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April 2, 2004
"Parents United for Responsible Education"
Welcome to this online interview with leaders from Parents United for Responsible Education. Questions and answers will appear below starting at 1 pm EST on Friday, April 2. You may ask a question in advance by clicking on the "Submit a Question" button. Due to time constraints, not all questions will be answered. You may need to refresh your screen during the interview to read the most recent responses. read background Leadership for a Changing World
Welcome to Leadership Talks with Wanda Hopkins and Ismael Vargas, leaders from Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) in Chicago. The leadership team from PURE received a 2003 Leadership for a Changing World award.
Thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us how you got involved with PURE?
Wanda Hopkins
I am a long-time education activist. I’ve seen three children go through the public schools and my youngest, Maya, will begin kindergarten in the fall. In addition to dozens of other schools, I am a trainer and advocate at the school in the Cabrini Green housing project where I grew up and where my older children attended. I joined PURE’s staff in 1997.
Ismael: I got involved as an active parent in my children’s school, first as a member of the parent patrol and bilingual committee and then as chairperson of the Local School Council. I found out about PURE when they did some school improvement planning training at my school. I joined the staff in 1997 and became assistant director in 2002.
Atlanta, GA
Can you explain what an LSC is?
Ismael Vargas
LSC is a Local School Council and it consists of 6 parents and 2 teachers and 2 community representatives and a principal, and in the high school there are students elected to the council. They are the governing board. They set policies for their local schools. They approve the budget and school improvement plan and evaluate the principal on a yearly basis, approve or not approve a contract every 4 years, so they hire and fire their principal.
Ismael: Chicago is the only state that has this government body in the Chicago Public Schools. And this was done to give the power to the parents more than anything to make decisions about their children’s education.
Detroit
What were the most effective organizating strategies to engage parents? Door to door or via the schoool?
What attracted parents to your group over other parent groups?
Wanda Hopkins
I think what’s unique about PURE is that we do not only school issues, but individual issues. So a parent who has a concern about their child we go in and advocate and teach them to be advocates for them on an individual level. And so a lot of our parents come from just individualized issues that we deal with on a regular basis. For ex a call today where a parent is calling for help because their child had been suspended from school numerous times and the parent was trying to ask the school to help them do something. So the recommendation was to get evaluation to see if the child needs specialized services. And so we go in and help them get that evaluation so the child would no longer be suspended so much. They’ll get the attention that they need.
Ismael: Also what makes this organization unique is that we are here to advocate for and serve the parents, meaning that we will put that effort in no matter what time of the day, no matter where in the city of Chicago, we’ll be there to provide these services. They could be services to advocate for them, as far as having workshops or training parents so they know their rights and how to be better parents, or going to their homes and have a meeting because they have concerns about what’s going on in their schools. So we empower the parents.
Santa Fe, NM
How did PURE start? What was the impetus for parents to come together like you did?
Wanda Hopkins
PURE started as a group of parents and teachers working together to end a 19-day school strike in 1987. Up to a thousand people would meet every week to plan strategies, culminating in a huge march around City Hall. The mayor had the schools open by the next day. We then joined with other groups who were fed up with irresponsible school administration and worked to pass the school reform act. This state law, enacted in 1989, established parent-majority elected councils at every school. The LSC selects the principal and approves the annual improvement plan and budget. We became the primary independent trainer of LSCs. We also advocate for and train non-LSC parents throughout the city and in the metropolitan area.
Cincinnati, OH
How have the issues that PURE focusses on, changed over the years?
Ismael Vargas
I think that we have always done the same work. The only changes maybe that have happened in the organization might be we have gone further as far as giving services. Now we’re giving more services than before and also each one of us has become more prepared as far as professionals, giving topics and information to parents. One thing that we made some big changes was on the testing issue. We have been an organization that at this point has moved to fight to make sure that a promotion policy for students to change from one grade to another is more flexible as far as the school board looking into not only their testing, but also other areas where the kids are doing good and receive more services.
New York, NY
Do you see yourselves as working against school administrators or with them? How are local conflicts dealt with differently than state? Do your allies sometimes shift?
Wanda Hopkins
It depends, sometimes in some cases we work with administration, Chicago Public Schools. We have a relationship where we can reason and work with them as allies. And in some cases we’re against them because they’re not doing what is right for the children.
