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My legal consultation with school districts has involved working
with members of the non-White community to determine their
perspectives on the need for reform in the school system.
The following is a summary of what I found in my work.
A key element of the school reform involves participation
from parents, community residents and business partners with
the system. In the Black community, such involvement is crucial
in order to foster and ensure participation and cooperation
and in part, to empower Blacks to become active and involved
with schools in they’re community.
In the meetings that I have conducted participants were
community leaders, members of the clergy, and representatives
of civic organizations, businesspersons, concerned citizens
and school personnel.
The discussion with attendees that I directed involved (a)
the aspects of the schools that people felt good about; (b)
an identification of barriers and obstacles that prevent greater
parental and community involvement in the schools; (c) and
recommendations for strategies for improving access to and
involvement in schools.
Specific questions that I developed during the process of
conducting community dialogues were:
• What is needed to have African-Americans feel vested
and valued in the school system?
• What do we (as Black people) do to get parents talking?
• What works - what does it take to have people become
proactive rather than simply reacting to situations as they
arise?
• Do you feel you have adequate knowledge about systems
currently in place, and do you feel comfortable using them?
• What will it take for you to become an active and
visible part of the educational process in your schools?
• How can we (members of the Black community) share
the good news about our community schools and dispel myths?
• If there were three things you could change about
the school in your community, what would those three things
be?
Three major themes and associated issues emerged from the
community dialogues:
1. Communication
2. Assistance to Families
3. Implications of Racial and Cultural Difference
4. Accountability
In general terms, regarding each of the areas, participants
expressed
A need to communicate clearly and consistently the school
systems mission, programs, progress, opportunities and challenges.
A need for strengthened channels of communication between
and among the school staff, parents, and community members
A need for assistance in identifying and accessing available
community and governmental supports and resources
A desire for school-based parenting centers, to include parent
effectiveness training
A conviction that sensitivity training in racial and cultural
difference, be provided to all levels of school personnel
as well as to families, would improve relations between the
schools, the community and families
Specific issues that I identified from the community meetings
are summarized below,
1. Communications
Parents were concerned with both the accuracy and consistency
of information they received from school personnel at all
levels. For example, how schools operate, the nature of, and
access to, special programs and services with which many parents
are not familiar, and their rights to information about their
children's academic experiences and performance.
A need for the development of common strategies and procedures
and common paths of dissemination was expressed often by parents
and community leaders alike.
Further examination revealed that the variances and disparities
that were so frustrating extended to such areas as commitment
of personnel to teaching children, curriculum, textbook adoption,
and ways in which parents were (or were not) valued by school
personnel.
Non-teaching school personnel should be regarded as valuable
community and school resources and they should be encouraged
to become familiar to parents and students.
Finally, it was strongly suggested that other organizations
in the community be utilized as communications vehicles: churches,
civic organizations, etc.
2. Assistance to Families
The schools are seen as institutions within the community
that might assist families by compiling listings of resources
of support and by making referrals for families in need.
There is a pervasive view among community folks that the
system itself has narrowly defined "parental involvement"
to mean attendance at parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings
and that only the proscribed activities are valued as evidence
of involvement and/or concern. Considerable interest was generated
by the distribution of a document that identified many ways
of being involved with schools and a child’s education,
many of which did not involve coming to the school.
3. Implications of Racial and Cultural Difference
Many people at the meetings spoke about feeling intimidated
by school personnel, many of who use educational jargon when
speaking with parents. This uncomfortable situation is made
worse because most of the circumstances that result in teacher-parent
communications are about a child's negative behavior (actual
or perceived) that the teacher is reporting. Meeting participants
were looking for ways to create a sense within communities
that schools are a place from which to seek help and support.
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, community members
were looking for ways in which the school could demonstrate
a sense of caring about the children in their charge, and
a sense that the system and school personnel were genuinely
interested in the children and their lives.
At every meeting without exception, the need for "sensitivity
training" was discussed. Dialogue on race, culture, gender,
and social class and the effects of each of these areas of
difference on the ways teachers and administrators perceive
their students and parents was thought to be the starting
point for better school and community relationships.
4. Accountability
Teachers, as well as principals, are perceived as not being
subject to any accountability. There were complaints that
the School Board, administrators and others in charge were
the first and last resort for many school related concerns.
Teachers were further seen as needing to be committed to the
community rather than just to a job. The sense that school
personnel were just too busy to be bothered has to be ameliorated
in some way.
The sense of "not feeling welcome in the schools"
came up so often in these community meetings, and the pervasive
feelings of disconnection and alienation suggests that parents
and other community members seem to feel that while schools
exist in their communities, they are not part of the communities.
One of the consistent themes that emerged from the many meetings
that I conducted was the need for all teachers to receive
“sensitivity” and skills training in diverse learning
styles. Addressing issues of diversity and racial difference
in the school system will need to be done carefully, but,
I believe, must not be ignored as school systems move to eliminate
racial disparities in educational outcomes.
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