Jailing of Parents- School Involvement by Mrs. Dorothy Barron

Jailing of Parents- School Involvement Issue by Mrs. Dorothy Barron

Over the last two weeks, the subject of Parental - School Involvement has been the topic at Parents Taking Charge in Education Blog. We have looked at Ten(10) reasons why Parents are not involved in their children’s schools and/or education and Four(4) types of Parental - School Involvement. Perhaps, the aforementioned posts and questions below will provide thoughts for consideration when dealing with today’s topic, Jailing of Parents – School Involvement Issue.

The issue of possibly jailing Parents for not attending school conferences sped its way over and throughout the internet from various sources eliciting a range of emotions and comments. It appears that a Detroit prosecutor desires to initiate legislation to possibly jail a Parent who does not attend or hold a school conference with his/her child’s school(s) at some point throughout the child’s school year. *The link to the National Public Radio interview with the prosecutor and others has been listed, below.

We should also point out that having experience or expertise in one area or field does not automatically transcend into another field. 

Suggestions with extreme solutions or remedies for Parental involvement are not new; most are the result of attempts to garner attention and/or as the result of a high level of frustration. During the 1990s, in order to curb student school truancy, the law sought to fine Parents in such cases. If stats are correct, the present drop-out rate is higher and a national crisis. Now let us examine this jailing of Parents issue by asking a series of questions, which are:

Question #1- Why seek jail as the solution for parents who do not or choose not to attend or hold school conferences?

Question #2- On what legal ground (s) would you charge the parent(s)? With an already over-populated jail/prison system, where would you house parents; who then would be responsible for caring for the children, getting them to school, etc?

What would jailing Parents accomplish?

Ÿ  Chaos

Ÿ  An increased workload of present and often overburdened, ineffective legal and judicial systems

Ÿ  Antagonism and further alienation between parents and schools

Ÿ  Loss of work, wages and possibly the parent’s job

Ÿ  Possibly child endangerment charges or worse

Ÿ  Outraged parents and taxpayers

Question #3- How well do you understand the issues that involve parental - school involvement and/or lack of, our education system and schools?

Once, there was a teacher who continually bemoaned lack of parental involvement to me; one day, I simply asked her, how often she visited her child’s school? She was stunned; somehow, she did not think it applicable to her- a teacher. She never posed the question again, to me.

Question #4- What is the criteria for school involvement; what does such entail? Is school involvement a requirement for all parents; if so, how much?

Question #5 - what role do you play in supporting parents, education, schools, and ultimately, students?

Food for thought- Parents should be and many are responsible for their children, but, if we are busy mandating, legislating and eradicating Parents’ authority, how then can they become or continue being responsible Parents?

Special thanks to National Public Radio for permission to use the following link.

*National Public Radio. Schools Working to Increase Parental Involvement. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130979888 . 11/01/2010

Mrs. Dorothy Barron, Author

http://mrsdbarron.blogspot.com

Why Parents are Not Involved or have Ceased to be involved in their Children’s Schools and/or Education by Mrs. Dorothy Barron

Why Parents are Not Involved or have Ceased to be involved in their Children’s Schools and/or Education by Mrs. Dorothy Barron

        “Where my child goes, I go; you got my child, you got me”(Mrs. Dorothy Barron).

Do not assume that because a Parent is not in the school, he/she does not care about the child’s education. We use the term Parent(s), because the parent is ultimately responsible for his/her child, but the word can be applicable, here, to any caregiver that has the legal oversight and decision-making authority for a child. Parents are not involved or have ceased to be involved in their children’s schools and/or education for a number of reasons; ten have been listed for your perusal:

1.      Job-  the top priority for most parents range from putting food on the table to climbing the career ladder. The child is important, but takes second priority to the aforementioned. From another aspect, some parents have clearly delineated and designated roles(parents/educators)- their job is to parent and the educators’ job is to educate their children.

2.      Other Responsibilities- such can encompass a new baby, the care of elderly parent or others

3.      Unable to assist- aged, disabled, ill, not a daily part of the child’s life, institutionalized, homeless and in dire straits, multiple children in different schools or deployed and serving this country in the military prevents some parents’ involvement.

4.      Lack of education and/or knowledge- unfortunately and sadly, some parents in this category are stigmatized by those within our schools and Education System.

5.      Do not know how to assist- believe it or not, this was the number one reason for lack of involvement

6.      Composition of Head of Households- single parents, elderly grandparent(s), etc.

7.      Schools not welcoming, unfriendly and hostile- such can range from overwhelmed and frantically busy staff to deliberate attempts to prevent parents from coming into the schools.

8.      Conflict- when conflict occurs between a parent(s) and educators and remain unresolved, it is only a matter of time before that parent (s) will ceased to become involved with the school from the standpoint of a partner. Such often affects the atmosphere of the school and others parents as well. Others do not want to get caught in the middle of conflict and will avoid the school; most have enough conflict of some sort in their own lives and aren’t signing on for more.

9.      Lack of Enforcement of Parents Rights in Education- when parents rights have been violated from a legal standpoint in education, often very little to nothing occurs in resolving the offense(s). The situation becomes untenable, because even though much legalese has been written about Parents Rights in Education, practically no one insures that parents’ rights are upheld and enforced.  Numbers 8& 9 have been reasons in my attempts to pursue a legal career as an Attorney at Law(to no avail).

10.  No interest in Education- such may stem from the parent’s own school experience(s) and/or from one or more reasons listed above.

Whether you view the above reasons as being valid or invalid as to why parents are not involved or have ceased to be involved in their children’s  schools and education does not matter. What really matters is the reason(s) are valid to the parent(s). Therefore, PTA/PTO Presidents, Educators and/or anyone else desiring to get Parents involved in their children’s schools and/or education, you must begin exactly where the parent is and work from that point. Such involves a process and takes time and patience.

Mrs. Dorothy Barron, Author 

http://mrsdbarron.blogspot.com