Jennifer Hall Lee lives in Pasadena, California. Her child is now enrolled in the high school, but Lee continues to volunteer and raise money for the middle school, where she is needed. In a note to me, she said that 45% of the students in Pasadena are attending private schools, charter schools, or home schooled. The public schools are suffering because of this splintering of civic energy.
She explained why she cares about the middle school:
The annual fund committee raises money throughout the year to help Eliot pay for teacher salaries, supplies, programs, technology and more–all of which keeps Eliot an arts magnet school. Annual funds, once the staple of private schools, are now necessary for many public schools. Pasadena Unified doesn’t receive money from a parcel tax and California ranks very low in per-pupil spending. Let me explain that by referring to the words of Pasadena School Board Member Pat Cahalan as he explains the funding disparity well: “Wisconsin funds public education at about $2,000 more per student. If California funded PUSD at that rate, the district would have over $30 million more every year.”
Eliot is a Title 1 school, which means that our student body is over 50% socio-economically disadvantaged. Moreover, we have to deal with reality: low statewide spending on students, no parcel tax, and misperceptions about PUSD. When the annual fund committee meets to discuss fundraising ideas, we have to deal with those three realities. They are in the room with us, underscoring our ideas as we decide which events to hold and what monies we can reasonably expect to raise. It’s difficult, but also joyful.
During the first year of the Eliot annual fund, we reached the goal of $50k; believe me, it was a huge lift. It took 12 months, but we succeeded, and I have to say this: we couldn’t have done it without everyone, including community members who had no children in Eliot but who participated, reached out to us, donated, and encouraged us. We are so grateful.
In today’s political climate we need everyone’s generosity and interest in our school to help us succeed. Children need to know that everyone in their community cares about them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I volunteer too. You hear a lot of complaints about how everything is done by committee and everyone has an opinion and has to be heard and accommodated, but that to me is the essential nature of a public school. It absolutely requires compromise.
Your kid is important, but so is everyone else’s kids. Whatever your pet issue is, there will be 5 parents with a different, equally important pet issue. You really can’t have an artisanal, “personalized” school for each student because you will inevitably encroach on what another kid needs. I think it’s good for kids to learn this because it will be true in literally every other entity they encounter their whole lives. What is denigrated in ed reform as not “personal” enough is to me a strength. It really isn’t all about MY kid every minute of every day, nor should it be. They’re part of a community. Sometimes what they want has to give way to what someone else needs.
LikeLike
Having gone to public schools and then sending kids to them, I’m amused by the ed reform numerical ranking of teachers.
Ask one parent or student to point to a “good” teacher and then ask another. The answers will be different. They value different things. Which is FINE.
My own kids who had them don’t even agree on which teachers are “good”. They’re obviously relying on something other than a VAM score.
LikeLike
Chiara,
I couldn’t agree more. As a former teacher, it was always evident to me that I was great for some students and probably horrible for others. Fortunately, I taught (mostly) ‘elective’ subjects, so students could ‘opt out’. Also, I was in a position toward the end of my career to be allowed to design courses that were tailored to the needs and interests of different students (my specialty at that point was Physics). At the time of my ‘retirement’, over 90% of the graduating class had been in my classroom, and I identified with the ‘art majors’ every bit as much as those who went on to major in Physics.
No teacher, however, is the right match for every student. I could never have been effective at the Middle School or Jr. High level. I was a philosopher, and yearned for an intellectual response, which my students provided. I loved their naivety because it informed my own understanding (both of the ‘science’ and of the nature and diversity of human comprehension). Some students would clearly have been better off with a more authoritarian environment. To me, that was antithetical to science.
LikeLike
I read this post from Steven Singer this morning. It is about attributing student scores and growth to the teacher. He shows that teachers can do their best, but they cannot force students to apply themselves. There are so many variables that contribute to a score it is ridiculous to blame teachers as our society continues to do.https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/11/29/teachers-are-not-responsible-for-student-growth-or-achievement/
LikeLike
Pasadena is suffering from a disinvestment in the common good. While the city is diverse, the collective community resources are so divided among so many charters, the public schools are trying to keep the lights on. So-called choice promotes “white flight” to white majority schools and allows for some decent choices for more affluent black and Hispanic students. With so many options that cost so much money, there is very little remaining in the public budget to attract students so the public schools become the schools of last resort for the expensive and needy students rejected by charters.
Fragmenting public dollars among so many recipients is highly inefficient and expensive. If the public schools served most of the students, the community and students would be better off. The schools would be able to fund more specialized programs and provide more support for students. Having a diverse community schools is a tremendous asset to all the students that attend them. It is democracy in action. The district would be better able to provide for the needs of all students. This is the whole point of “common schools” that develop a sense of community and collective identity, not based on color or social class.
Pasadena is a cautionary tale showing that too much choice is harmful and divisive. A graphic of a charter chain near Pasadena has 45% white students. This charter chain is not rescuing children from “failing schools.” It is siphoning off those with the most perceived potential. http://www.aveson.org/demographics
LikeLike
I wish that more NGOs would become involved in the publicly-operated schools. I am certain that if the schools would ASK, that many organizations would respond favorably.
LikeLike
We already have privatized interests with their grubby fingers all over the educational pie. Why can’t we simply fund public education so that the schools have the resources to do whatever it is you think these non-profits should be doing?
LikeLike
Volunteers are generally welcome, but they do not replace adequate funding.
LikeLike