Virginia F. Walden
D.C. Parents for School Choice, Inc.
1530 16th Street, NW Suite 003
Washington, D.C. 20036
Ph: 202/832-3311

Remarks
EPI News Conference, National Press Club, May 6, 1999

Within the throes of union contacts and negotiations, it has often been believed that parent involvement is looked at and supported in a positive way. The words of the NEA and AFT encouraging parental involvement in all aspects of the educational arena can truly be interpreted that parents really "should be seen and not heard." Their positions as presented to the public appear to include parents as partners in schools, but upon further investigation, parents are put in a position where they are helpmates for teachers or school fundraisers. Many officers in school systems and teachers unions would argue that they are very serious about parental involvement in public education and they have shown their commitment to parents by supporting the Parents as Partners program and Head Start.

However good these programs look on paper, they are failing to have a real impact on parents' involvement. In reality, parents are recognized as supportive and involved as long as they do what they are told, without giving input into what could possibly be a better environment if they were to work as a team with teachers to educate children. The idea that parents cannot or should not contribute to how children are taught in a constructive way is often the attitude that is felt by the unions and as the representative of teachers, that attitude trickles down and creates a unspoken conflict that prevents teachers from working with parents in a way that would effectively benefit children.

When parents are made to feel an integral part of the education of their children they become involved in ways that are constructive. Some of those ways are:

• Reading with their children
• Monitoring amount and quality of television time
• Requiring completion of homework and household chores
• Encouraging high achievement and performance

Neither the school districts nor unions appear to have parents and children's best interests at heart as is evidenced by the type of demands made during contract negotiations:

• Limitations to the amount of time during a school day
• Protection of teachers who are not performing
• Criteria upon which teachers are evaluated

These points are only a few of the items that adversely affect the lives of parents and their children. Students who may need additional academic support feel the time constraints that are placed on teachers as a result of contract agreements. The process of evaluating teachers is one designed to protect teachers, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, this process protects teachers who are performing badly in the classroom and failing our children. The process parents must go through to rectify this situation is long and difficult with the outcome often resulting in the placement of a teacher in another educational setting.

These outcomes are evidenced nationwide as urban and rural school districts try to grapple with the fact that student achievement is down, while school budgets have been steadily increased. It would seem that both school boards and teachers unions are out to keep in tact their foothold on public education. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely, that school boards(districts) and teachers unions go into negotiations thinking about the welfare of parents and their children. If they did, they might come up with suggestions that would include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Limiting the number of students in each class
• Setting up an evaluation system with real consequences for school districts, schools and teachers who are ineffective at educating students
• Putting in place a process that carries out the consequences for lack of performance in a timely manner

If these were suggestions that were put in place, what role could teachers unions serve then and what would their response be?

When "healthy" relationships exist between home and school, teachers and parents value the expertise that each brings to the situation. When parents and teachers work together to build the foundation of a team, everybody benefits.