District Administration - January 2011 - (Page 66)

how that issue impacts the school budget “are on the same playing field.” Title 1 x 2? The proposal to double the Title I funding doesn’t necessarily make Ferguson of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education feel better about the Blueprint. “I have not a clue as to how that might translate [in terms of programming],” Marino says. “What frightens me about this administration—and I’m an ardent Democrat—is that [parent advocates] are just going to get passed over.” Ferguson says her fear is based on the lack of specifics to date about how that extra money should be spent, beyond saying the money will go to the states, and on what she characterized as a lack of monitoring in the past. “Two percent without any regulations means nothing, if you’re not going to monitor it,” she says. “And believe me, nothing is in writing.” Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters and a founding member of the national network Parents Across America, agrees that New York City Public Schools and others don’t necessarily follow the rules when it comes to Title I, for example, failing to hold meetings with parents about how that money will be spent. “If you ask Title I parents if they have any say in how that money will be spent, they will say no,” she says. San Diego Unified School District, which Henderson cites as a model Title I district, wants to see the money doubled, but it still wouldn’t be enough, says Bea Fernandez, program manager for parent outreach and engagement. Her office runs special parent engagement programs for Somali, Lao and Burmese refugees on Saturdays; Family Fridays, in which parents are invited to read in the classroom for 30 minutes; and Parents on the GO, a family wellness program, among many others. It’s all done under the rubric of San Diego Parent University (funded through $135,000 in Title I money), which provides workshops on everything from how to help your child with reading skills, to social and emotional development, to understanding the school system. The latter is especially stressed for new arrivals to 66 January 2011 A parent educator, right, with Every Person Influences Children (EPIC), one of two Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) in New York, visits with parents at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, explaining it’s never too early to read and educate children. the country (see sidebar). “Resource centers [like PIRCs] are very important because they have the opportunity to be innovative and creative and connect with communities and nonprofits,” Fernandez says. “We’re lucky in this district that they have my office.” Parents in Turnarounds As the administration formulates plans for its “turnaround” scenarios for failing schools—where the principal, staff or curriculum might be replaced—parents and community members should be given substantive roles, says Henderson, also a senior consultant with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, a board member for Parents for Public Schools, and an adviser to Communities for Excellent Public Schools. “Parents need to be involved in deciding, ‘Is this school so unredeemable that it has to be closed?’” Henderson says. “Parents and community members should be involved in suggesting criteria for who stays and who goes.” “It’s not that what the reformers suggest is all wrong,” she adds, but “parents suggest different things. … They’re filling in missing pieces.” Woestehoff would like to see an earlier Chicago-style reform be implemented: the Local School Councils that were born in the late 1980s and adopted around the country. Elected parent and community representatives on LSCs have the power to hire principals and gain input on budgets more so than anywhere in the country, she says. “We think the LSCs are working well in Chicago,” she says. “You have an actual role. You have actual, legal powers and duties.” Parents absolutely should have a voice as the Obama administration considers nationalizing policies that have led to shutting down neighborhood schools or turning them into charter schools, says Haimson, who notes that New York has a similar structure to LSCs, called School Leadership Teams, although they have less power. She says that the administration has taken the turnaround strategies practiced in Chicago and New York and is imposing them more vigorously on the rest of the country, creating a need for parent and community counterweight. Henderson urges parent activists to keep making their voices heard. “The Blueprint is a just a blueprint,” she says. “We don’t know what the administration is going to do if they send draft legislation up to the Hill. They acknowledge that the original Blueprint was weak in this area [parent involvement]. They’re asking for ideas.” Borrello believes the administration’s thinking is evolving—and he hopes PIRCs are strengthened rather than undermined in the eventual legislation. “There’s not a complete understanding of the significant role that PIRCs play in family engagement in states,” Borello concludes. “We’re starting to see the fruits of all that investment.” Learn more about districts that have successful community engagement programs and read about the need for training new immigrant parents. www.DistrictAdministration.com Ed Finkel is a freelance writer based in Evanston, Ill. District Administration http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2011

District Administration - January 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Online Edge
Professional Opinion
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Product Focus
What’s the Value in Value-Added?
The Politicization of Bullying
Holding On to Parent Voices
Tough New Issues Refocus Health Education
New Products
Books

District Administration - January 2011