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| NEA: Schools Must Involve Parents More | ||
By GREG TOPPO, AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Whether they hold parent-teacher conferences in coffee shops or send teachers to chicken processing plants to meet with working parents, schools must do more to get families involved, the head of the nation's largest teacher's union said Friday. "If the parents won't come to us, we must go to the parents," said National Education Association President Bob Chase, a former social studies teacher. In remarks to be delivered at the National Press Club, Chase cited the example of an elementary school in Tacoma, Wash., where parent-teacher conferences are held in local restaurants and ice cream parlors. Parents - especially those from low-income or immigrant families - are often too busy or too intimidated to come to school, he said. Chase said the NEA local affiliate in Wilkes County, N.C., has helped organize a weekly trip to a chicken processing plant, where teachers - translators in tow - meet with parents to talk about their children's progress. Chase also said employers must do more to help parents get involved in their children's schools. He suggested providing employees with two hours per month of paid leave so parents can volunteer at school or meet with teachers. The NEA headquarters in Washington and a regional office in Denver provide time off with pay to let employees volunteer for six hours per month in local elementary schools, said spokeswoman Kathleen Lyons. But she said most NEA-affiliated teachers do not have such agreements written into their contracts. Local union representatives nationwide have been urging their school districts to provide the benefit, Lyons said. Chase said schools should also provide mediators to help an increasingly diverse parent population talk with teachers, most of whom are predominantly white and middle-class. "After each side has had an opportunity to vent their misgivings about each other, they can begin to discuss the one subject that interests them both: the kids," he said. The NEA represents 2.6 million teachers and other school workers. |
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