PTSA Meeting @ Sam Houston High School

I attended a PTSA (Parent, Teacher, Student Association) meeting last night at Sam Houston H.S. and I was very disappointed in what I saw. Six people including myself were in attendance. The other five individuals included the PTSA president, a French teacher from the school, the "community liaison" of the high school, a community member, and a one parent who was mandated by the courts to attend due to excessive truancy by her daughter.

I asked the French teacher why she was the only teacher in attendance. She responded by telling me that a lot of the other teachers were busy leading extracurricular activities and there was also a girls athletic event that night. I asked her how many teachers worked at Sam Houston. She told me 60, and the "community liaison" mentioned 100. I then asked if they found it acceptable ad believable that out of 60 teachers there was only ONE at the meeting? She understood my point and agreed that there was no excuse for it.

Why isn't it mandated that teachers attend PTSA meetings for their own schools? It's not like they have to stay EVERY night. The meetings are once a month. I'm sure the time of the meeting could be easily adjusted to make it easier for them to attend.

I can complain about the teachers not being there and expect a difference to be made. I unfortunately can NOT expect the parents to show up. We can beg and plead for them to come, but just as they neglect their child's education in all other aspects, I expect them to neglect something as extraneous as an after hours meeting. Yes, I have lowered my expectations of parents.

I will elaborate further tomorrow in a post on what I think the solution for the black/hispanic community must consist of. It will contain my thoughts on the lack of parental involvement among minorities and the most effective way to change it.

I am going to try my best to keep the blog updated. I have been ranting to my girlfriend, friends, co-workers and parents for the past few months. They haven't gotten sick of my ranting, but I need another outlet...so here I am, back in the blogosphere. ;)

Stay tuned to my blog, as I will be addressing the performance of not only Sam Houston, but also the middle schools and elementary schools that feed into Sam Houston. I will also be addressing my thoughts on what the Eastside community needs in order to improve its current situation. These and more thoughts will be presented in several blogs throughout the next few months.