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March 03, 2006
PTA is "P'd" off
This week in the WSJ, there was an explosive commentary on the PTA. Here, in their entirety are the WSJ article, and the open letter response from the National PTA.
What do you think of the PTA? Locally and nationally?
Tim
From the WSJ:
Losing the 'P' in PTA
By RITA KRAMER
February 24, 2006; Page W13
The hand-lettered sign outside the door to P.S. 166 on Manhattan's Upper West Side said "PTA Meeting Thursday." To be exact, it was a parent group that would be meeting, not the PTA.
The sign was proof of the extent to which "PTA" has become a generic term, like "Kleenex" or "Xerox." Many parents are unaware of just how far the century-old National Congress of Parents and Teachers (known since 1924 as the PTA) has strayed from its origins in social uplift or from the classic 1950s-era image we may still have of it -- an organization devoted to school service, fund-raising (think of those bake sales) and wholesome parent-teacher relations.
In fact, the PTA has been losing members steadily for almost a half-century now, from a high point of more than 12 million in the early 1960s to a current membership of about half that. Today only about a quarter of K-12 schools in the U.S. have a PTA chapter. The reasons for this decline are familiar ones: money and politics.
The PTA had its beginnings in an era of women's clubs and settlement houses, when affluent, idealistic women went to work bettering the conditions of the urban poor. Although women still couldn't vote, they could exercise influence through thousands of civic organizations and social clubs around the country. Soon enough, they cast a critical eye on the conditions of children in the public schools. They sought to address such matters as nutrition and hygiene and to help Americanize the offspring of immigrants arriving in waves from southern and eastern Europe.
In 1897, the members of the first National Congress of Mothers -- the name of the group that would eventually become the PTA -- saw their mission as fostering "a love of humanity and of country...and the advantages to follow from a closer relation between the influence of the home and that of the school." The president of the national PTA declared at a recent convention: "We simply must change the country." What happened?
In "The Politics of the PTA" (2002), Charlene Haar explains that the PTA shifted its focus mainly because of its longstanding alliance with the National Education Association. Formed in 1857, the NEA once shared the parent group's concern for schoolchildren in such matters as school curriculum and the qualifications of public-school teachers. Indeed, in 1920, the National Congress felt so much in line with the NEA that it moved into the association's impressive Washington headquarters. Already allied with the teachers group on support for a "progressive" curriculum that would emphasize "life skills," the PTA would from then on curb its more general social programs and limit itself to matters directly affecting education.
Ms. Haar chronicles the major policies on which the two groups cooperated throughout the 20th century. Having begun as equals, the PTA gradually became the subservient partner. Both organizations refused to support the National Defense Education Act -- passed in 1958 in the wake of the Soviet's launch of Sputnik -- because, as Ms. Haar explains, it "provided funds for mathematics, science and other defense-related curricula but could not be used for teacher salaries."
By the 1960s, the PTA was known as "a coffee-and-cookies organization" -- unquestioningly offering its seal of approval to the newly unionized NEA. It was the issue of teacher strikes, though, that dealt the reputation of the PTA its final blow. In 1961 the AFT, representing New York City's teachers, staged the nation's first citywide strike, and in 1968 Florida teachers followed with the first statewide strike. To avoid conflict, the PTA abandoned any pretense of independence and supported the walkouts.
A few years later, the PTA tagged along with the NEA, lobbying for a cabinet-level federal department of education. What followed were a series of legislative victories for the teachers unions. Among their outstanding lobbying successes, backed by the PTA, was the defeat of a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick Moynihan in 1978 proposing a tax credit for as much as half of private-school tuition. In the aftermath, many parents began their exodus from the PTA, including a large number of Catholics whose tuition fees for parochial schools would have become less burdensome under the plan.
