PTA Searches for Ways to Recruit Ethnic Parents

As a child in Colima, Mexico, Maria Huato was taken out of school after the third grade because her parents “didn’t think ladies should be educated.”

Now, as president of the small but growing Parent-Teacher Assn. at Cerritos Elementary, where her three children attend, 38-year-old Huato is trying to recruit Latino and other immigrant parents into an organization she claims has brought her closer to education than she has ever been.

Those recruitment efforts will be among the issues addressed today at Wilson Junior High during a regional PTA conference expected to attract groups from 24 area communities. Two leaders of Wilson’s PTA, frequently cited as one of the most aggressive groups in recruiting ethnic parents, and others will discuss their techniques and successes as one of many topics on the conference agenda.

“Many people, they come here from other countries, and we really don’t know our rights and the rights of our kids,” said Huato, a Glendale homemaker, who eventually completed a sixth-grade education and took secretarial classes. “You find out all kinds of things when you go to these PTA meetings.”

In a school district that is increasingly dominated by ethnic students--mostly Armenian, Korean and Latino children--recruitment of ethnic parents into the PTA is considered vital for both the parents and the groups, PTA leaders say.

Armed with new strategies such as translators, bilingual newsletters and agendas that address gangs, drugs and ethnic tensions in schools, PTA units are trying to bolster their ranks and their representation by reaching out to ethnic parents.

PTA leaders, although they cannot cite specific numbers, said there are indications that their efforts have had some success.

Mary Ellen Jamison, Glendale’s PTA Council president, said membership has risen--from about 9,200 in 1987 to more than 10,600 this year--alongside a tremendous ethnic influx into the schools, where more than 69 different languages are spoken.

About 20% of the positions on the PTA Council are filled by ethnic parents. Several immigrants, such as Maria Huato, head individual school units, Jamison said.

“We’ve been aware of this influx for a couple of years, and being cognizant of the situation, we’ve had people working on it,” she said. “I think parents are seeing that they’ve got to become involved in their children’s education.”

But PTA leaders acknowledge that with the steady influx of ethnic students into Glendale schools--they now make up more than 65% of the district’s student body--there are many more parents who are not involved. A second problem, they say, is getting those who do join to participate and become group leaders.

With Huato, PTA was an easy sell. But the organization has not been wholeheartedly embraced by other immigrant parents, many of whom speak little or no English and fear the unfamiliarity of PTA’s traditions, leaders said.

“Obviously we need help from ethnic groups, because we’re a minority,” said Coreen Atkinson, president of a newly formed PTA at Jefferson Elementary, referring to white parents. Ethnic students make up more than 80% of the student body at Jefferson. “We’d like to see a combination that reflects the school’s makeup.”

PTA leaders also acknowledge that uneasiness felt by some members who want their groups to stay traditionally white may have slowed recruitment. School district officials generally agree that some parents are still adjusting to the ethnic diversity that swept the schools, particularly those in southern Glendale, as recently as five years ago.

“When we enter into our schools and into our communities, we’d like to say we’ll all be one happy family. But you and I know that’s not the case,” said Dora Ortiz, president of PTA’s First District, which oversees groups in 24 communities around Los Angeles.”Hopefully, in time, we’ll all come to a common ground.”

“There has clearly been an element of change, and when you say, ‘OK, we’re going to deal with it,’ the change can be frightening or upsetting,” said Anna Ganahl, a member of Wilson’s PTA. “A PTA’s going to have to reflect the school it represents, and here, that means we’re going to have to get multicultural.”

Many of Glendale’s individual PTAs have felt the effects of increasing diversity and are changing to attract, accommodate and reflect the ethnic makeup of the schools, PTA leaders say.

Some groups in southern Glendale--where ethnic change is most prominent--now offer Armenian-, Korean- and Spanish-speaking translators, who usually sit among small circles of parents to interpret the general discussion. Newsletters often are published in four languages. Asian and Middle-Eastern dishes sit alongside cupcakes at bake sales. Bits of cultural trivia, instead of prayers or poetry, are used as icebreakers.

Wilson’s PTA, said Jamison and others, has taken the lead in developing innovative strategies. A cultural diversity committee, the first of its kind among Glendale groups, was formed by the group last summer to interview ethnic students about their parents’ needs.

Armenian, Korean and Latino representatives were appointed to serve as liaisons to parent communities. Their roles, in fact, now include teaching Anglo parents what ethnic parents think about American education.

Before many meetings and events, immigrant parents are contacted by someone with the same ethnic background, through phone “trees” that encourage attendance. They receive much of the PTA’s correspondence--including bimonthly newsletters--in their own languages.

Wilson’s efforts, according to the group’s president, Annie Cassidy, have paid off: Membership has increased by a third this year. More ethnic parents are interested in leadership positions. Bake sales have become more exotic.

“Our PTA is now diverse. There’s no question about it,” Cassidy said. “By doing these things, we showed that we were interested and they were welcome. After all, we’re all mothers. And we’re all interested in our children.”

But the challenges haven’t ended with recruitment efforts. Many immigrants who have joined PTAs often are reluctant to participate or assume leadership positions, Jamison and others acknowledge. Ethnic groups tend to bunch together during meetings--partly because they have a common language barrier and partly because they share an uncertainty about mingling.

Many have been hesitant to join at all, and some have opted to form separate parent groups with similar goals. Anne Kim, a Korean immigrant who translates for new Korean members of Wilson’s PTA, said she has heard some Korean mothers suggest they start their own PTA.

“We try to encourage Korean mothers to get involved” with regular PTAs in the district, said Kay Kim, a member of Monte Vista’s Korean Club. “But sometimes it is difficult because they’re scared.”

But efforts to accommodate the differences have triggered dissatisfaction among some immigrant parents, who are anxious to blend in and learn English, Cassidy said. The group was considering providing some kind of electronic translation through headsets during meetings. But parents declined the offer, opting instead for the more personal approach of human translators.

The concept of PTA is not new to all immigrant parents, many of whom have been members or officers of parent groups in their own countries.

Anahid Sarkissien, an Armenian who recently immigrated with her family from Iran, helped her organization operate a holiday gifts store at a school in Tehran. Last Christmas, the mother of two volunteered for a similar project--at Jefferson Elementary.

But American-style PTAs present such a spectrum of challenges to immigrant parents that many may be reluctant to join or participate if faced with even minor cultural differences, said Sarkissien, who translates for Armenians in Jefferson’s PTA.

Anne Kim agreed. “After one meeting, parents asked me many questions about what foods to bring for bake sales or meetings, and how much,” she said. “When they were asked to write down their phone numbers, they were afraid because they didn’t know English. They weren’t used to parties. And the culture is very different. Over here it is more outspoken.”