• Has your school paid its PTOC dues?
• HS2000 continues to meet as a committee to discuss the public feedback. PTO’s are encouraged to contact Deb Small to have HS2000 speakers talk about the process at their PTO meetings (small@aaps.k12.mi.us)
• We need ideas for a topic for our February meeting.
• Parent Handbook Committee volunteers still needed.

Attending: Schools:

Abbot — Linda Binder;
Ann Arbor Open — Paul Kortesoja;
Bach — Raul Perdomo, Mark Borys;
Bryant — Theresa Han-Markey;
Clague — Bev Kraker;
Community — Shelly Igrisan;
Forsythe — Mary Burney;
Dicken — Maria Papaefthymiou;
Haisley — Jacqui Grisdale;
King — Katherine Griswold, Julie Geyer;
New School — Karen Connor;
Northside — Ken Boyer, Barb Mattimiro Kraft;
Tappan — Carol Shulman.

AAPS: Sharon Baskerville, LeeAnn Dickinson Kelly

AAEA: Allan Loeb, Cheryl Ervin , Lynn Lombard

• Executive Board meeting with Dr. Ray-Taylor: HS2000 town meetings accomplished what was needed. It is important that the public see that their input is being considered to improve trust. The Deputy Superintendent position is being reposted as there was no consensus after interviews were conducted. Conducting surveys — the district will be doing its own comprehensive survey next year, which should be repeated every 3-5 years. An outside firm will likely be hired to conduct it. Dr. Ray-Taylor would like to present the Parents Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, as well as the new state laws regarding discipline at our March meeting.

• Deb Small: Deb is available to help schools with survey design.

• Sharon Baskerville thanked PTOC for their help with the HS2000 forum. Please continue to forward comments to the committee. Short-term solutions will be presented to the Board on January 12. The HS2000 forum will be presented to teachers on January 19.

• How should PTO’s and PTOC be involved in the district’s strategic planning process? A consulting firm has been retained by the Board to guide the process. The group consensus was that PTOs probably aren’t a good vehicle for collecting survey information, but school newsletters might help with the distribution. If they are available, we would like to hear an overview of the process in January or February. We will ask Dr. Ray-Taylor and Deb Small to be included in the planning process.

• The Parent Handbook Committee still needs a chair. It’s purpose is to help show parents how they can communicate with schools. Mary Burney will contact those who have previously volunteered. If you would like to help, mepburney@aol.com.

PARENT SURVEYS:

BRYANT — Theresa Han-Markey:

A survey was done for the first time in several years for the 97-98 year. Objectives were (1) to help the PTO program planning and (2) to gauge parent satisfaction. The design was one page with yes and no boxes and room for comments. The PTO Board was involved in developing the five questions used. Surveys did not require names. Questions used were: (1) Did your child enjoy school?; (2) Are you pleased with what your child learned?; (3) Is your child safe in school? (4) Are you happy with PTO functions? (5) What other PTO programs would you like to see? The survey was conducted in June. There was a 30% - 35% return rate.

The survey was first seen by the principal and two or three teachers. It was given to staff for input before distribution. There was no feedback from them. The same survey was used in 98-99 school year. 90% of the respondents were happy with the school. The surveys were mailed back to the PTO President’s house directly, as it was the end of the school year. The principal keeps hard copies. Bryant plans to continue the survey in the future. The PTO president summarized comments. Results were published in the school newsletter. There were many wonderful comments and it also gave parents an outlet to say what went wrong. There was some fuss within the school that SIT felt the survey was their role.

The survey helped the PTO plan their program. Positive comments were passe don to the staff. The PTO felt that it was important that parent dissatisfaction was recorded. No personal comments were put in the newsletter.

NORTHSIDE — Ken Boyer:

Northside's Parent Input Survey was motivated by the idea that it is important to give people a voice in order for them to buy into the public school system. The negative reaction from some teachers strengthened parents' resolve to continue with the survey. There was much negotiation over the process.

Teachers concerns included (1) Teachers are professionals and parents are not -non-experts; evaluation by non-professionals diminishes teachers' stature. (2) Gossip - a survey would give excessive voice to parents who are unreasonable, (3) Precedent - that the current PTO might handle the results in a trustworthy manner, but what about in the future?

Surveys were developed after looking at similar instruments used by private and charter schools. It was decided to use a long survey. The question about teachers was buried in the middle. It was sent home in backpack mail with an envelope, to be returned to a box in the school office. The surveys first went to Jane Landefeld at Balas to remove any personal/hurtful comments - there were none. She transcribed and tallied the results, then sent them on to the principal who removed all names in order to depersonalize it (all of the comments were positive). Teachers received copies of the results before the PTO. The overall results were published in the first newsletter of the year. More detailed results are being published one question at a time through the year. Parents were very satisfied with almost everything at Northside. The PTO would like more control over the process. Next time we would probably mail the surveys home and have them returned by mail and publicize it better.

KING — Katherine Griswold:

King parents felt they needed to hear from people who are not heard from and are uncomfortable talking to teachers directly. They were naïve about the animosity it would cause. The draft of the survey was given to teachers first for feedback. The questions were taken from a survey that Thurston did, and didn’t find out until later that it had caused problems there. There has been no communication from the teachers and principal about the survey since the beginning of November. It was rewritten based on feedback from one teacher. Kathy is looking for suggestions. Parent momentum to do the survey is growing because they’re being told they can’t do it.