Ismael: And they know that it’s not personal, it’s business. I think that sometimes they change, but in the Board of Education we always have our allies and they always count on us for getting information. If they see that something is going wrong, they’ll call us knowing that their bosses will not know that they are trying to give us the heads-up as far as something is going wrong with the education.
Wanda: In the beginning, when Arnie Duncan came in, our CEO, we were working very closely with him. We were getting feedback from him and he was getting feedback from us. Now that the probation policy has been put in place, now we’re fighting and we were working together at first. We’re against the probation policy.
Ismael: The good thing about us is that other organizations that receive money from the Chicago Public Schools fear if they say something wrong they might get cut off. That’s what makes our organization unique is our ability to speak on behalf of parents and students that are being tied to them in any fashion, and that’s why parents come with us.
Baltimore, MD
What changes have you seen in the school system since PURE became active?
Ismael Vargas
First and foremost, LSCs have brought more parents into the schools and given them a real voice in their children’s education. In the 15 years since LSCs have been around, our schools have improved by many measures including higher test scores, new and repaired buildings, expanded access to technology, and more arts and other culturally-enriching programs.
PURE also won major changes in the system’s promotion policy which used single standardized test scores to flunk students. We filed a discrimination complaint with the Office for Civil Rights which forced the system to include other, fairer measures of student progress.
DC
How can we get all parent's to the table?How do yo get people to understand the importance-- those who have language limitations, those that feel they have no power in the system, those that work one or more jobs and don't feel that they have extra time to spare to work on this, etc?
Wanda Hopkins
First of all, maybe I’m just out of touch, but I believe parents are already motivated. As busy as a parent is, if they feel respected and wanted for their opinions or for issues in the schools they will come. We have to make sure we set times so that parents will be available and that’s what so unique about PURE. If parent wants training at any time, we accommodate. Some people have a quick-fix and say the meetings must be at 9:00 or 5:00, but you can’t do that. If you want real participation you have to make the time where the parents are available. That’s why when I’m doing workshops I have to do an assessment to find out what are the needs of the parents? When are they available? What’s the sense having a meeting at 10:00 and nobody can show up?
Every school has a budget that they approve. They can write it in their plan that they’re going to use college students and high school students and you pay them $7 an hour to watch the children while the parents are in the meeting. What makes PURE so unique and why parents join is that when they see all the children at the annual meeting that sends the message that we want your children to come out and we know you need child care, so that’s important. Parents don’t want to leave their children home alone.
Miami, FL
When you bring together 800 parents and have them paying for membership, how do you decide who gets to lead? Do some schools end up with more power in your group to counter their lesser impact within the city's schools? How does this particular group work together without stepping on each other's toes?
Ismael Vargas
With PURE every single school and every single parent gets the same benefit. This is not about membership. We know if there’s parents who are able to pay a membership for PURE, that’s fine, but what we do as a staff is we give the same equal perk to all the schools and we empower every single school, so there’s not stepping on anybody’s toes because we believe that each one of the parents and schools are the leaders. So we work equally and we give the same quality of work to each one of those parents and schools. There’s no preference.
Wanda: Chicago Public Schools will give you enough issues, you don’t have to fight each other. They’ll do enough stuff wrong that we all fight for the same thing. So no group overrules the other on what the issue is.
Detroit, MI
How do you work to include immigrant communities into your work?
Ismael Vargas
We make them feel at home. We make them feel that they have the right. Even though if they do not know the language or do not have the education, they have the power to make decisions. They have the power to learn how the education system works here in the U.S. And one of the best things that I think that PURE gives to these parents is having materials and also a person doing these workshops in their language. And each one of us who work at PURE, we are parents also and we have gone through those problems, but we learned and now we’re passing on that information and we’re passing the reflection of being a parent who didn’t understand or know they could have so much power. But now we are showing them that, yes, we do have the control and the power of our children’s future. And that’s what the immigrant community wants to see, they want to learn that they have a say in their children’s education and we teach them, yes, you do. Our motto for each one of the parents is you are the first teacher of your children.
NY, NY
Do you (PURE) have any goals to work on education and policy at a national level?
Wanda Hopkins
It’s got to be national because No Child Left Behind is all over the country, and there are some flaws in that legislation that we’re trying to correct. First of all, there needs to be funding. You can’t ask schools to implement programs without the money attached.
Ismael: And our goal is to provide the same services that we get here in Chicago, also pass those services throughout the U.S. We see the need in education for us to be a local, but also a national voice for children and parents.
