Category Archives: Running a PTA

News from National Convention—Engaging Hispanic/Latino Families

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National PTA ran the Hispanic/Latino Outreach Initiative from June 2018 to May 2019 in ten states to develop ways for PTAs to connect and engage with Hispanic/Latino families. The results of the initiative will be packaged in a toolkit for PTAs to use that will be released in early 2020. At the 2019 National PTA Convention, several participants shared what their state PTAs had learned from participation in the initiative.

The Hispanic/Latino Outreach Initiative had several goals.

  • Develop culturally-specific outreach strategies
  • Initiate Hispanic/Latino membership growth
  • Document successful strategies and identify opportunities
  • Create a toolkit for PTAs to use based on proven strategies

Hispanic/Latino outreach was identified as a critical population for PTA, as currently 1 in 4 students are Hispanic/Latino, while only 4% of state PTA boards are from that community. By 2050, 1 in 3 students are expected to be Hispanic/Latino.

Challenges with Hispanic/Latino Outreach

While language barriers are an easily identified challenge to reaching out to the Hispanic/Latino community, the initiative clearly noted that it is not the only one. “Family Engagement” is not common in Hispanic/Latino culture, as teachers are seen as the experts and speaking to a teacher is seen as questioning authority. Other challenges identified by the initiative include:

  • While the deference towards teachers is sometimes interpreted as Hispanic/Latino not caring about their child’s education, 92% of these parents think it is essential for their children to attend a two- or four-year college—the highest percentage of any demographic group.
  • 50% of Hispanic/Latino children have a parent that was born outside the United States, and 25% have an undocumented parent. To engage these families, PTAs must be trusted; however, once that trust is built, Hispanic/Latino families can be very loyal.
  • 78% of Hispanic/Latino parents who own a smartphone use it to access news and information. Consequently, it is important for PTAs to be mobile-friendly when reaching out to this population and realize that Hispanic/Latino families may prefer to receive texts rather than e-mails.
  • Non-standard work hours are common in the Hispanic/Latino community, 75% of Hispanic/Latino children in single-parent homes and 90% in two-parent homes having parents working non-standard hours. 40% of children with low-income parents work hours between 6:00pm and midnight, making it impossible to attend evening functions at school.

Reaching Out to the Hispanic/Latino Community

The Hispanic/Latino Outreach Initiative gave the state PTAs in the program the freedom to try many different approaches. Among the successful activities and lessons learned from the initiative are:

  • Don’t expect the Hispanic/Latino community to come to you; it is essential to figure out how to go to them. One successful approach with migrant farm workers was to meet with them during their lunch break in the fields, providing cold water to drink, and discussing and providing PTA family engagement resources so they can better support their child in school.
  • New Jersey PTA created a “Why PTA?” presentation in Spanish. One way to have materials translated is to reach out to the local Hispanic/Latino Chamber of Commerce (if there is one), as the business community is very interested in supporting these students and their families.
  • Take advantage of existing resources. New Jersey PTA put together a toolkit for local PTAs of what they considered the top 15 National PTA resources that are available in Spanish. They also included the English language versions as well so those PTA leaders who did not speak Spanish knew what topic each resource addressed. Don’t forget to take advantage of other organizations’ resources that are available in Spanish, such as Learning Heroes.
  • Don’t be afraid to have an event in Spanish rather than English. Washington PTA hosted a showing of the Spanish-language version of Frozenthat was a big success. As one leader put it, “Who doesn’t already know Frozenregardless of the language?”

Be sure to take advantage of the other National PTA resources to help you reach out to underrepresented communities, such as the Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit.

Host a Summer Learning Listening Session

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Summertime, and school’s out, so you may not be thinking about having your PTA host an event. And while school may be out, the summer also provides a unique opportunity to reach out to families that haven’t been involved with PTA or new families coming to your school and show them what PTA is all about. It’s also an opportunity to fight the “summer slide.”

National PTA has partnered with Access from AT&Tand EveryoneOn to help ensure that families have the resources their kids need for success in the classroom and beyond. The Summer Learning Toolkit has everything your PTA needs to host a Summer Learning Listening Session. Each listening session is designed to be a quick event to add to a PTA meeting, but could also be coupled with a fun summer activity like an ice cream social.

The toolkit gives you everything you need, including:

  • Resources to plan your event around
  • A list of the key volunteers you’ll need
  • Templates to promote your event
  • An agenda to follow at your event
  • Things to do to wrap up after your event

Check out the entire toolkit and start planning your Summer Learning Listening Event now.

News from National Convention—Proposed Dues Increase

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Early this year, National PTA proposed an increase in national membership dues of $1.50/member, raising the total National PTA portion of dues from $2.25/member to $3.75/member. The original proposal was to make the dues increase effective July 1, 2019, but National PTA moved the proposed start date to September 1, 2019 based on feedback. The increase and effective date were considered at the National PTA Convention last week in Columbus, OH, and delegates voted to reject any dues increase.

Based on feedback from our local units, the Illinois PTA State Board of Directors adopted a position to oppose any increase in national dues and to have the effective date for any increase approved by delegates to be as late in the 2019-2020 school year as possible. National PTA had stated that any effective date after the dates of the 2020 National PTA Convention could result in that convention’s delegate body overturning any decision made on dues at the 2019 Convention.

The debate over the dues increase was lengthy. Motions were made to reduce the dues increase to $0.75/member, $0.50/member, $0.25/member, and $1.50/member implemented in three $0.50/member steps over three years. In addition to Illinois, several other large state PTAs were directed by their membership or state boards to oppose any dues increase, including California, New York, and Texas. As a result, all amendments to modify the dues amount were rejected by 60% or more of the delegates, and the final vote on the $1.50/member increase was rejected by 69% of the delegates.

Moving Forward

The National PTA Board of Directors had already adopted a budget assuming no dues increase, so while the coming year will be tight financially, there is already a plan in place for the current situation. It is likely that National PTA will have a new dues proposal to be considered at next year’s convention in Louisville. Illinois PTA urges National PTA to provide more transparent information to the state associations regarding finances at the national level and to make the case for the dues increase based on what it will mean for our local units—the people who will have to ask their members for those additional dues.

12 Bullying Myths

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Bullying at school is nothing new, but a lot of what we think we know about isn’t necessarily true. Great Schools has put together a list of 12 myths about bullying along with the facts that bust those myths. Those myths are:

  1. You’ll know when your child is being bullied.
  2. Bullying is always physical.
  3. The bully is always bigger.
  4. Fighting back works./Fighting back doesn’t work.
  5. Bullies are the most popular kids.
  6. Parents have nothing to do with their kids bullying.
  7. If your child is a victim, call the bully’s parents.
  8. Boys are more likely to be bullied.
  9. Cyberbullying is the gateway to other bullying.
  10. Parents are always their kids’ best defender.
  11. Homophobic taunts refer to the victim’s sexual orientation.
  12. Schools aren’t responsible for bullying.

Children need safe and supportive schools to be successful, and stopping bullying is part of providing that for them. Read the full article to learn why each of these 12 myths are not true, then check out StopBullying.gov for more information and consider having your PTA implement the National PTA Connect for Respect program.

Graphic courtesy of US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jamal D. Sutter.