School district may require parents to volunteer 30 hours per year

[Newsjock]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

If parent participation in classrooms is good, why not make it mandatory?

That's the thinking of some in San Jose's Alum Rock Union School District, where a committee is crafting a proposal to require families of all 13,000 students to volunteer at least 30 hours a year at school.

It's a tall order. The disparity in parent volunteers is as wide as the economic rift in the valley, as schools serving affluent families depend on moms and dads to drive on field trips and help with science projects, while schools teaching poor children often lack such involvement.

In Alum Rock, where 88 percent of the students are poor and 54 percent are language-learners, most of its 28 schools don't even have a PTA. But even as some critics warn working parents don't have extra time, trustee Gustavo Gonzalez is pushing volunteerism, citing studies showing that students do better when their parents are involved.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15033738

[SoCalDem]

1. Students do better when:

their parents can earn a living wage that allows the family to live in a decent house/apartment

their mother / father does not have to work 3 jobs & can spend a little time with them

when they have their own space within the home, to actually DO homework

when they have enough food in the home, so they are not hungry half the time

[Wickerman]

2. +1

[Starry Messenger]

5. +1000

[MattBaggins]

15. What are you going on about?

It's the fault of teachers and their filthy unions.


MAOR CHARTURS PLEEZE

:sarcasm

[AnneD]

3. Great idea.....

Kids do better when their parents are around. The only caveat I recommend is that parents not interfer with their children's education. Perhaps assisting an other classes or their skill area etc.

[earthside]

7. Spoken like a true elitist.

"The only caveat I recommend is that parents not interfer with their children's education."

Unbelievable.

'You idiot parents just pay your taxes, vote for school bond increases -- volunteer to staple papers and run bake sales -- but above all: Shut up about the actual education of your own kids!'

You're kidding, right?

[AnneD]

47. I am speaking of....

helicopter parents-the ones that swoop in to do their kids projects or call the teachers to task for giving the student the grade they didn't deserve or earn.

Believe me when I say that at one of my previous schools, there were several parents we did have to have discussions with. Their actions interrupted their children's learning. The parents were a disruption to the class. Generally our very diplomatic principal would talk to the parents and explain their role. If the child had trouble dealing with their parent in a different role-the parents would volunteer in another class. A big part of education for younger children is fostering independence.

Now with tweens and teenagers-they don't want you any where near them. But that is the time when having parents around has a profound impact....esp male role models. I think that is where we need parents the most.

I worked at the same school that my daughter went to, in fact I taught a section of one of her classes (growth and development-I am the Nurse). I always expected a higher level of proof and/or behavior from her. There was only one time she slipped up and called her teacher (and my best friend) by her first name. She was embarrassed but my friend glossed over it. I think the Sex Ed class was the worst-but she survived and we now laugh about it.

I like parents to be involved-but parent need to be aware of their child's developmental stage and respect the teacher as the professional they are-even when they give your bright child the less than brilliant grade they deserve.

Hope that clears up my post a bit for you. I am not an elitist-more a realist.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. What?!?!?

Not 'interfere'? I assume you meant that rather than 'interfer'. A great deal of my education happened outside school, my parents, my older siblings, other adults, even other kids. I knew how to read going into Kindergarten. Because of 'interference' I guess.
Without my parent's input, my education would be incomplete. School is not enough for anyone, period.

[Dappleganger]

30. Good teachers know how to handle volunteers just fine.

I would never 2nd guess how my child's teacher does this at all.

[AngryAmish]

4. that is called slavery...

[Xithras]

38. No, it's involuntary servitude.

We tend to mix them up in modern parlance, but they are two very different concepts (though both were banned by the 13th Amendment).

Involuntary servitude is any labor performed against a person's will to benefit another person or company, under threat or coercion. Any work where you do not have the freedom to walk away, even if you are being paid for it, is involuntary servitude and is illegal in the U.S. under the 13th amendment. The legal concept of involuntary servitude requires only one "trigger"...you must believe that your choices are limited to performing the labor, or facing some threatened punishment.

It's hard to see how any government agency requiring that you labor for 30 hours a semester without compensation, under some sort of implied threat of punishment, wouldn't qualify as involuntary servitude.


"Slavery" is a system where human beings are property. While it's related to involuntary servitude, they aren't the same thing.

[Posteritatis]

46. *facepalm* (nt)

[Brickbat]

6. Thirty hours is a lot of hours.

I also have a problem with mandatory volunteering that isn't enforced.