Today the PTA supports all of the union's positions, including increased federal funding for education and opposition to independent charter schools, to vouchers and to tuition tax credits for private and religious schools. This "parent" group lobbies for teachers to spend less time in the classroom and to have fewer supervisory responsibilities like lunchroom duty. Moreover, they want a pay scale for teachers that is based on seniority, not merit. In November, the PTA even helped to defeat California's Proposition 74, which called for limiting teacher tenure by extending the probation period for new teachers from two to five years, a proposal designed to give administrators more time to weed out bad instructors.
With polls indicating that the union label is a liability with the public, an arrangement has developed whereby the NEA provides needed financial support for the PTA, which in turn bolsters union positions at the grass-roots level. As one union official put it: "[T]he PTA has credibility...we always use the PTA as a front."
Not only does the PTA support the NEA on issues that protect the public-school teachers' monopoly, the parent group also speaks up in favor of the NEA's more radical curriculum ideas, like sex-education programs that replace "don't" with "how to" and that propose the inclusion of a gay/lesbian unit starting as early as kindergarten.
Many parents have decided that they no longer want to fund this kind of nonsense: They feel that their dues money would be better spent close to home, on after-school programs, computers and school supplies. As the PTA becomes increasingly irrelevant to the lives of children in public schools and parents become less willing to pay its dues, it is gradually being replaced by alternative, mostly home-grown, organizations that may call themselves guilds or councils or associations but are generally known as Parent Teacher Organizations -- PTOs. These groups collect no dues and follow no political line.
Tim Sullivan, a Massachusetts entrepreneur and former New York City public-school teacher, saw the need among the independent groups forming around the country for the kind of information and services once provided by the PTA. In 1999 he founded a company for independent parent-teacher groups. PTO Today publishes a magazine and maintains a Web site that provides opportunities for parent networking on its message boards. Both in print and online, PTO Today answers the kind of questions that parents of public-school children ask -- how to organize a family night, how to raise money for extras like arts-and-crafts supplies and what kind of insurance is necessary for field trips. With any luck, the PTOs will put the PTA out of business entirely.
Ms. Kramer's books include "Ed School Follies: The Miseducation of America's Teachers" and "Maria Montessori: A Biography."
---From the PTA...---
February 28, 2006
Dear Paul Gigot,
There is no substitute for the PTA. Rita Kramer’s commentary “Losing the ‘P’ in PTA,” (February 24) is a distorted depiction of the historical significance and contributions of millions. PTA is the nation’s preeminent volunteer member organization led, driven, and supported by parents and others committed to its founding mission. The issues have changed over the years, but PTA’s focus has not—to speak on behalf of all children; provide information to assist parents in raising and protecting their children; and encourage parent and public involvement in education.
The tradition and history of PTA lends a solid foundation and significant body of knowledge to parents and families nationwide. Today’s PTA volunteer has access to resources to help their children succeed academically, skill development to help them become better parents, learning tools to improve communication with teachers, training to speak out about public school needs, and support to keep the school campus and neighborhood safe.
Most schools have a parent group of one kind or another, but not all parent groups are the same. A parent group is not measured in dollars; it’s more than print and dot-com how-tos; it has a role greater than hosting bake sales. Ms. Kramer’s account overlooked the secret to PTAs success—the people. PTA volunteers connect everyday to improve their schools.
Parents hold a great stake in the future and support of children’s education. PTA is the path through which they can make the greatest impact. When a school community supports the decision to have parents organized as a PTA, the result is informed and engaged parents, a more supportive learning environment for students, and a better reputation for the school and community. That’s the PTA difference.
Anna Weselak President, National PTA
Lombard, IL
Comments
Tim,
What do you think about the issues Cathy raises and about the article?
Posted by: Rian at March 4, 2006 05:47 PMCathy, thanks so much for the insight to the PTA. I feel really foolish for not having a clue about the PTA. Please continue to blog because there is apparently much to learn from you.
Jerre
Posted by: Jerre Reimers at March 4, 2006 07:21 PMJerre,
What do you think about the concrete details that are in the article and in Cathy's post?
Tim, what parts do you agree or disagree with? What parts are the most interesting to you?
Tim,
After reading these comments I have decided to make a contribution to the local PTA in the names of Cathy Carlson and Jerre Reimers. Anything they oppose must be good for kids, schools and the entire community!
Tim,
I was waiting for my order at The Habit in Thousand Oaks today. A young lady walked in, about 20 years old. After she ordered she looked at me and ask me if I was a teacher. I told her I used to teach at Valley View. Turns out she was in my class in 8th grade history. She told me she went to Simi High and then to Moorpark and now she was finishing up at CLU. She will be getting dual degrees in Chemistry and Communications and she also wants to go for a PHD in Chemistry. She wants to get into cosmetics and have her own business. Another public school success story.
And I graduated from Chatsworth High, so success stories abound!
On the PTA, there is simply no question that the National PTA is a left leaning, NEA connected political organization that picks and chooses the child welfare issues it wants to tackle.
On the local level however, most local and school site PTA's are made up of volunteers who give up their time, money and energy to make their schools better places. Whether it's improving and helping the classroom environment, supporting Read Across America or Back to School Nights, the local PTA volunteer typically doesn't know how political the national organization is, and even more so, rarely cares.
I am a member of my school's PTA, as well as quite a few others. We also donated a web site to our PTA council a few years back, though I don't think they use it any more.
Tim
Posted by: Tim Keaney at March 6, 2006 04:01 PMRian:
To be quite honest, I was not familiar with the history of the PTA. My wife was PTA president for a couple of years at the school our kids went to. And I was not aware that the PTA has been steadily losing members. So I found the whole article quite interesting. I can see now that the PTA is the pawn of the NEA. It’s so obvious.
Cathy’s comments are really enlightening. I’m appalled by how some schools use the funds. I’m shocked at how the PTA in one middle school misrepresented an award. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, I’ve been around politics for a while, but I was. School districts, being political entities, tell the truth most of the time – the trouble is they don’t tell the whole truth. And Cathy has shown that to be true. I will pay close attention to those candidates who show allegiance to the PTA.
Cathy Carlson from TO here: Jerre, thanks for your kind words. To get more insight on the clockworks of the PTA from one of their important officers, I think folks would like to see what one of our former Republican (RINO) candidates for CVUSD had to say last fall. This was from Peggy Buckles, the Executive Director of the Tri County Education Coalition, which is really the combined PTA and the teachers' union. Why a Republican is part of this is beyond me. Here is the last part of her letter to the Editor on Oct 5. (Click on the link to read all her weak and faulty arguments against Prop 76.)
I follow it with an expose on her politics with the PTA and their support of the liberal language in the sex ed controversy last summer. Note, she applauded for EVERY speaker that spoke in support of gay marriage. She sat in the THICK of them. And because I reported this publicly in the Star, she got up at a CVUSD Board meeting and said during public comments that Cathy Carlson "slandered" her in blogs. Well, it would have been libel, Peggy, not slander, and since I was only reporting the truth on your behavior in public, how could that be damaging? If she wants to be a politician she needs to learn that who you sit with, shake hands with, and what you write publicly tells the story of your character and values. She was so frosted, she said she didn't know who she was sitting with (a case of cluelessness extremis??). She then announced her candidacy for 2006 for CVUSD a year in advance, just in case I was thinking of running again. Guess she thought that would upset me up. Wrong.
Here are her comments and my remarks:
http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/vcs/letters/archives/2005/10/schools_in_dang.html
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says we can trust him to use this law wisely and that we can have another election to change the law in the future if we no longer trust another governor. Why would we spend the money?
Proposition 76 is just plain bad for education. I urge you to vote no on Proposition 76.
� Peggy Buckles, Thousand Oaks
Cathy Carlson from Thousand Oaks here: Ms. Buckles, you are wrong. There is plenty of fat to cut. The kids won't be hurt.