DICKEN — Maria Papaefthymiou:

It was a smooth process. There was no room for personal comments. They felt that anonymous comments are not valid. The questions included items about the functions of the PTO, why or why not people are involved in the PTO, meeting times, fundraising, the use of PTO funds, redistricting problems, and the PTO’s role in safety.

STAFF COMMENTS:

No opportunity for rebuttal to results. Roles of PTO and SIT become blurred. It’s the principals’ role to evaluate teachers, not parents. Statistically, a 30%-35% return rate may not be reliable. It can cause divisiveness. This is not the most effective way for issues to come out. Parents need to resolve concerns directly with the teacher and principal.

Teachers are probably not concerned about Dicken’s type of survey as it deals only with the PTO.

If a teacher’s name shows up on a survey, depending upon the administrator, will it be reflected in their evaluation?

Questions asked should be specific. Do questions only have meaning when placed in context (e.g. grade level specific questions about homework)? Are the questions useful? You need to be clear on the purpose of the questions and aggregate data from the whole population, not on interpersonal comments.

There is a lack of trust on the teachers’ part because of past history.

PARENT COMMENTS:

Several parents present, who are university professors/instructors, commented that they are evaluated regularly by their students and results are posted publicly on the web. The return rates are statistically reliable.

Parents haven’t been asked for their input and want that opportunity. They want to be asked and want responses that matter. If the district asks those questions it would be great. If they don’t then parents will continue to take it upon themselves to make the effort in individual buildings.

Lee Ann Dickinson-Kelly: If the purpose of the survey is to promote communication, will it do so? School climate and programmatic questions are better the purview of SIT, which is co-owned and developed by staff and parents.

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

• PTO and SIT relationships — what is who’s domain? Who deals with what?
• There is a fear of negative comments, but in practice the experience shows that they are very positive.
• Because parents are not asked regularly, do you tend to only get polarized comments? Do people comment at all unless they have problems?
• There is a need for a well-designed survey.
• Can use be made of the data? Will it result in improvement?
• Maybe we haven’t done as good a job as we should praising teachers for the good job that they do?

*FYI — from Deb Small:

HOUSE GOP URGES INCREASED PARENT PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION

Seeking to boost parents' involvement in their children's education, House Republicans recommended Wednesday that the state assist in the creation of pilot programs to help schools solicit more parental input and conduct an information campaign pushing parental involvement.

"Parents want to participate," said Rep. Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks), a former teacher who led the caucus task force studying the issue. "(But) a parent walks into a school building, everyone's busy. There's nobody there to get those parents where they need to be, to get them motivated."

During the task force's five meetings across the state*in Owosso, Macomb County, Petoskey, Big Rapids and Berrien Springs*parents' testimony centered around wanting increased volunteering opportunities, school safety and input in curriculum, Mr. Jelinek said.

The pilot program would make available about $400,000 over a two-year period from the School Aid Fund for the state's approximately 550 school districts to experiment with ideas on how to improve school safety, boost parental involvement and enhance curriculum. Districts would apply and the Department of Education would determine which ones could receive $10,000 each year of the program.

To increase parental involvement, the money would go toward a part-time school district volunteer coordinator that would focus on increasing attendance at parent-teacher conferences and provide training to teachers and administrators on how to use parents as a resource.

Although the $400,000 figure would limit the money to a small fraction of the state's schools, Mr. Jelinek and Mr. Perricone said that's the point of a pilot program*experimentation on a small scale that hopefully leads to innovation.

"We're letting the schools do the guinea pig work instead of us dictating it statewide," Mr. Perricone said.

Democrats were fairly unimpressed with the report, saying it lacked substantive recommendations. "We're a little disappointed that Republicans said parental involvement is important, but didn't really propose anything of any substance," said Andy Hetzel, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Michael Hanley (D-Saginaw). "In terms of funding and education policy, what they put out was relatively weak."

Democrats are open to working with Republicans on meaningful efforts to encourage vital parental involvement, Mr. Hetzel said.

The task force's recommendations also dealt with school safety issues, including giving officials authority to conduct regular locker checks and create a toll-free, 24-hour school safety hotline. Many schools already check lockers for drugs, alcohol or weapons, but lawmakers said they wanted to make clear that schools have this authority.

"This is an area of great confusion," said House Speaker Chuck Perricone (R-Kalamazoo Township).

The safety hotline would be operated by either the State Police or the Department of Education's Office of School Safety. Rep. Pat Lockwood

(D-Fenton) proposed an amendment during last year's budget debate for such a hotline, but it was defeated. Ms. Lockwood said Wednesday that she is drafting a bill to create the hotline and Rep. Terry Geiger (R-Lake Odessa), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has promised her a hearing on it.

The task force's recommendations also included:

• Legislation allowing employees to take comp time instead of overtime as a way of enabling parents to get more involved with their children's education
• Creation of a bipartisan work group to look at special education issues
• Allocation funds for the Department of Education to create public service announcements promoting community and parental involvement in schools.

Next PTOC meeting:

Thursday, January 20, 7:00 PM

Balas III

Please note different meeting room — across the parking lot from our usual space!