The Motor City, Detroit, MI
One of the major challenges confronting our community is identifying the best way to communicate with parents and keeping them engaged.
Please describe the types of communication challenges you have addressed and/or continue to face.
Also, please share what are the variety of communication strategies you used to overcome the problem?
Ismael Vargas
The communication issue is always a problem. You’re going to find problems in that area. But the most important thing here to be able to communicate with parents and to be able to attract them is when you can speak on issues that you know are affecting them. And also when you can speak like they speak it’s real important to break those communication barriers. You need to be at their level, to speak from your heart, and they’ll see that the person they have in front of them or the person who’s trying to attract their attention is a person that has gone through it and who might be suffering the consequences of seeing that the schools are receiving or not receiving good education. The parents need to feel that they are accepted by you, that you’re not only there to give information, but you are also their friend. And many times instead of focusing on being so articulate on what you’re saying, you need to be more humble and they can feel that they’re talking to somebody who feels the same way as them. And those are some of the things that we have implemented in our daily jobs and we have seen good results from it.
Wanda: Also parents know when a school is not parent-friendly. When they walk into the building, does the first person they see have an attitude about them being there? Those kinds of things we’ve asked principals to look at because parents don’t want to be in a building where they don’t feel wanted.
Detroit, MI
How do you use data to support your strategies? Do you do data analyses in house or work collaboratively with others?
Ismael Vargas
We do them both. There are groups in school reform that just collect data. On the local school council the parent rep is the only one who can be the local school council chair. One of our legislators got some feedback and they wanted to put together some legislation to have community residents that could hold the seat as chair. Our research tells us that parents have a vested interest because their children are there and the parents don’t have a private agenda more so than the teachers or the community or anybody else.
Ismael: Again, it’s important for us for our data to be in-house and also outside because we would like to compare and make sure that what we’re doing or changes that we want to see happen will be the right ones. Also, for us it’s important to collect data in-house and outside to find out if the job that we’re doing is effective. So for everything it’s important to get feedback from your own organization, but also from outside entities.
St. Louis, MO
With a team of four, how do you make decisions on which activities to pursue?
Ismael Vargas
Our membership elects the Board of Directors and approves the organizational goals each year. Major decisions are made by our Board of Directors. Operational decisions are usually made in staff meetings by consensus of the team.
Bozeman, MT
Your approach is described as as "pit-bull" persistence. How do you know when to push further and when to back down?
Wanda Hopkins
For example, I’m really what you call a pitbull after principals in certain schools. And now the Principals Association, who is like a union for the principals and administrators, have agreed with a verbal contract that before I move on that principal, I communicate with them and we try to resolve the issue before it gets out of hand and before I go biting and chewing them up. So I think that’s been real positive for me. So now I won’t be attacking, I’ll just say to the principal I’ll be working with someone to resolve this if he or she cannot communicate with me. Before that, I didn’t have that relationship with the Principals Association, I would just attack.
Ismael: There is a time to speak and there’s a time to fight. And if they want us to speak, they will come to the table. When we see that there is no communication and there’s no actions taken when we’re bringing issues, that’s when we let the dogs loose. And then they want to talk; it’s too late.
East Brunswick NJ
Has your model been replicated in any other cities? It sounds like a marvelous approach to re-invigorate both schools and parents.
Ismael Vargas
No, we have not. And that’s our goal, to replicate what we’re doing here in other states, but we have not seen the same of what we have here in Chicago or what we’re doing. And we’re really anxious to go out there and pass this along to other states, even though we know that for our organization having only 4 staff members and taking care of all the 600 Chicago public schools is hard, but we’re ready for the challenge and we would like to get this out there to other states.
Wanda: Money, money, money is what we need to do this because we’re advocating for over 500,000 parents in the Chicago public schools.
Leadership for a Changing World
Thank you for a wonderful discussion today. Unfortunately this will have to be the last question.
How do you sustain yourselves while doing this work?
Wanda Hopkins
We are all sustained by our work which we love, and by the ability to make a difference for families. It’s all about making education better for children.
Leadership for a Changing World
Thank you again to everyone who participated today. For more information on PURE:
Parents United for Responsible Education
407 South Dearborn, #515
Chicago, IL 60605
Phone: 312-461-1994
Fax: 312-461-1927
Email: ismael@pureparents.org; wanda@pureparents.org
Web: www.pureparents.org
Ismael Vargas
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