
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994                   TAG: 9402240017
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HURT PARK

PARENT-TEACHER Associations do more than sell gift-wrap to help kids raise money for bus trips to Washington. They are the cornerstone of a school community and often the cheerleaders for a community's spirit.

They are also auditors of a school's classroom practices and programs, keeping check on the accounts of students' progress. Study after study confirms that parental involvement in education has a measurable, beneficial impact on students' academic achievements.

Thus, nearly a decade without a viable PTA at Hurt Park Elementary School, clearly one of Roanoke's most troubled, has been a sad period for the entire Hurt Park community. As one of the city's poorest communities, it has been further impoverished by the lack of organized parental involvement and interest in the elementary school.

But that may be changing. After many fits and starts, a new PTA seems to have gotten its bearings in the past five months. Today, the organization is proudly holding its first fund-raiser - a carnival in the school's cafeteria - at which it hopes to raise money to get air conditioning for the school and to make playground improvements. Wonderful.

Hurt Park parents, teachers and school officials who have worked with unwavering determination to put the PTA cornerstone back in their community are to be commended.

So, too, are PTA members at Crystal Spring Elementary School, businesspeople and others who have helped and encouraged the fledgling Hurt Park group on the other side of the socioeconomic tracks.

This is an important cause, and an effort in which Roanoke can justly take pride.

by CNB