[seabeyond]

11. 30 is a lot. 5 hours would do it. if it is participation with children. public school

i was part of pta and we did volunteer. it was more helping the teachers, running copies, cutting stuff out ect... that is not so much a participation with student and more hired help. i dont like that idea at all. we are already buying the school supplies.

[Brickbat]

13. Yeah, I think there's a difference between PTA-type work and classroom volunteering.

PTA work, at my school, is mostly fundraising for specific programs and curricula. Parent volunteers help out on field trips, on big projects, with reading in the classroom and that kind of thing.

[Dappleganger]

16. Both are very important.

Fundraising for schools is extremely important especially now that so much money has been taken away from special funds and put towards the basics. Virtually every single penny for teacher training has been removed from our schools so they depend upon fundraising for that training. I'm on the SAC committee to help decide how that money will be spent, and it's heartbreaking to watch each teacher get up to pitch how the money would best be used. We used to have a nice little budget for these kinds of things but no longer. I wish we could give it to all of them across the board.

[Brickbat]

24. Totally agree.

Who ever thought this would still be relevant?

[Dappleganger]

26. Love that!

Wonder if there's a bumper sticker??

Let's you know where our priorities really are...we are reaping what we have sown, unfortunately.

[Brickbat]

29. All you have to do is ask...

http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/search.html

[Dappleganger]

31. Sweet--they have magnets!

My friends and I are sooo gonna have some fun w/this site!

Thanks. :)

[seabeyond]

9. we had that in a private school kids went to. i think it was 9 hours, each parent though.

easy for some. not so easy for others. i liked it. but then i have always had the opportunity to volunteer including the mother day out programs sons participated in.

[Dappleganger]

14. 9 hours is far more reasonable

One can also volunteer w/out actually being at the school, such as helping to send out emails to get volunteers for classroom projects, etc. But I question just how a school would be able to mandate such a thing. Volunteers are just that...volunteering their time.

[WinkyDink]

28. Operative word = "private."

[seabeyond]

33. i understand. hence.... my clarification it is private, lol. making the choice to use the

school, we had to follow their rules regardless. not the same right to education in public.

[Skidmore]

10. Volunteer?? or what?

If it is mandatory, it is not volunteering. What exactly is the punishment for not "volunteering?" Do they give your kid an automatic fail? Do they garnish your wages?

[jtrockville]

34. Right on. Can't call it volunteering if it's not voluntary.

[Dappleganger]

12. Our local schools have the highest parental volunteer hours in the state...

and the highest scores/performance all around. There is NO WAY that it amounts to anywhere close to 30 hours per school year, however. Of course who have parents who are able to volunteer every day, or several times a week. Many volunteer once a month, many more do so once a quarter.

Parental involvement IS a key factor in a child's educational success, but 30 hours is an unrealistic number of hours to expect. Especially when both parents have to work, or a single parent is struggling w/two jobs plus raising kids.

[seabeyond]

17. i am really nto believing the 30 hour. with all the kids and one or two adult per kid????

they dont need that many hours. couldnt do that many hours. this isnt jiving. though to be fair i didnt read article.... lol, just 30 hour volunteer.

[coffeenap]

18. I wish that the parents who are able would indeed do this.

The wealthier parents could volunteer in the part of the district that needs them most. It should NOT be mandatory since it obviously is not possible for everyone to give this kind of time. I know kids, especially older kids, often prefer to pretend they don't have parents at all so would not appreciate their faces in their hallways. :) Therefore, volunteering at the school across town could be an answer.

I volunteer in my daughter's high school as a co-sponsor of the GSA, and let me tell you: these kid-- all of them, not only the club members--need to see and interact with adults! The ones who need it most are those whose homes are dysfunctional--and believe me, this is happening at all economic levels. High school kids especially are in DIRE need of caring, open, listening, accepting, supportive adults. They are getting their social and moral education from each other and the unfiltered crap on the internet and corporate-owned media. There is too much information coming at them and not enough guidance on how to filter it and use it wisely.

Even more important is that they need someone to look into their eyes, hear the words they speak, show them respect, and deliver the message that they are worthy human beings who deserve to be alive on this planet.

All of this said with love for our youth.

[seabeyond]

20. now you are making me feel guilty. lol. i have gotta tell you, after 12 years

of volunteering and with two kids in, i got tired a couple years ago. and two years i have done little to no volunteering.

geez.

[Dappleganger]

23. You have to take a break from time to time.

This is my first year back on SAC after a two-year break. Next year I'll be doing middle school SAC as well as artist of the month in the elementary school (have been doing that for years). This is in addition to helping with one field trip per child (just did the Guana Park trip last week with the AP oceanography class). I refused to do carnival this year but will do it next year (that one is a LOT of work). You really do have to pace yourself.