You are clueless because you have become brainwashed with your heavy involvement in the County and State PTA. Let's be honest what your education agenda is. You supported the group that was against traditional marriage at the Conejo Valley USD meeting on June 28. You gave a speech endorsing rights for same sex unions. You sat next to Justine Fischer who has been doing commercials against Prop 76 for the PTA. You applauded all the liberal speakers who wanted same sex unions taught in the sex ed classes. And you are are registered Republican! Change your party! You sat with all the Board members of the Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley. You ran for CVUSD school board last fall, paid for flyers and mailers that let people know you were a registered republican (yeah, in name only.) Are you getting ready to run again in 2006?
Let's tell the public what you, Justine Fischer, and the state PTA have been up to.
I was surprised to see a commercial Wed. night on Fox News with Justine Fischer from Thousand Oaks opposing Prop 76. She was identified as a PTA State Commissioner, (one of many mid-level activist positions). This gives more evidence as to why folks need to dump their local PTAs and switch to non-political PFAs and PTOs.
Fischer is a past President of the Conejo Council PTA. She personally obstructed my efforts to distribute information to the local schools regarding the non-existent bogus California Top 100 awards that many PTA�s falsely claimed in their newsletters. It took me many years, and despite the PTA, I got all the fraudulent signs removed.
I saw Ms Fischer at the notorious June 28th CVUSD Board meeting with over 200 people in attendance. She sat with the nest of about 30 gay marriage supporters from the ACLU, MoveOn.org, and Board members of the local democratic club. I watched her applaud every speaker that supported gay marriage. The woman next to her continually hissed (yes!) at those of us supporting traditional family values in sex education. (Buckles sat on the other side of Fischer.) There were even calls of Nazi and Fascist hurled at us from her group when we spoke.
After the vote, (4 to 1) I watched Fischer and two other PTA Council Presidents congratulating those Board members who flagrantly disregarded the will of the majority. The final count was 59-41. That means that three against two speakers were in favor of traditional marriage. There were also over 100 written statement cards in support, which were ignored by President Tim Stephens in violation of Article 54954.3 of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
With Prop 76 the Governor is trying to cut the fat in public spending. Yes, there are plenty of free-spending habits in public education statewide. Conejo Valley�s education budget is $220 million with 80% going for bloated administration salaries. This covers a large amount for subs so that teachers can take time off for questionable conferences. Are they learning the Alinsky method of manipulating students and parents? Are they going to �fuzzy math� classes to further dumb down our standards? Teachers need to stay in the classrooms where they belong and take care of business. Did you know that 4 CVUSD schools failed to make the API 800 minimum this year? But that�s better than the 7 that failed last year and the 11 from the year before!
The CVUSD managed to trim their budget $700,00 without blinking an eye. A lot of it was SIP money (discretionary funds for supplementing schools.) This was often used to hire secretaries to type up reports for vapid Distinguished School applications. Thankfully, the money won�t be so easy to get now and won�t be so freely wasted on over-rated and unnecessary awards.
Two schools in Newbury Park are in the process of dumping their pro-union PTAs and switching to PFA, Parent Faculty Associations. Many districts around the state are PTA-free zones. Every time you see that sob-story TV commercial with �Commissioner� Justine Fischer, remember the $2,000 cappuccino maker at Sequoia Middle School. Remind yourself about the CVUSD May expense report showing $2,500 for pizzas, $3,000 for fancy baked goods from Ojai, $1,700 for designer water, $2,475 for bagels, and worse.
Support the Governor, and vote Yes on Prop 76. Don�t believe the PTA scare tactics that say the kids will suffer. California is still in a financial crisis. Let Arnold fix the leaky money-faucet and we will all be better for it.
