“We run this place.” This week, I overheard a parent say
this to another parent in a conversation at school concerning going to the
administration about a matter. I was shocked.
I know
parental involvement is something that schools strive to have. We always hear
that when there is higher parental involvement, test scores go up and the
success of a school is greater. However, I wonder if there is a point at which
the parents are too involved or involved in the wrong ways. I have worked at
two schools and each is very different from the other in a variety of ways,
especially when it comes to parental involvement.
At my
current school, parents have no limits to how involved they can be at school.
Sometimes, this limitless involvement can be good for teachers because we know
that we can go to them with questions and concerns when we have them about
their child. We know that they will show up to conferences and care about their
child’s performance. Our PTA is strong and parents are always volunteering for
events or library times. However, there are also struggles to having the
parents “run the school.” Some parents use their involvement as a sign of power
with teachers. They can come into classrooms whenever they want for conferences
or just observing our teaching practices. While I was shocked at the time I
heard that one parent’s comment, I also see exactly why she said it. I just
wonder what can leadership at our school do to change that mentality? How can
they let the parents know we are all a team?
At my old
school, we were seeing the opposite side of the problem. Our parents weren’t
involved enough. They wouldn’t show up for conferences or parent engagement
nights. When we would try calling parents, they would not want to talk or
wouldn’t call back. Over the years, parent involvement would get better due to
increasing efforts.
After
reading Valerie Strauss’ article, "Is parent involvement in school really useful?" (2013), I learned that
my questions are all questions that other educators ask as well. Strauss shares
that the most positive way for parents to be involved is if they make it clear
they are their child’s advocates, crating an alliance with the teacher. What’s
kids do not need is parental involvement that turns into pestering involvement.
I hope our
leadership teams can help our parents find the balance in becoming involved. I
also hope that as leaders, we can help our parents become involved as long as
they are being “advocates” for their children.
Here is a link to the article in the Washington Post I
shared: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/02/06/is-parent-involvement-in-school-really-useful/?utm_term=.a6b63c2b9d34
Olivia, the topic of your post REALLY resonates with me this week. I am kind of at an in-between of what you describe. There are some parents who I know feel that they “run things” at the school, and I have seen it firsthand on several occasions. I am even guilty of telling my students to recruit their parents to call the administration or guidance office to see changes made because their voices tend to carry significantly more weight than ours do as teachers. If I feel that way as a teacher, obviously more and more parents will begin to understand the effect that they (can) have in the school environment. This week, a parent of a student that I coach took this perceived power and ran all the way to the Superintendent’s office with it. I am now stuck in the middle of one of the most ridiculous situations I have ever encountered in my four years of teaching all over miscommunications and a lack of willingness to have a true conversation about the issue. I don’t really see this problem improving so long as the administration and guidance offices at my school legitimately value the voices of parents more than they do the voices of teachers, and I am interested to see how this evolves (if it does at all) over the next few years at my school.
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