There's a Navy dad down the street who has volunteered to help tutor students in math for the past 9 years, about 2-3 hours per week. He is amazing and the kids just love him to death. I really think he missed his calling.

[smoogatz]

19. Let's make a deal.

I'll "volunteer" for thirty hours if the school district will help out with my property taxes. Seems fair, right?

If it's mandatory, it ain't volunteering.

[pipi_k]

21. Mandatory volunteering...

what a concept.

What idiots.



OK, yes...it's true that kids do better when parents are involved. But, like the article said, how would they enforce this?

One of the ideas given was to call the parent in for a gentle discussion, asking how they can help parents stick to their "commitment". What commitment? Will they have to sign something at the beginning of each school year? If there's no agreement or signatures, seems to me, there's no "commitment", either.

And what do they do about parents who have psychological/mental health or physical disability issues?

What about parents who might be "sandwiched" between caring for their children AND caring for aging parents and don't even have time to themselves for a shower? The six months my MIL lived with us, I just barely had time to use the toilet myself, let alone spend time on "volunteering" any place, and I didn't/don't have young children.

I think people "in charge" (of many things) need to stop coming up with asshole ideas.

[krabigirl]

43. and honestly, my parents NEVER volunteered and I was at the top of the class..I didn't want them ro

to help me with homework,or (shudder) be there at school with all of the other PTA moms, clucking about. I'll write a check or volunteer IF I WISH, but honestly, I don't believe the BS about uber-volunteer parents churning out high-performing kids. Actually, in countries like France where they have excellent education, you pretty much CAN'T volunteer...they do not want you meddling in the classroom. If only....

[seabeyond]

48. well, if these women are simply "clucking", i bet they are pretty useless. chip on your shoulder?

or just pure disdain?

[JBoy]

22. That's step 1. Step 2 will allow richer parents to simply write a check.

You know, for those "too busy" to volunteer.

[Dappleganger]

25. Many of them do and quite honestly, the schools need it right now.

What's a shame is that only the wealthy schools get that money and that it's not spread around to the other schools. That part I don't agree with at all.

BTW, all of our teacher's have run out of classroom supplies and have NO MONEY to buy anymore. They sent out an email asking parents to help them out.

[WinkyDink]

27. Bwahahahaha! Like THAT has a legal snowball's chance!

School attendance (in some form) is mandatory for minors, key word being "minors".

[d_r]

32. we are required to have 18 hours a year

[Xithras]

35. There's a word for that. Illegal.

Federal law requires that all states have laws in place providing for the free and unencumbered education of all children within their borders. California, like every other state, has more than one law on the books defining the concept of a "free" public education. You cannot charge money for it, demand work or goods in compensation for it, etc. What he is proposing is, quite simply, a violation of state law. This could get the district stripped of all funding, or worse, disbanded and taken over by the state. At the very minimum it will get them sued.

[MicaelS]

36. The stupidity of school boards never ceases to amaze me....

Just when I thought a group of idiots couldn't top the webcam fiasco in the Lower Merion School District, this comes along. If I had a magic wand, I would put all schools under the Federal Government and abolish all local school boards.

[Tailormyst]

37. That would be tough unless the hours were flexible

I know for myself I get 35 hours sick/vacation time each year. Also, how would they enforce it? Especially for the working poor parents who can't get time off as easily.

[yodoobo]

39. And what if we don't?

Will it go on my permanent record?

Frankly, this sounds like a way to lay off some teacher aides.

[Sabriel]

40. Bingo! That's what I thought

Who needs aides when you have a captive audience to take their place?

The single woman who lived above me a few years ago worked from about 7 in the morning until 8 at night. Her middle-schooler took care of the kindergartner much of the time. Where would a person like that find 30 hours to "volunteer"?

[krabigirl]

42. I'll homeschool if all CA publc schools require this. No thanks.

[krabigirl]

41. Uh, no thanks. Then it's not "voluntary" anymore, is it?

[Posteritatis]

45. It's all about the mandateering. (nt)

[Lance_Boyle]

44. 54% are language learners.

Exactly what do they expect those kids' non-English-speaking parents to do for their 30 hours?

[LeftyMom]

49. Clean, probably.

Maybe if they're really lucky they'll get to staple up room decor or make photocopies, but I'd guess most parents are going to get asked to show up after hours (so they don't have to be background checked- those are $100 a pop) and handed a mop.

[CreekDog]

50. I don't think you can call it volunteering if you're forced to do it

but what do i know? :wtf: