Yesterday, I managed to piss off the Assistant Director of the public library, the Recreation Director, and the President of the School Board. Yes! A hat trick.
My town does not have any non-sports activities for kids. The library doesn't offer any reading clubs or craft hours. The town only has sports for the kids, which after second grade, are dominated by aggressive parents who think that Junior is some day going to play for the Mets. I need activities for my kids, so I went around with ideas for activities and offers to run those programs myself.
I went to the PTA meeting where the school officials were trying to get parents to vote for the bond levy next month. The old people keep voting it down. They are trying to justify their very expensive technology program where each student gets a laptop for four years. (Even though there is no evidence that technology in the classroom improves learning.)
I am a big believer in strong community life. It's good for democracy, and it increases overall happiness levels. I also believe that we all need to volunteer our time for the greater good. Since most of us can't travel to Africa to join the Peace Corps, we should start locally. I've been a free rider for a long time and think that it's time to do my share.
But it's tough. I'm not used to people who are clock-punchers and put the minimal efforts into their jobs. When I come in contact with that mentality, I find it very hard to be nice. Offers to freely give your time are not always appreciated. Well, I'm going to keep on annoying people. Letters and phone calls will happen next.
Apt. 11d 
Go to a school board meeting and speak about your concerns and offer to help, write a letter to the newspaper, go to the town board meeting and talk about the response from the school district and school to your concerns and offers to help. I am betting that someone from the school will be calling you very soon. They don’t need someone complaining about not being able to volunteer when they are trying to pass a budget. If you keep talking, someone is going to try to shut you up and that is to your advantage. I ran after school clubs for kids for several years (book club, board games, newspaper club, chess club, crafts, etc). I had a couple of teachers who helped, some parents and the town librarian. Thinking of you and wishing you the best
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“Since most of us can’t travel to Africa to join the Peace Corps, we should start locally.”
As of the 90s, they didn’t take anyone with minor children and they also didn’t let anyone stay in service past 3 months pregnant.
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My town does not have any non-sports activities for kids.
What?! Really? What?
This is bringing back memories of the awesome time I had in my dumpy local recreation center as a child. Sewing lessons, “multimedia classes” (e.g. learning to program a VCR!), etc. As an adult I realize that the rooms were depressing and underlit and the staff was seriously apathetic, but at the time it was a pretty magical place. I’d wager that a lot of my future success follows directly from sewing my own skirt and top at age 9.
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Oh, and the chess classes “taught” by the teenager who didn’t know how to play chess. We had a blast organizing tournaments and bickering over who got to use the one chess clock while he sat in the corner and read comic books — everyone wins.
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Once they get to middle school, there will be plenty of non-sports activities, but I know what you mean, both specifically and generally. I, too, am trying to get more involved. So far, I’ve volunteered to help with the Shakespeare club. I have the background and I wanted to support what I saw as an intellectual activity. I haven’t made it to a school board meeting yet. I was going to go to the last one, but ended up with a sick kid and Mr. Geeky was out of town, so . . .
It is hard to get involved. It feels like all the parents who are involved have been involved forever. They know the ropes and they also support the status quo (most of the time). I commend you and I hope I can complete your hat trick at some point. 🙂
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“all the parents who are involved have been involved forever. They know the ropes and they also support the status quo”
Totally. And they hoard information. If you aren’t part of the inner circle, you miss out on all sorts of things for your kids.
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A troop Laura? Are you considering that as one of the possibilities and would that provide the kind of non-super-competitive activity you’re looking for? I’m actually working on that myself. Boy Scouts has the discrimination issues, but Camp Fire USA allows co-ed troops as well as all-girl (haven’t looked into whether you can have all-boy troops).
We have far more activities available in our area than you describe — drama is big, and a variety of crafty activities, as well as some more low-key sports activities (sailing, golf, . . . — yes, expensive ones). Our community centers are excellent, as well. Interesting to hear that you don’t get those services in your state, since we think of ours as being relatively underserved, educationally.
(the over-aggressive sports, especially for boys, is a real bummer, since it inhibits many from participating, creating life-long health consequences).
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You should run for a seat on the school board. That will do more than anything else to change priorities at school. A lone parent can be isolated and ignored. A school board member cannot be ignored, and allowing a greater range of after school activities is downright cheap, in comparison to an unfriendly board member.
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“Even though there is no evidence that technology in the classroom improves learning.”
For now, maybe but I think this will change because our students will change.
(Sorry, was at a meeting of people teaching our new online courses yesterday afternoon, and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the fact that we do not have digital natives in our classrooms now, but we will.)
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“You should run for a seat on the school board.”
Check out this mom/professor turned school board member and blogger:
http://myschoolcommitteeblog.blogspot.com/
(in Amherst, MA)
She’s managed to generate a lot of controversy. Not sure if she’s also affecting positive changes, but I think that the effectiveness of being a school board member for effecting change depends on what kind of change you’re looking for. I do not believe that’s the way to get afterschool enrichment classes available in your community for your children (or at least, it’s not the shortest route). If you’re hoping for a whole-sale change in priorities, school board might be the way to go.
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I like the idea of blogging the school board. My dad was on a school board for a number of years, and my impression is that even on a five-person board, it’s like swimming in 40 degree molasses–it’s tiring and you don’t get anywhere. There are so many power centers within a school system that everyone winds up feeling powerless.
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“I like the idea of blogging the school board. ”
That itself has generated a controversy as well — i.e. the blogging. Because, she’s an effective communicator (who knows how to pull the facts to support her cause), people who disagree with her felt she was getting an “unfair advantage.” But now, it looks like people have realized that they can join in on the communication, correcting facts when appropriate.
I think blogging (school board members, politicians, community neighborhood newspapers, advocacy groups) is a fabulous increase in communication. People who used to have special access ’cause they took the time to go to real-life meetings don’t like loosing the special advantage they had, though.
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