Chollas Mead Elementary School jump-started their PTA for the first time this semester with 89 parents volunteering to be a part of the new committee. They have grown the community connection with parents, teachers, and students to create a campus where every group supports the others. I spoke with Karina Piña-Armas, Community School Coordinator, about the driving force behind this PTA and how they boosted this robust parent/teacher group.
Karina explained how, as a community school, they are consistently making an effort to collect feedback and improve based on the wants and needs of the community. In a survey to parents two years ago, Karina found that the Chollas Mead parents wanted to be invited into the school. Karina and her team recognized that establishing a parent group would likely benefit everyone, but the difficulty came in how to accomplish this. With busy parents interested in volunteering but hesitant to immediately take on a leadership position and working in a group of parents that’s never had a strong connection before, the task had to be taken at a slow pace.
Karina explained to me how they gradually established a parent-engagement calendar to start getting parents together and connected, which evolved from connecting to creating as well. Parents were simultaneously creating little art projects and a strong foundation for the school. After two years of uplifting parents' voices and showing them that the school is truly dedicated to fulfilling the needs around parent involvement, the PTA was ready to start in Fall this year.
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Because of the parent base that was established, nearly a hundred parents were immediately ready to join. And for parents who want to volunteer past just the PTA, they created the role of Parent Ambassadors. Karina says these parents act similarly to the traditional ‘room parent’ role where “parents and teachers are working together to support [a classroom].” When the parents asked for just an invite, Chollas Mead built two wide open doors.
From here, the parents are finding their independence as a PTA. While Chollas Mead administrators still rely on them for feedback and easy access to the parent perspective, they have their own initiatives as well. Karina told me how she made sure everyone in the PTA would have a “can-do mindset.” This mindset has shown this semester through their Boo-Gram fundraiser that was able to raise $1,000 for the school. Karina highlighted how this was a huge accomplishment at their school which has historically struggled with fundraisers and took the PTA in order to get it done.
Through the Chollas Mead PTA, Karina wants us all to see that schools need to evaluate what support they’re giving to parents and find the openings that allow parents to feel comfortable bringing in their opinions and ideas. Karina says the whole process, though lengthy, was worth it to ensure that this PTA was not something happening to the parents of Chollas Mead but for them and with them.
About the author
Cameron Jackson is a senior at the San Diego Met High School, currently interning with the Strategic Communications and Information Office of the school district. Cameron is excited to write stories highlighting some of the great things occurring throughout our district. For any questions, contact Cameron at [email protected]