Kudos to the leaders of the Black Mountain PTO. BMESPTO was obviously hit hard by the departure of their principal Dr. Pam Sitton. BMESPTO made it clear in no uncertain terms to the governing board and administration that they will be involved with the selection of their next principal. They spoke at the governing board meeting on June 8, 2008:
Lisa Fullam Wheeler, BMES PTO President BMES PTO Remarks to Governing Board
Statement to CCUSD Governing Board by Meribeth Reeves
Clearly, BMESPTO knows that it has a vested interest in the success of its school, it demands to be part of the process, and it will not blindly accept what ever the administration decrees.
Additionally, BMESPTO, great job on your website! You guys rock. And keep up the great work and keep pushing the district to “to continually improve these standards in upcoming years.”
Now if only the other PTO's in other schools would stand up and take a stand. I know the school where my kid's go could use an overhaul but no one is willing to go there and take on that principal or her staff. And yes, I've TRIED!
ReplyDeleteAccording to the bylaws at our school, the PTO's are for community building and fundraising. We tried to "take stands" on issues and were slapped down because of the clearly spelled out role in our bylaws. For instance, some of the "stands" on curriculum fall under the jurisdication of site council, not pto.
ReplyDeleteKudos though to the BMES PTO. I think that some of the moms on that PTO are stay at homes though and that they devote a huge amount of their time to it. We were not so fortunate at our school, where all of our PTO juggled PTO with work demands. Plus, we struggled to get parents to attend our meetings or pitch in.
I hope that 11:18 will join either the PTO or site council and help make a difference.
honeymom
Hi HM,
ReplyDeleteIt is unfathomable that any organization would be slapped down when trying to stand up for the children, regardless of by-laws.
Who specifically slapped down your group? The principal or did it come from higher up?
Principal
ReplyDeletehm
Here we go again... I am so sick of this "BMES PTO has stay-at-home moms on their PTO and we poor working moms can't help". Both presidents this year are full-time working parents both who own their own businesses. Last year both presidents and vice presidents worked too. In addition, a majority of the BMES PTO parents are working parents. They just work their schedules around the meetings which are at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesdays and are kept, as much as possible, to an hour.
ReplyDeleteBMES PTO just had a principal who worked well with them (and are excited about the new one that they expect will do the same). They also did not try to dictate to the principal or site council on issues. Rather the BMES PTO takes direction from those folks and works with them to attain common goals (hmmm....something the CCUSD BOE should look at...hey, it really works).
BMES PTO was precluded (as most are) from taking political stands on issues as perceived or actual use of school district resources to influence an election can be cause for the election to be brought into question and possibly negated. No one wants to take that risk...someday another override or bond might actually pass and who would want to be responsible for its recall?
BMES Parents and teachers and staff (and Lone Mountain parents and teachers and staff) were all involved in the selection process for their new principals. This has been the standard for principal selection for years in the district and is how Dr. sitton was selected originally. BMES PTO had heard community rumors that an administrator had already been hired in the district who was going to be assigned to a school. There was no confirmation of this so there was no effort by BMES PTO to be confrontational with the board, but rather acknowledged their past processes and noted their enthusiasm to be part of the process. They also wanted to publicly squelch those rumors so when a new principal was hired he/she would be accepted positively.
The PTO is very excited about the outcome and, hopefully, their proposed candidate was approved at the board meeting tonight so BMES PTO can let everyone know all about her...and she can introducer herself to the wonderful BMES parents (mostly working), PTO, teachers, staff and students that make the school so special.
I said that I "think" they are stay at homes. I stand corrected. If you have read my posts until now, you will realize that I work and have served on PTO. I am not the "we poor working moms can't help" that you believe me to be.
ReplyDeleteI am completely with you in that parents should look for ways to be involved even if they are working. But, I also consider myself lucky enough to have a flexible work schedule and I know that many people do not. I'm not about to get upset with everybody that is overwhelmed by work and cannot participate because unless I can stand in their shoes, I cannot understand their difficulties. Perhaps you should try some understanding, too.
honeymom
I wonder if Watch admires BMES PTO more for their stand or for their fundraising.
ReplyDeleteThe process was already in place for parents to be part of hiring...so no news there. They just made sure they were. Good for them! Now to fundraising...
What wouldn't Watch love about BMES PTO raising $50K-$60K annually?
In an effort to minimize the educational impact of failed bonds, this fall many PTO's will fund things they believe to be necessity. Honorable intentions for certain.
Though in doing so they may also be sending another message to the community. The message being "go ahead and vote against the schools". Parents will cover the costs themselves, your property values stay high (good schools do matter) and your taxation stays low.
What's not to love?
Unless of course a school can't fundraise as well as BMES. What happens to those schools and kids?
Also ask what could BMES and others have spent their fundraising dollars on to enrich the lives of our kids if they didn't need to make up for lack of appropriate funding? I wonder...
