Big crowd for Home & School kickoff
by Paul Socolar on Sep 13 2012 Posted in Latest news
Rosemarie Hatcher, newly appointed president of Philadelphia Home and School Council, led Tuesday evening's inaugural meeting of the parent group, which had a full house. Jerry Jordan, William Hite, and Pedro Ramos (from left) were panelists.
Tuesday was an auspicious beginning for the new leadership of the citywide Home and School Council, as the group kicked off the school year with an overflow crowd at a meeting headlined by new Superintendent William Hite.
Mayor Nutter, SRC Chair Pedro Ramos, teachers' union president Jerry Jordan, and Claudia Averette of the District's offfice of parent and community engagement also spoke to the group.
More than a hundred people heard the new District chief commit to "work to really provide opportunities for engagement."
"I do intend to attend your meetings -- if you will have me," Hite said.
Nutter, in an unscheduled appearance, took the floor and echoed some of the same themes, saying "We need to make sure you're feeling much more welcome in your school. They're not our schools, they're your schools."
A new slate of officers, headed by president Rosemarie Hatcher, parent of a freshman at Franklin Learning Center, was introduced.
Parents and guardians in the audience had a chance to introduce themselves, too, and appeared to represent a cross-section of schools from across the city.
Home and School Council has boosted its digital presence this year with a new Facebook page and an improved website. The membership process is now handled online -- the fee for a school's Home and School Association to join is $150, and the new leadership is hopeful that the organization can grow well beyond last year's membership of 73 schools.
The organization has an office on the first floor of District headquarters, 440 N. Broad St., where the next citywide meeting is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 2.
Comments (10)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 09/13/2012 - 22:08.
I'm a parent of 3 SDP students. I have not received information on the Home and School Association. Who gets invited? Is this an insider group or do they actually represent all students? Their web site states "staff." If there is "staff," who pays their salary? It sounds like their meeting was a "love fest" with the powers that be - Hite, Jordan, Nutter, and Ramos.
Submitted by Paul Socolar on Fri, 09/14/2012 - 00:24.
I can add some details to our brief report:
The monthly citywide meetings of Home and School Council - which is an umbrella organization for all the individual Home and School Associations - are advertised on the Home & School website and Facebook page, are open to all, and are generally focused on information-sharing. Several longtime observers I spoke with said this was one of the larger meetings in recent years.
Home and School Associations at individual schools vary widely, depending on who's involved, relationships with the principal, and other factors. Some do a better job of notifying all parents than others. Some function as advocacy groups, some do support work for the schools, many raise money. At some schools, the association may exist in name only or be only one or two people. Home & School Council's stated objectives primarily involve supporting strong associations at the schools.
Last we checked, everyone at Home & School Council was volunteering, though some are called staff.
The officials who spoke Tuesday night were politely introduced and received, and they drew some applause, but much of that was for comments acknowledging that the District needs to be more welcoming of parents. Ramos and Averette both spoke about expanding parental involvement in School Advisory Councils. The fact that the mayor, the superintendent, and the SRC chair came out for a Home & School Council meeting was significant for a group that has not had a lot of visibility in recent years.After the speeches, several parents raised concerns about the direction of the School District. So I doubt that most participants would characterize the meeting as a lovefest.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 09/14/2012 - 04:57.
Thank you for the information. We have fundraisers but I haven't heard about a city wide meeting. I will ask. This might be a way for parents to work together and not just for their school.
Submitted by Helen Gym on Fri, 09/14/2012 - 11:42.
If you're interested in parents working together, contact us at Parents United for Public Education: parentsunitedphila@gmail.com
Submitted by Ms.Cheng (not verified) on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 10:04.
Paul, thank you for bringing attention to the HSC. Their staff are indeed volunteer and, in my experience, work tirelessly to keep parents/caregivers informed and encourage involvement. A Shout Out to the outgoing board members, Delores Solomon, and especially Addie Williams (Superwoman Extraordinaire).
