Union Gears Workshops Toward Parent Power
Last week a parent coordinator, Taneesha Crawford, wrote a post for SchoolBook about parent engagement, asking who is paying attention to parent accountability and finding ways to help parents become more involved.
“Someone is always talking, measuring, criticizing — but not solving,” she wrote.
On Monday, Gotham Schools identified one potential problem solver: the teachers’ union. According to Gotham, the United Federation of Teachers began a series of workshops for parents on Saturday morning, to help provide them with skills and motivation “to advocate on behalf of their children and schools, and demand education policy changes.”
“Someone is always talking, measuring, criticizing — but not solving,” she wrote.
On Monday, Gotham Schools identified one potential problem solver: the teachers’ union. According to Gotham, the United Federation of Teachers began a series of workshops for parents on Saturday morning, to help provide them with skills and motivation “to advocate on behalf of their children and schools, and demand education policy changes.”
About fifty parents — ten from each borough — packed a third-floor conference room at union headquarters for the new academy’s inaugural meeting on Saturday morning. The parents were invited to participate by borough liaisons to the union, according to Anthony Harmon, a union official who conducts parent outreach. Several veteran city activists, including Juan Pagan and Laurie Frey mingled with self-described lobbying naifs, who took turns practicing short introductory speeches in the style of a public testimony.
