Caprice Taylor Mendez, Director, Boston Parent Organizing Network
The Boston Parent Organizing Network's mission is to organize a diverse constituency of parents, students, family and other community members to support and advocate for the improvement of the Boston Public Schools. BPON was established in 1999 by a coalition of community groups, intermediary organizations and foundations who share the central belief that the success of education reform in Boston requires engaging families and communities marginalized by race, socioeconomic status, language, and immigration status. Since that time, BPON has grown into a network of 32 community- and school-based groups as well as other local allies and stakeholders (Mayor’s office, Boston Teachers Union, Massachusetts Advocates for Children, Education Law Center, etc) that establish an extraordinary foundation for building on the work of the past seven years.
What we hear most frequently from the parents who are part of the BPON network is that they want their children to succeed in school. Parents are recognizing the high stakes with the MCAS and the gap their children have to jump over to be prepared to pass the MCAS. Parents want greater access to academic support for their children. Parents also want free SAT classes for their children, tutoring after school and before school programs that begin earlier in the day.
Parents also want arts and sports programs for their children since much of this has been removed from the school day. These types of programs have been notably missing.
Parents with students who have special needs have limited opportunities for out of school time activities and parents would like to see more options.
Parents would also like out of school time programs to offer families English classes so parents who do not speak English as their first language are better able to advocate for their child’s academic career. The waiting line for many adult ELL courses is several years long and many will never have the opportunity to support their children effectively unless schools with community groups provide the opportunity to learn English.
BPON member organizations would also like to see greater partnerships between local community organizations and schools. This is often dependent on the leadership in the school and their openness to work in partnership with groups in the neighborhood who are offering effective and free resources to the school. However, building trust with a headmaster who is often overwhelmed with other priorities is challenging.
Outreach can be improved to coordinate out of school time resources in the school and coordinate the outreach to families to access these resources. Schools need to increase their capacity to engage families of diverse backgrounds. This is the role of the Family Community Outreach Coordinator. Only 18 schools in the BPS have such a staff person solely dedicated to supporting families as partners and coordinating these programs.