Posted by: Cathy Carlson at October 7, 2005 01:43 PM
It's amazing how many local PTA leaders are now figuring this stuff out and going PTO. In our district 12 out 18 schools have gone from PTA to PTO in the last 5 years and we're now keeping more than $10,000 a year here in town (total) and not supporting the nonsense that's been covered above. If you have friends leading PTAs (I've found that most of these people are just good-hearted volunteers who have no clue about this other stuff), send them to www.ptotoday.com to see how easy it is to be a PTO.
Posted by: Fran 22 at April 16, 2006 07:25 PM
Cathy Carlson from TO here: The National PTA is trying to do damage control. The truth is that there are only 25% of schools in the USA with PTA chapters anymore.
The PTA Council in the Conejo is FULL of liberal activists who use money to go to conferences in Sacramento to lobby for Democratic bills. A school in Newbury Park sent 5 women in the PTA on such a trip, using PTA funds. This was legal, but parents were outraged that funds were used this way. Up until then they were clueless as to the politics of the PTA. That school is now switching to a non-political PFA. There are 26 schools in the Conejo and 20 are still PTA, but 6 are independent and 2 more have told me they are switching.
Las Virgenes and Oak Park dumped their PTAs years ago. All over California parents have decided that the platform outlined in the state website is not their cup of tea. Nice people DO belong to the PTA. My grown daughter was PTSA President at her high school. That's when we learned about the political clockworks of the organization. The Conejo PTA Council is the strongest in the State with officers who worked against the Governor's important education reforms. The failures of the propositions was a direct result of their campaign, linked to the teachers' union campaign. Nice Republican moms believed the political proganda shoved in their kids backpacks illegally from the political PTA. That's where Arnold lost the votes. The school boards don't want to tell the PTA to behave and follow the law, because they are a huge source of revenue, and tireless workers for their liberal "educrat" agenda and pro-union politics.
The Conejo PTA has constantly obstructed my work in trying to get the truth out about false or expired awards at the CVUSD since 1998. I would give schools the documents proving that there was no such award as A California Top 100 School from Sacramento, but the PTA would continue to print it on mastheads and on bumper stickers. That is false advertising! The PTA at Los Cerritos Middle School deliberately misrepresented to parents and students that a No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon award was instead the more prestigious but defunct, National Blue Ribbon Award. After 6 months of promises from the Supt to correct their website and to get the principal to behave, I went to the school to ask her to comply with Federal Guidelines and the law. I tape recorded it. She called the police the first 5 seconds of a 75 second conversation. I have contacted several lawyers. The PTA was part of this deliberate misrepresentation.
The Los Cerritos PTA also helped foot the bill with funding a dinner at the Reagan Library to celebrate the wrong award! 2 PTA officers at the school knew it was bogus, since I have letters from TOHS newsletters in 2001 where they both announced that 2002 was the very last year for the National Program. Yet they invited the Mayor and City Council and misrepresented their acheivements. The truth was that Los Cerritos got the new bootstrap federal NCLB award for improvement, going from 72% (failing to make the State minimum) to a modest 79%. Yet the PTA mis-represented this as proving that this school was one of the best academically in the country. Not true. Since I have had a good relationship over 8 years with the Director in Washington, I had a long talk with Dr. Steve O'Brien, and he told me to report it to the NCLB fraud department. This isn't over yet! The Feds don't like people messing with their programs.
In January 2005 the principal stiffed the Reagan Library caterer for the bill for their celebration banquet. I called him and told him I'd get him paid pronto. He said the principal told him after the dinner that she needed to get more sponsorship. I wrote a letter to the editor and spoke at school board about the PTA poneying up $2,000. Outrageous! Parents thought that the money they raised was going for education, not for a $3,000 banquet for staff and PTA to celebrate a mediocre performance of 79%! Next time they want to celebrate a C+ performance, they should have a potluck.
Don't vote for ANY school board candidate that is heavily into the PTA. Even though this is perceived to be a positive, it means they are puppets of the unions. Vote for people who can administer these multi-million dollar budgets, and who understand the importance of following the law.
Posted by: Cathy Carlson at March 4, 2006 11:14 AM