
DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711290217

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY YOUNG, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  120 lines

SCHOOLS STRUGGLING WITH ROLE OF PARENTS ``PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT'' HAS MANY DEFINITIONS.

Billie McCoy Cook is tired of what she calls ``happy meal meetings'' in her school district. They're the ones in which everyone on the school staff or the PTA talks about how absolutely delighted they are with every child, every program and just about everything the school does.

They close with everyone agreeing that things just couldn't be better.

But Cook knows things could be better. She knows there are problems. What she doesn't know is what the specific problems are and how she and other parents can work together with the schools to solve them.

``You never get a sense of, `We're facing this kind of problem and this is what we need help on,' '' said Cook, a parent of two children in Portsmouth. ``And if you say, `OK, so you're telling me that there are no problems,' then you appear to be attacking the system when that's not really your purpose.''

Cook's purpose is improving parental involvement, and she's not alone. It's a rare discussion about education where parental involvement isn't praised or where there isn't a call for more.

In the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake, the school system and the community are wrestling with whether to realign their primary and intermediate schools to increase parental involvement. The result could significantly decrease the racial diversity, but proponents say increased parental involvement is their best hope to boost the area's low test scores.

But what is parental involvement?

Is it going to PTA meetings, baking cookies for bake sales and class parties?

Is it monitoring your children's work, helping out in their classes and at home?

Is it speaking up when there's a problem not only with your child, but within the school and the district - and figuring out what you can do to help?

Is it all of the above and more? And if it is, are parents doing it? Are schools really welcoming it, or are they just giving lip service to it?

The answers are not clear.

``I think schools have made islands of themselves. They don't know how to work with families,'' said Sue Ferguson, chairman of the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education.

Many teachers and administrators don't know how to work with parents as true partners in the process, Ferguson added.

``An awful lot of schools don't know what the `public' is in `public schools,' '' she said. ``They need the whole community. They can't do it alone.''

The every-school-is-an-island mentality may leave parents like Cook feeling left out or inconsequential.

``You go to the PTA meetings to get the latest report on the gift wrapping fund-raiser. If that's going to be the total package, that's not going to work for me,'' said Cook.

It's not going to work for teachers Erdie Hutchings and Becky Alexander, either.

``Believe it or not, the parents run the classroom,'' said Hutchings, who is in her first year of full-time teaching in Suffolk schools. She said she has parents in her classroom every day and asks them for suggestions on what works best with their children.

``I tell them they are the first teachers and we're working together as a team. They love that. They don't like being talked down to,'' said Hutchings, who teaches fourth grade at Kilby Shores Elementary School.

``They know their children better than I do.''

Alexander, who teaches second grade at Butts Road Primary in Chesapeake, said she invites parental involvement through weekly newsletters that inform parents of class activities and needs. She sends home a ``math toolbox'' filled with math games that the parents can play with their children. The students also fill out homework ``contracts'' in which children and parents agree that the students will study for a certain time period each night.

All of that is essential to creating an atmosphere in which parents feel they can contribute, said Alexander, adding that sometimes parents are reticent to get involved because they're not sure they really are welcome.

``They don't want to butt in where they're not wanted,'' said Alexander.

Ferguson said schools need to tailor their outreach efforts to the different needs of parents. They need to recognize that parental involvement differs from person to person.

``For some, it just might mean getting their kids dressed and ready for school, for others it may mean taking part in a decision-making body,'' said Ferguson.

At Hickory High School in Chesapeake, parent and community involvement has taken the form of finishing the athletic fields that a contractor had left undone. Parents have taken a bad situation and turned it into a community rallying point, said Ray Scott, president of the school's PTA.

Scott said parents and others in the community have donated time, dirt and machinery in the ongoing process.

``It's almost been built by the people of the community,'' he said.

Cook said she would like to see more situations in which school officials could give an honest assessment of their needs, both large and small.

If the schools and the parents could really work together, Cook said, they could have the same success Portsmouth had in reducing the crime rate after the city came to its residents for help.

``Basically, it was like, `This is what we are trying to do. Help us do it,' '' said Cook. ``There was the sense that what you did actually did make a difference.'' MEMO: CHARTERS AND VOUCHERS

Increasingly, Virginians are debating the merits of charter schools and

vouchers. What do you think? Should Virginia permit charter schools

(independently operated schools freed from some state regulations)?

Should the governor and legislature approve government vouchers to help

cover private-school tuition? We'd like to hear your comments. Dial

640-5555 and press 1778. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Teddie Thorogood, a Great Bridge Intermediate parent volunteer,

spends time with her son, Lolly, 9, on Tuesday.

Get Involved

- Visit your child's classroom. A visit will give you an idea of

what your child does at school and how he or she interacts with