School money for parents may set a bad precedent
By request, here's an entry on the issue of sending parents, at school system expense, to a national conference.
The board said no to sending 40 people whose children attend Title I schools, but agreed to four at an estimated cost of $7,200.
Read Taft's story here.
The purpose of the three-day conference in Birmingham, Ala., is to teach parents how to become more involved in their children's schools.
This sounds to me like an unusual request. I'm certainly glad the board didn't agree to the larger expenditure. This could become an annual outlay.
It's one thing if the PTA wanted to use its funds to send parents to the conference. Public funds are another story. For starters, you have the question of why some parents should be selected to go at taxpayers' expense and not others. What entitles any to go on the public's dime? It's not as if these folks have been elected to a public office.
I wonder how the four parents are going to be selected. Who decides? There might be hundreds who'd like an all-expense-paid trip out of town. And who would determine whether they were spending public funds appropriately? What return would the taxpayers get for the expenditure?
The matter of parental involvement in schools isn't so complicated, anyway. You go to school ... and get involved. Principals I've known have been receptive to appropriate, positive involvement by parents and other volunteers. If there are problems, the PTA Council should hold some seminars right here in Guilford County.
By approving funding for four parents, the board now has set a precedent it's bound to be tested on later. Parents can ask for money for all kinds of purposes related to schools. How about going to Raleigh or Washington to lobby legislators on education issues? Once you've said yes, it's harder to say no.
Comments (13)
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Makes sense. You go to the PTA, say: "What can I do? You go to the Principal/ Your kids teachers and say "what do you need?" How can I help? You go to the coaches, ask "can I work the concession stand?" You make sure your child does homework. You watch who they run with. You make sure he doesn't disrupt other kids if he's not interested in learning himself. Absolute rocket science, here folks.
Obviously, the problem with these things is: no paid trip.
My feeling is Deena knows all this . It's just posturing to set people up for the next round of minority contract talks etc. like most of her rhetoric. You go make some unreasonable demand, if it's not met, you claim condescending attitudes, feign offense, claim prejudice, and then use this for guilt leverage to try to get paid with some contracts awarded to buds voted on by Dot Kearns et al.
The good thing is Mo got a good dose of what' he's in for right away without having to wait a few mos. God bless him.
If this crap isn't dealt with, it's just a matter of time until the Mo...Larry and Curly jokes start. You know that's gonna come.
Posted on August 13, 2008 8:33 PM
Doug and Nyuk, I suggest that you print up your comments and send them to GCS with a bill for 7 grand.
What kind of make believe world do people live in wherein it seems plausible that a lack of parental involvement is caused by a lack of information and expertise? Seriously, who could possibly believe that?
On the other hand, this is by-the-book liberalism: take a negative behaviour easily explicable as the result of indolence, stupidity, or bad decision making and then blame the behavior's existence on the lack of government-sponsored training.
Even so, I expect that a minimally intelligent person might actually believe that, say, AIDS or single motherhood might be reduced if we had more "programs." Here, I cannot imagine that minimally intelligent person.
Posted on August 14, 2008 12:26 AM
Doug and Nyuk, I suggest that you print up your comments and send them to GCS with a bill for 7 grand.
What kind of make believe world do people live in wherein it seems plausible that a lack of parental involvement is caused by a lack of information and expertise? Seriously, who could possibly believe that?
On the other hand, this is by-the-book liberalism: take a negative behaviour easily explicable as the result of indolence, stupidity, or bad decision making and then blame the behavior's existence on the lack of government-sponsored training.
Even so, I expect that a minimally intelligent person might actually believe that, say, AIDS or single motherhood might be reduced if we had more "programs." Here, I cannot imagine that minimally intelligent person.
Posted on August 14, 2008 12:27 AM
The sad thing is; maybe some of those 20 would-be conventioneer/parents are genuinely interested in their school and child's welfare and they are maybe unaware that Deena's Priority #1 is her downstream revenue source and here they are acting in good faith and maybe getting duped and manipulated by the master hucksteress herself, Lady D.
Posted on August 14, 2008 8:51 AM
The Guilford County School Board pleads poverty to the county commissioners every year. Yet the School Board always seems to have the money for every pet project and extraneous expense that comes down the pike.
Sure, $7,200 doesn't seem like much in the overall scheme of things. But it's a cumulative effect -- the board wastes a few thousand here, a few thousand there and, before long, it adds up to serious dollars.
Posted on August 14, 2008 10:22 AM
Doug,
Amen.
I would love to sit in on this conference. Have you really thought about the material that would be covered?
Are there many ways of asking a principal how you can help in the school? Is one way more appropriate than another? Gee, I've probably been doing it wrong all these years and didn't even know it.
In addition to the illogical request to send 40 paents on an all-expense paid trip, how is this conference being funded and by whom? Is the federal government underwriting it?
It really is unbelievable.
I think I read that there's a school in Hawaii that has a zero dropout rate and I think I'd like to investigate how they're able to do that. Do you think Deena would advocate for me going on GCS money?
Posted on August 14, 2008 10:34 AM
It sounds like a lot of money for four people to go to Birmingham for three days anyway. Birmingham isn't Beverly Hills.
Posted on August 14, 2008 10:35 AM
Doug:
Spot on. Like most things in education, parental involvment is not "rocket science." You show up and ask what you can do. More needless spending.
Best regards,
Paul Daniels
Posted on August 14, 2008 10:38 AM
Paul,
While I have 100% respect for Anita Sharpe, I also am eagerly looking forward to your being on the school board.
Posted on August 14, 2008 10:45 AM
Is anyone compiling a list of eligible conferences e.g. National Association for Gifted Children Annual Convention, Oct 29 - Nov 2, 2008 Tampa, Florida :}?
Posted on August 14, 2008 11:38 AM
jwg,
Let me know if you start a list of parents interested in participating in this particular conference as I am very interested in participating.
Posted on August 15, 2008 8:39 AM
And those condescending, smug schoolboard bas&*%# s will pay. You're darn tootin'!
On the road again.
We can't wait to get on the road again.
GCS should send us all partying with our friends
We can't wait to get on the road again
Posted on August 15, 2008 9:07 AM
Anonymous,
There is currently no "Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education" (PAGE - see http://www.ncagt.org/) but there is parent supported Yahoo! group for GCS Advanced Learners that they can join (free membership/Yahoo! ID is required). To request a membership invitation, simply email GCSAdvancedLearner-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and indicate your reason for wanting to join.
Posted on August 15, 2008 9:13 AM