I was recently involved in the planning of a meeting, which took place last week, to address the No Child Left Behind legislation and program. Early on, it was decided that our focus group would include parents, teachers, staff, and community members. The idea was to get very basic information together and out to these stakeholder groups of our school district. My particular duty was to connect with each site council and PTA/PTO in each of our schools.

I established a contact person within each group and gave them the information about the upcoming meeting. I encouraged attendance by not only a representative of these groups, but any additional parents interested in this topic who wanted to learn more.

I had such a great number of responses, both verbal and via e-mail, I was convinced that the parent component of this meeting would be impressive. I really felt like there was an understanding that the success of the meeting largely hinged on the attendance of parents and the representation of all schools.

The meeting came and so did 10 parents. While I appreciated the efforts of the parents who came, I was disappointed and even frustrated about the ones who did not. I was, and still am, very confused.

To me, the parents involved in site councils and PTA/PTO-type organizations have a basic responsibility to motivate other parents. A topic this large with so much information can’t possibly be overlooked or pushed aside with the “it does not pertain to us” theory.

As it turned out, the discussions that took place at the meeting were extremely basic and yet extremely successful. Small groups talked about what could be done to work within the schools and community to help all students succeed. They also discussed how our schools, parents and the wider community could do a better job of working together to help all students succeed.

Many, many ideas were generated and each small group had the chance to prioritize its choices for where to begin. The small groups then shared their list with the entire group. What struck me as ironic was that everyone listed the home/family/parent element as being the place to start.

I am really not sure how to get parents more involved. I don’t understand at what point they will decide to participate. I do realize that we are all busy and that trying to juggle all that is on our plates can be overwhelming. Yet, from the information discussed at the meeting, it was confirmed that parents must be a key part of the entire group which must now come together.

More than ever, in our district, this is a time to stop relying on a core group to keep the interest going and get the information out. Each organization at each school must motivate everyone they can to help ensure the success of all students.

Holli Joyce is a Pinckney School parent.