Scene #4 – Faculty Planning for Parent Engagement
Location: This scene takes place in a public school setting that serves a large number of low-income, Latino/a and African American students.
Situation: A group of teaching faculty is meeting to discuss how they might form a group to plan and implement parent meetings in the hope of increasing parent engagement on campus.
Meeting Participants:
LaShonda – African American woman – 6 years teaching experience
Blanca – Latina – 6 years teaching experience
Nancy – White woman – 4 years teaching experience
Wendy – White woman – 5 years teaching experience
1 - LaShonda – Thanks for responding to the flyer suggesting this meeting today. The purpose is to talk
about planning some activities for parents to invite them to engage more with the school community.
2 - Nancy – Happy to be part of it. It’s a serious problem, and I’m glad someone is finally going to do
something about it.
3 - LaShonda – Well, Jeannette and I have both recognized for a while how the school doesn’t seem to
welcome the parents enough. So, our hope is that we can turn that around.
4 - Nancy – Hang on a second. You think it’s the school that doesn’t do enough? With the newsletters, the
parent/conference dates, the flyers and phone calls home that seem to happen every week? How is it the school’s fault? I thought we were going to figure out how to get the parents to be more involved.
5 - Wendy – Yes, we are trying to get the parent’s more involved. But, it won’t be by sending out more
flyers. That’s not enticing enough. Our students’ parents don’t really understand the system well enough to realize the role they should be playing. They think it’s more respectful to just let us do everything and not be vocal. That’s part of why they don’t show up.
6 - Blanca – I wouldn’t characterize it that way. What LaShonda and I are suggesting is that the school
fails to respect the parents in ways that discourages them from coming onto campus more often. For example, my first suggestion is that whatever we set up, we make sure we have babysitting for the kids and that it’s late enough for the parents who work a day shift to be able to attend.
7 - LaShonda – Thanks, Blanca. Yes, those are good suggestions. Let’s keep going with that kind of
brainstorming.
8 - Nancy – Ok. So, then, I would suggest we have a series of topics we cover with them. For example,
I’d like to see them learn more about how to discipline their kids, the importance of homework, and managing the number of hours they let the kids watch TV.
9 - LaShonda – I think we should consider that putting out a set of pre-determined topics may not be
perceived as inviting.
10 - Wendy – But, those are really important issues. I mean, the babysitting thing is huge. We know how
many kids most of the parents have. And from what I see, their home lives are so chaotic that we’d be really serving them by helping them to manage things better. If your concern is a better invitation, then maybe we could make something nice, like a party invite and send it in the mail, or do an evite via email. How about that?
11 - Blanca – The method of delivery is not the point. I think you’re making a lot of assumptions about
the parents and their lives in what you said. The issue isn’t about the invitation per se, it’s about valuing the parents’ voices. The idea would be to have them help set the agenda.
12 - Nancy – But, we all know this neighborhood doesn’t offer a good role models for the kids. The TV’s
are always blaring, and there isn’t any dedicated space for homework. At least that’s what my students say. I mean, if I were a parent, I know I wouldn’t raise my child in this environment. Would you? I think to really get at the heart of the matter, we’re going to need to be honest. The parents need help. We do have knowledge to offer. We’re willing to dedicate our time to support them. How is it a problem to offer them resources?
13 - Blanca – You realize that you are seriously devaluing the parents’ contributions to their kids’ lives,
right?
14 - Wendy – Hang on. Nancy, I know this neighborhood isn’t what you and I are used to. But, that
doesn’t mean everything here is bad. There are a lot of good things kids learn from their community. It’s important we acknowledge that too. I want to be sure we’re attentive to the cultural issues. I mean, as a white person coming in to this community it’s damaging if I act like I know everything. I get that. But, I also don’t want to put an enormous amount of work in to this and still not treat the major issues, like parents not attending parent conferences and looking over homework. Those are pretty basic. I mean, from the Principal’s report, it sounds like we only have about 20% of parents coming to conferences.
15 - LaShonda – Well maybe if we create a respectful conversation with parents, they’ll be more likely to
tell us why they don’t feel comfortable coming to the school. Blanca and I always have a very high turnout of parents, at least 90% every year.
16 - Nancy – Really? What do you mean? Only about 10% of my parents showed up last month and then
when they do come to meet with me, they’re pretty rude.
17 - Blanca – What do you mean the parents are rude?
18 - Nancy – Well, the last time I met with a set of parents, the father insinuated that my issues with his
son had something to do with my being white. I mean, he’s the one who brought up the race card. So, I was like, well I try to be colorblind. But, if you’re going to make it about race, then, ok, we can make it about race.
19 - LaShonda – Just hold it a second. Were you at all listening to what the man was saying?
20 - Wendy – Right. Nancy, it is important that as white teachers we recognize that there’s a whole
history that we represent. We might not be responsible for the past, but often people will act toward us as though we’re still part of that. It’s up to us to just let that venting happen before we can expect them to see us as individuals.
21 - LaShonda – That’s not what I was saying.
22 - Blanca – This is a much, much bigger issue. In the interest of using our time today productively, I do
want to at least figure out what chance there is that as a group we can work together on creating a space for parents on our campus.
23 - LaShonda – Ok, thanks Blanca. First and foremost, I think it would be important to ask the parents
what they’d like from on-campus meetings, and what time would be most convenient for them.
24 - Nancy – Well, who knows? Maybe they’re more aware of the issues they need help with than I’m
giving them credit for. But, either way, let’s not schedule the meetings for after dark. It would make me too nervous to drive late in this neighborhood.
25 - Blanca – Anything planned will have to take the parents’ needs into account as a priority. This
includes the scheduling. If that means some of our faculty don’t want to participate, sorry about that. And by the way, I do live nearby.
26 - Nancy – Oh, I didn’t realize. Well…
27 - Wendy – Well, I really appreciate this meeting, and I do want to stay involved. But, it is getting a
little late.
28 - LaShonda – We’ll see how things go from here on out. But, one thing I know for sure is that the
parents need to show up to a room where those running the meeting think highly of them.
29 Blanca – LaShonda, do you want to stop by my house on your way home? I have something to show
you.
30 - LaShonda – Yes, absolutely.
31 - Wendy – Nancy, I’d love to talk with you a bit more if you have time.
23 - Nancy – Actually, it is kind of late. Catch me another time. I need to get going before all the high
school kids start to congregate around the parking lot out there.
Created by Shelly Tochluk –