As cities gentrify and schools diversify, PTOs grapple to ensure all parent voices are heard
But when Dixon attended a school open house in 2012, he was one of the few black parents in the room. And when he returned for an evening parent meeting, he was again one of the only black parents. He believed he didn’t belong, so he stopped attending.
As cities across the country gentrify — and schools in those cities slowly begin to diversify — communities are struggling to ensure that all parents have an equal voice. Parent organizations have emerged as a striking, and consequential, example of the cultural, economic and language divides among families.
For Dixon, it felt as if parents were vetting him at those first two meetings, determining whether he should be there.
“It was kind of like this is our space, and we need to ask some qualifying questions: Where do you live, where do you come from? And you can feel that,” said Dixon, a native Washingtonian. “It’s challenging as a black father because there is less power — at least perceived — in the school.”
Parents of color have long spoken of feeling alienated from parent organizations — many schools in low-income neighborhoods do not even have formal parent groups. And drastic fundraising disparities between parent groups at schools in wealthy neighborhoods and those in lower-income areas has been extensively researched.
Now, a small but growing number of researchers and organizations are focused on what happens within CONTINUE READING: As cities gentrify and schools diversify, PTOs grapple to ensure all parent voices are heard - The Washington Post