The monthly city wide meeting is generally held at 440, alternating morning and evening times to allow as many interested parents and general public members to attend as possible. It is a school's Home and School Association's president or designated other school HSA board member that is required/asked to attend, though this is not enforced (which is a consequence of the fact that HSC is entirely volunteer).
A lot of very good training and info has been given out at these and other scheduled sessions, that has included budget, pending legislation, and community resources.
HSC has always supported whatever initiatives the District created, whether it was the School Councils, and now the School Advisory Councils. Their function has been historically support rather than advocacy (which role, Parents United has filled). In the District's previous School Councils, the parent representatives were required to be from the Home and School Association. There is no specification in the current SACs, only that they need to be elected. This poses an extra burden on the principal, because he/she then is responsible to see that there is an election for the HSA board members as well as the SAC parent members. It is interesting that Mr. Ramos makes no remarks on this, that is how a SAC is expected to interface with a HSA.
Because it turns out that it is the same few parents/caregivers that get involved, likely it will be the same that are part of the HSA as well as SAC. In my experience, it will be the principal that will have to ensure that these parents will be involved for the right reasons. What a nightmare, when they aren't.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 09/14/2012 - 13:26.
PARENT POWER is another parent agency that welcomes all parents, caregivers and family members from public, charter, private, and parochial schools. Contact Ms. Sylvia P. Simms at 215-313-8808 or spsimms1@yahoo.com
It would be GREAT to see all parent groups working together for the academic achievement of ALL youth.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 11:33.
Is it true that parents cannot run their own HSA, independent of the Phila Home and School Council?
What does the $150 in dues pay for?
What other obligations does the school HSA have to the HSC besides paying dues?
thanks for any feedback!
Submitted by Ms.Cheng (not verified) on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 14:05.
Yes, that is true. The official nonprofit organization is HSC, and to be included in this, a HSA must be affiliated with it. The $150 annual dues pays for insurance for a set number of school events, as well as for materials and other operational costs for HSC.
HSC has by-laws that each HSA must abide by, though each HSA is allowed to write their own within that framework. Presidents of each HSA are asked to attend the monthly HSC meetings. HSC also provides the training for the HSA board members. Besides the annual fee, a HSA is responsible for filing financial statements with HSC. If there are any irregularities in these, the HSC can freeze the HSA's account.
The District has rules also. These are clearly written in the Principal's manual that a HSA must abide by concerning fundraising, which cover the types of fundraisers allowed, as well as the uses for the funds raised. Unfortunately, this is an area of common abuse, where the principal doesn't always exercise the proper supervision.
The possibility of misuse of funds has not left HSC itself unscathed. If readers will recall Greg Wade, former president of HSC who was found guilty of embezzlement. Overall however, in my experience, HSC does an outstanding job of supporting parents/caregivers in maintaining their school's HSA.
The best thing to do is to contact HSC to answer your questions. It has been several years since I was involved.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 14:45.
HSC is going to have to do a better job of selling itself seeing how it is Ms. Cheng answering and not someone from the HSC. I've organized events and tried to get the word out to other schools and gotten crickets from the HSC. Frustrated parents at some schools have created PTA/PTOs.
Submitted by Ms.Cheng (not verified) on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 08:56.
Unfortunately, the problem with HSC is the same problem with all "volunteer" organizations. You are asking them to give up a good chunk of their time which by rights should go to their families. So you can be upset that they aren't there all the time, or you can understand the situation. I have seen individual members of HSC go "above and beyond". Jay Cohen has for years provided training for parents, and donated significant time to create a website for the HSC.
The training on the School budgets was invaluable. The word was put out via auto dial, and HSC often contacts individual principals. The principal is key also.
If you are not affiliated with HSC, technically you will owe taxes on any fundraising. You can get around this by fundraising for the School Activity Fund which would be controlled by the principal alone. Frankly I would prefer to do this, as it was sad how much time the HSC Treasurer had to spend holding individual HSAs accountable for "missing" money.
In the end you should be applauded for organizing events. It is indeed frustrating when you find that you are alone in your efforts, and other parents are satisfied to sit back and not only let you work alone, but load on all sorts of weird resentments and accusations that you are trying to be "a star". Don't give up.
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