I'm sorry about the frustrated response to the stay at home mom comment. Actually, BMES PTO is very supportive and understanding of all folks working or non and one very important statement of the PTO is that we accept and appreciate the services of ANYONE who donates their time...be it 5 minutes or 5 days because everyone's committment is valuable. We have no idea nor can we judge what someone went through or gave up so they could spend time helping the school. It is all valuable.
ReplyDeleteI just think sometimes the "nonworking parents" excuse is provided to explain the struggles of another PTO. Usually, what I've seen, is that when a PTO struggles it is due either to the PTO overstepping its boundaries and wanting to create school policy OR due to an administrator who is afraid to let the PTO do what it needs to to have successful events or activities -- is afraid to let parents have too much input.
I did not mean to be personal in my response, to be honest, the issues on this site the past few days have just made me a little frustrated and my response should have been more tempered.
It is interesting you bring up the fundraising. BMES PTO has been told by some that they should not work so hard or be so successful because in doing so they are filling needs so the district can sit back and say "don't worry, the PTO will take care of it."
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting concept...but one which BMES PTO does not ascribe and nor do the administrators in this district. I have used the same argument with them...I've said...go ahead, build the half a high school with the funds you have. Then, when the parents see what little they actually will get there, they'll be angry and annoyed and then, MAYBE more than 10% of them will actually get out and vote. But administrators have said to me "we can't do that. That is not what is best for the kids." so they continue to struggle to find solutions with the resources they have only to be shot down day after day.
As for the PTO, they decided years ago they were not going to hold their hand out and wait for the district/board to give them what they need. Let's take computers, for example...After the second technology override in so many years failed..the Principal/PTO decided to take action. Sure, they could continue to sit there with basically large paperweights (i.e. 10+-year old computers) on their desks OR they could figure out how to upgrade. So they went out and solicited used computers. What did they get? Computer upgrades for ALL classrooms. Are they new? No (and much to the chagrin of my husband who insists it is a waste of effort to put used computers in the classrooms--but when I ask where we would get the $$ to put new ones in when the overrides continue to fail he keeps seeeming to refer to that secret "hidden" pot of money folks seem to think the district has that could be use to cure all ills but is, instead, being hoarded somewhere). But now at least the computers turn on, run the software at a decent speed and allow the students to actually work with technology in the classroom.
So now...what if a technology override does pass someday? Well, BMES would hope to be able to receive some upgraded technology. Of course, that then adds to the already concerning equity issues where newer schools have much better resources than some of the older ones...another issue caused by only passing bonds for NEW builds, etc. without including resources to upgrade current facilities to the same standards.
So, long story longer, BMES PTO continues to meet the needs of the students/teachers and facilities without waiting for the never-to-come bonds or overrides and helping to ensure our students have what they need.
However, much to the chagrin of certain board members, BMES PTO does NOT pay for personnel (i.e. teacher's aides). That is where they draw the line (and it is so stated in their By-Laws). PTOs are much more successful in providing capital and project support. Personnel management should be left to the district.
Thank you 9:16AM. Your response was very thoughtful and appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI am learning to look beyond the sensationalism of the blog posts on here. I pay more attention to the commentary and discussion. I am finding that a lot of very active people in our community are posting comments on here, many with much more fruitful viewpoints than what the Watch presents. But, in that the Watch is not removing the posts it disagrees with, it is a much more fair media source than the local rag. That has helped me to move beyond my initial rage that I had when I discovered this site. At least it gives us a place to argue our viewpoint and we don't have to sit back and just take it anymore.
honeymom
Hi HM,
ReplyDeleteGeesshhh, is it necessary to rip on us in every one of your comments?
We've posted praise where we see it like the hiring of Ms. Gaines and the scholarship awards to the IB students.
We've offered evidence and analysis of where the district needs to improve.
We've offered solutions to the building issues and suggestions on improving academic achievement.
Even if we went to every board meeting and spoke our mind for three minutes (the maximum time allowed under board rules), we could never have conveyed what we have put forth here.
Like we said, we will be moving this blog to a bigger and wider platform that will allow for the community to drive discussions instead of just post responses.
If you would like to be part of it, you need to email us so we can get you in touch with our webmaster. ccusdwatch@hotmail.com
Dear Watch,
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to get under your skin although I understand that I am sometimes a bit rough. I want the previous poster to understand that you are not censoring and that is a good thing.
Is your webmaster ready for someone to post with a differing viewpoint? Is your webmaster ready to post views from someone who may critique local media stories? Is your webmaster looking for some balance in this blog's reporting?
If the answer to these questions is yes, then I will be in touch.
Thanks,
hm
Yes, the webmaster wants to put you in charge of the education discussion area. This will be separate from CCUSD Watch.
ReplyDelete