Monday, September 28, 2009

Parental Involvement, Words vs Actions

The next time you hear a Unified apologist lament the lack of parental involvement among RUSD parents, know at least that the majority of teachers and the RUSD administation don't really care about parent involvement. RUSD has cancelled the tradition fall open houses in a negotiated agreement between the teachers union and RUSD.

The lack of parent involvement is among the top excuses for Unified's poor results. Additionally, it is a great way to place the blame on others.

But now we know the truth. Parent involvement is a hassle. It creates work for teachers. Involved parents will try to hold teachers accountable. This might make some teachers uncomfortable.

RUSD has shown their true colors. There is lots of talk about the need for parental involvement. But when it comes to action, RUSD is discouraging parental involvement. Actions speak louder than words.

Oh, the factual info above came from today's JT. No link as of this morning.

22 comments:

BJ said...

But Denis, you failed to mention that RUSD's comprehensive high schools will be adding another Parent-Teacher conference in March (in addition to the already scheduled November conferences.

How I see it is that they cancelled one parent-oriented event and scheduled another. Hopefully, this new one will be more effective in "engaging" parents than the Open House has been in the past.

I can find fault in many, many, things RUSD has floated in recent history, this just isn't one of them.

Denis Navratil said...

Thanks for your comment BJ. Perhaps I overreacted or reacted with bias, but I got the impression that the open houses were just being cancelled rather than replaced with something that would increase parent involvement.

RUSD high school teacher said...

First of all, "cancelled" is a misnomer. Something has to be scheduled to then be cancelled. Perhaps better terminology would be "didn't schedule."

Second, as BJ points out, there is a second parent/teacher conference in March, when it is more imperative that teachers and parents be communicating. Conferences are a better vehicle for parental involvement than open houses, the latter being more of a meet-and-greet than anything. Conferences allow much more individualized attention to student/family needs.

Denis Navratil said...

RUSD teacher, suppose RUSD didn't schedule any athletic events next year. Would your student athletes be comforted knowing that their sport wasn't cancelled?

But with respect to the issue at hand, if lack of parental involvement is one of the causes of poor student achievement, why cancel/not schedule traditional open houses? Why not open houses AND two P-T conferences? I don't get it. As a RUSD teacher, do you think these changes will improve parent involvement or discourage it?

Anonymous said...

You got RUSD union hacks here defending RUSD. I can see why they have great pay, fantastic benefits, and nothing can happen to then even with a 50% failure rate. The only ones who suffer are us with higher and higher taxes and a failed school system.

RUSD high school teacher said...

Speaking from experience, I can say that the few parents who show up for open house want to discuss their child's individual performance. Such discussions are better left for conferences for two reasons: 1. More time has passed since the beginning of the year, allowing teachers to offer a better picture of student performance, and 2. Conferences are more private.

That being said, most teachers I know are more than happy to meet with parents at times outside the school day. Some, myself included, have actually driven to students' homes on our own time to facilitate such meetings.

RUSD high school teacher said...

Anonymous 5:09, you could use some grammar, diction, and fact-checking lessons. Perhaps I could connect you with an "RUSD [sic] union hack" who would be willing to give up some personal time for an individual lesson.

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