The Rochester school district has had a tenuous relationship with parents for years. Almost every superintendent in recent memory has made some kind of an effort to improve relations between parents, teachers, and school administrators. But success has been illusive and varied depending on the school.
The district’s Office of Parent Engagement is making a new effort with a Parent Participation Survey that can be found on the district’s website. It’s about 23 questions long and shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to complete. The survey can be taken from now until Friday, June 7. And on Friday, June 14, the results will be posted on the district’s website.
How the survey will be used is vague. And the questions are fairly general and designed to gauge the level of respondents’ participation, and how respondents feel about their children’s school and the school district.
Here are some shortened versions of the questions:
“Do you feel welcomed? Do the school’s policies respect and value diversity? Are students treated fairly? Are teachers easy to reach and do they keep you informed?”
You get the idea.
Some parents have complained bitterly over the years that their attempts to become involved are thwarted by school officials or teachers. The district’s interest in parental involvement has been a passive-aggressive game, they say — honest feedback isn’t welcomed.
Whether the survey will change any minds is hard to say, and I’m not sure we’ll learn anything. Adding a few questions that dig a little deeper, asking for some specifics, might be more productive.
For instance, I would like to know how long it takes for teachers to return calls. By the end of the day? The next day? More than 48 hours?
And instead of asking people whether they “feel” welcome in a school or at a PTA meeting, they might have asked if they were greeted when they went to the front office? Did the person talking to them make eye contact?
And with respect to some questions, how does a parent know if students in a school are all treated fairly?
None of these picky points are reason enough to skip the survey, but if the district is going to engage parents, start with an engaging survey.
This article appears in May 15-21, 2013.
“How the survey will be used is vague.”
OF COURSE IT’S “VAGUE.” SUCH MEANINGLESS EFFORTS ARE ALWAYS VAGUE, TO TELL THE TRUTH, THIS REPRESENTS A MUCH-REPEATED EXERCISE IN FUTILITY, AND NEVER, EVER AMOUNTS TO ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE. IT’S A GAME THAT DISTRICT OFFICIALS PLAY, TO PRETEND THAT THEY CARE ABOUT WHAT PARENTS THINK AND WANT, WHICH IS ONE REASON WHY THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF PARENTS ARE WISE ENOUGH NOT TO EVEN WASTE THEIR TIME PARTICIPATING.
LET’S DO OUR OWN SURVEY, I.E., PLEASE INDICATE WHETHER YOU AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING OR NOT: HUGE NUMBERS OF “parents have complained bitterly over the years that their attempts to become involved are thwarted by school officials or teachers. The district’s interest in parental involvement has been a passive-aggressive game, they say — honest feedback isn’t welcomed.”
As a teacher in the district for over a decade, I can tell you that one of the major complaints of teachers and administrators is that parents aren’t more involved.
I can also say that some parents believe that advocating for their child means denying any wrongdoing on their child’s part… it’s always someone else’s fault. Also, even when teachers do keep parents in the loop and make frequent phone calls, the students most in need of behavioral modification are not effectively addressed by those parents a vast majority of the time. Any parents who are called more than 2 times a marking period, by the 3rd marking period are pretty much getting those calls so they can’t tell the school the teacher didn’t let them know.
As opposed to putting out a survey (that Howard Eagle is likely correct in his belief that the impact will be minimal), how about putting the effort into developing a class for parents that will help teach parents how to become effective advocates, and how best to become involved in their child’s education. Too many parents do not know how to access the “system” in a meaningful and effective way. I’m sure the district has held these classes before, but they need to hold them regularly, often,. in a variety of places. Many of our least effective parents have not had positive experiences with school, so holding these classes at a school effectively shuts them out. Hold them at community centers and libraries, restaurants and other places around at a variety of times so parents can participate without having to take time off work. If we do this, a survey won’t be necessary… we will have done enough to get parents involved. It will then be their responsibility.