Posts filed under 'school'
You’ve made it this far.
You’re upset with the way certain policies are handed down in your child’s school and you are frustrated but beyond that you don’t know where to begin. I’m about to share the biggest and easiest way to become an activist for parents your child’s school. What can you do to make next year different? Better?
At the beginning of every school year, your son or daughter brings home a stack of paperwork 6 inches thick. You read through and sign what you must and toss the rest right?
Don’t. Look through the paperwork to see if there are newsletters from the principal, district or even your child’s teacher. They will be looking for help. Volunteers to come into the classrooms, into the school and do anything from working with a reading group or in the library to making copies and sorting and stapling.
I know it sounds like boring, mundane tasks but getting your foot inside the school door is exactly what you need to do.
If you don’t see papers like this or you get the chance to meet with your son or daughter’s teacher for the next year, introduce yourself, offer your cell phone or home phone number now and ask what help they typically need most. Teachers know what they will need and they are more than willing to get the parents into the classroom to help - even if it’s just to help staple and sort.
It’s a start.
June 10th, 2008
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Something I realized today as I went through my feeds and message boards.
I see a lot of parents taking issue with the way their school is run; they don’t like the teachers, the kids, the administration, and the rules. The number of things we have problems with seems to grow and grow but in many of the threads I read, there is little to offer in the line of help or solutions.
I’m always pleased when someone offers some great ideas on how to help a parent. My feelings of elation soon dissipate when the parent says they can’t do it because of work.
Here are my thoughts on this and someone tell me if I am wrong but… if you want change, you are going to have to go out and get it. The school is not going to change for you based on your blogging, messages or complaining to your friends.
It’s the same message we try to send our kids, if you don’t like something, you have to do something about it in order for things to get better.
But how? I can hear you asking me already –
That’s what we will work on this week. How we make the changes. How we become the activists in our schools. We must become a presence inside the halls of our children’s schools in order for administrators and teachers to take us seriously.
We have all summer and we can create a better school year for our children.
June 9th, 2008
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Some of the things the federal government wants to impose on our schools never ceases to amaze me. Especially when it comes to the ways they want to spend the dollars set aside for our kids’ educations.
Here’s what I learned this week. I was speaking to our district’s bus garage supervisor and he was talking about how the government wants school buses to switch to a bio-desiel fuel. Now on the surface this sounds like a good idea right? It’s better for the environment and it is probably better for anyone who breathes in the stuff all day long….
All sounds good. Right? Not when it costs each bus $.015 more per gallon to use it. That’s extra money out of our school’s budget. The budget that is supposed to be used to educate our children as well as transport them. I know what you’re saying the idea of a fuel that is economically better is a good thing, I won’t deny that - but I will argue about where the extra money for the fuel will come from especially when schools all over the U.S. are strapped and struggling to find ways to trim more from the budget.
Many have to cut an excess of as much as 2 million dollars in order to stay out of a deficit by the year 2013. They are offering teachers who are close to retirement incentives to get of dodge now in order to bring in less expensive teachers; teachers I might add, as in one local school district that are already on the layoff list because they are closing elementary schools in the district.
As of right now I haven’t been able to find any information to suggest that the government is forcing school districts to switch to the bio-desiel but I also don’t see where it will no longer be an option for much longer either…
I don’t know what’s more important and surely this is something the school districts have to decide for themselves also but if saving $.015 a gallon means more money towards my children’s education, can you guess which option I would choose?
May 25th, 2008
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As schools everywhere are preparing to end the year many parents have already been approached by their child’s teacher about repeating the grade they are in. For most parents the thought of their child repeating a grade feels like failure but depending on the teacher’s reasons, it could be the best decision you make for your child.
Often times teachers suggest a child repeats a grade it is because the child isn’t ready to move on with his or her peers. This happens more to children who are in Kindergarten, First or Second grade. Your child may not be emotionally ready to move on - one of the largest reasons teachers suggest a child hangs back a grade. What happens is that the child may have trouble adjusting to changes, working with other students, or other emotional or social markers.
School isn’t all about grades. Teachers realize that some children simply have a harder time at the social aspect of school. If given the chance to work through their difficulties, they can excel but in order to do that the teacher and parents must come to an understanding about what a child needs.
So if it’s been recommended that your child repeat a grade and you can’t find a reason that they should academically, schedule a meeting with the teacher to find out why. If you are strongly against your child repeating a grade make sure you understand why the teacher suggests it and what you can do over the summer to better prepare your child for the next school year.
Teachers don’t make the suggestion to hold a child back lightly and before you decide, take the time to understand the teacher’s position and get plenty of information and examples from the teacher for the basis of their suggestion.
May 14th, 2008
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I read something disturbing this morning. Normally this wouldn’t bother me too much because I beleive in getting the best education possible for my children. That’s why I became a blogger for today.com. I want to help parents navigate and learn that they can be excellent activists for their children.
A mom was frustrated over an incident at school and instead of getting feedback from one mom, the woman suggested she simply pull her child from the school and begin homeschooling. Simple enough comment right? Well… not really, to me anyway.
It wasn’t that simple of a statement in my opinion. As an activist to create better schools, I don’t feel that pulling your child out of school and beginning a whole different way of learning is the answer. Before I end up with hate mail, let me just say that I am not against homeschooling. I think that it can work very well if approached correctly. However, I think that parents need to weigh the reasons for homeschooling along with the pros and cons.
The ideal school setting would have children learning and growing in an environment that is supportive of their needs - but sometimes, even the well placed systems fail the children. That is why parents need to be the activists.
It is a personal belief of mine that YOU have the ability to change the way schools work. You have the ability to change policies and yes, sometimes we need to make a stink and be a pain to the administrations and districts but that is how they learn there is a problem. If everyone sat idly by and did nothing then school districts and the administrators would never know parents are concerned. We have the power to hold them accountable for operating a school that meets the needs of every student.
Now in the case of the mom who was frustrated, it was a playground issue. My advice to her would have been if the principal or teachers are uncooperative then yes, it is time to go above their heads (which I will be talking about more in the next few weeks). There are more solutions than taking your child out of school. I’m not saying that sometimes that isn’t necessary but if there is a chance that you can work it out, I say do it!
May 8th, 2008
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