps the latter more than the former? We are losing middle-class parents right and left due to rising class sizes and the lack of decent middle schools, and this short-sighted policy surely will encourage the trend. And how much of that money will then go to bureaucrats whose job will be counting the money and dispersing it? What an idiotic decision! The elementary school my child attends has an active PTA that funds enrichment and teacher’s aides, the latter increasingly necessary as classes reach 30. This funding benefits the well-off and needy children in our school alike–perhaps the latter more than the former? We are losing middle-class parents right and left due to rising class sizes and the lack of decent middle schools, and this short-sighted policy surely will encourage the trend. And how much of that money will then go to bureaucrats whose job will be counting the money and dispersing it? What an idiotic decision!

]]> By: TJ http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6910 TJ Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:27:08 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6910 Educated, involved parents and people are an enormous inconvenience to Bloomberg (and Klein) and his ultimate goal of a two-caste city made up of the extremely wealthy and people who in one way or another rely on the city for their livelihoods. Educated, involved parents and people are an enormous inconvenience to Bloomberg (and Klein) and his ultimate goal of a two-caste city made up of the extremely wealthy and people who in one way or another rely on the city for their livelihoods.

]]> By: Bijou http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6909 Bijou Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:13:52 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6909 Let us really focus on why the PTAs raise the funds in the first place- Because the DOE has failed to properly support or provide enrichment in our schools. And IF class sizes were lower as they should be and IF the DOE had been actively looking for more space to house more schools and creating said schools and IF the DOE had been using the millions of dollars that they have spent on no-bid contracts in our classrooms instead- then PTAs would not be forced to work their butts off to raise money to pay for TAs. This entire school year, my District has been put in the position of one school being pitted against another school over one issue or another- First it was zoning, then it was moving schools around, then it was phasing out schools, then it was putting charter schools in place of zoned schools. In each instance, parents were fighting against parents and it was all caused by the DOE. This is just the latest example of DOE meddling that will cause the "haves" to complain and the "havenots" to say well it isn't fair in the first place because all PTAs are not equal in terms of fundraising. Sad but true. But when you have charters getting more money and Title 1 schools deservedly getting more money, it isn't ever going to be equal. Unless parents band together and bring down mayoral control in its current form, this crap will keep happening- Parent infighting- Schools against other schools. It's just what the DOE wants. Let us really focus on why the PTAs raise the funds in the first place- Because the DOE has failed to properly support or provide enrichment in our schools. And IF class sizes were lower as they should be and IF the DOE had been actively looking for more space to house more schools and creating said schools and IF the DOE had been using the millions of dollars that they have spent on no-bid contracts in our classrooms instead- then PTAs would not be forced to work their butts off to raise money to pay for TAs.

This entire school year, my District has been put in the position of one school being pitted against another school over one issue or another- First it was zoning, then it was moving schools around, then it was phasing out schools, then it was putting charter schools in place of zoned schools. In each instance, parents were fighting against parents and it was all caused by the DOE. This is just the latest example of DOE meddling that will cause the “haves” to complain and the “havenots” to say well it isn’t fair in the first place because all PTAs are not equal in terms of fundraising. Sad but true. But when you have charters getting more money and Title 1 schools deservedly getting more money, it isn’t ever going to be equal. Unless parents band together and bring down mayoral control in its current form, this crap will keep happening- Parent infighting- Schools against other schools. It’s just what the DOE wants.

]]> By: ase http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6907 ase Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:48:56 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6907 The "needier" school receive Title 1 funding from the federal government, so, surprisingly, middle class school receive less money and are dependent on PTA/PA fundraising. Truthfully, this is outrageous because even in my small hometown, parents are able to fundraise to support sports, arts and after school programs. The fear about pooling the money is not that a less fortunate school will receive the money, but that the money will disappear into the abyss of the DOE bureacracy and fund yet another non-essential six-figure bureacrat, instead of going into the classrooms and schools to directly benefit to the children the NYC public school system. The “needier” school receive Title 1 funding from the federal government, so, surprisingly, middle class school receive less money and are dependent on PTA/PA fundraising. Truthfully, this is outrageous because even in my small hometown, parents are able to fundraise to support sports, arts and after school programs. The fear about pooling the money is not that a less fortunate school will receive the money, but that the money will disappear into the abyss of the DOE bureacracy and fund yet another non-essential six-figure bureacrat, instead of going into the classrooms and schools to directly benefit to the children the NYC public school system.

]]> By: a parent http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6906 a parent Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:03:31 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6906 If parents were required to donate to a general fund and not to their own schools' PTAs, I guarantee you that rather than distributing the money equally to all schools, the DOE would distribute the lion's share to "needier" schools, and my children's school wouldn't see a dime, as is the case for so many DOE, state, federal initiatives already in place. If parents were required to donate to a general fund and not to their own schools’ PTAs, I guarantee you that rather than distributing the money equally to all schools, the DOE would distribute the lion’s share to “needier” schools, and my children’s school wouldn’t see a dime, as is the case for so many DOE, state, federal initiatives already in place.

]]> By: Kathleen Byrne http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6905 Kathleen Byrne Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:24:19 +0000 http://insideschools.org/blog/2009/04/29/preventing-parents-from-helping-children/#comment-6905 It seems everywhere we turn, the DoE is fighting parental involvement. They welcome corporate involvement, however. PTA fundraising helps all children regardless of income. If middle class parents can't send their children to adequate public schools, then they will move to the suburbs, lowering the tax base and shrinking the school budget. Schools with active PTAs aren't "rogue" and they aren't rich. They are merely organized. Why doesn't the DoE help with PTA organization in poor schools? Because they don't WANT parental involvement. They only want parents who don't ask questions and are happy with the crumbs thrown to them. It seems everywhere we turn, the DoE is fighting parental involvement. They welcome corporate involvement, however. PTA fundraising helps all children regardless of income. If middle class parents can’t send their children to adequate public schools, then they will move to the suburbs, lowering the tax base and shrinking the school budget. Schools with active PTAs aren’t “rogue” and they aren’t rich. They are merely organized. Why doesn’t the DoE help with PTA organization in poor schools? Because they don’t WANT parental involvement. They only want parents who don’t ask questions and are happy with the crumbs thrown to them.

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