An ‘A’ for Effort : Parents Juggle Schedules for Daytime Back-to-School Event

It took a 30-minute drive from Beverly Hills and someone willing to cover for him at work, but Gregg Aidikoff showed up to meet his son’s fourth-grade teacher Tuesday afternoon at Monlux School in North Hollywood.

“It’s important for my son to see me here,” said Aidikoff, a North Hollywood resident who runs a Rodeo Drive movie theater. “It’s important for the teacher to know I’m interested.”

Aidikoff and scores of other parents turned out for Monlux’s back-to-school “night,” an annual tradition that was bumped into the daytime this year.

Hundreds of campuses throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District have made similar switches because their teachers, faced with the threat of double-digit pay cuts, have refused to participate in after-hours activities in an effort to focus attention on their financial predicament.

Attendance at Monlux was down from the 300 parents who attended last year’s evening event.

Despite daytime scheduling difficulties, however, close to 200 mothers and fathers came to confer with instructors and check out classrooms spruced up for visitors.

“If we had it at night, we would’ve had a few more fathers,” Principal Naomi Suenaka said. “But it was pretty successful. I was surprised.”

Parents throughout the district have complained that the schedule shift shuts them out of participating in the school year’s first event designed to get them involved in the education of their children. At Monlux, many of the adults who came to hear about their children’s curriculum were able to attend only by slipping away from work for an hour or two or using a vacation day.

Gale McNeil left her downtown office and rushed over to Monlux to introduce herself to Ruth Ellen Anker, her daughter Arbynne’s sixth-grade teacher.

“I still wanted to make contact and let her know I’m interested,” McNeil said after listening intently to Anker explain recent classroom lessons on the presidential election, creative writing and Greco-Roman history. “I’d rather it be in the evening--this kind of cuts short my time with her.”

When McNeil received notice that Monlux was holding a back-to-school day, she called the school to confirm the time and came away dismayed. “What about the working mother?” she asked.

Had it been a nighttime event, she said, she would have “made it a fun evening,” coupling the classroom visit with dinner at a restaurant. But after hearing Anker’s presentation Tuesday afternoon, McNeil hustled out the door, anxious about getting back to work.

“Right now it’s not fun, because I have to go hit the clock,” she said.

For Henry and Roxana Villarreal, attending back-to-school day meant getting permission for a long lunch break from both their employers. Henry Villarreal drove from an East Los Angeles store to pick up his wife from her office in Burbank before arriving at Monlux.

“This hour is hard,” Roxana Villarreal said. “But I also understand the position of the teachers.”

Teacher Carolyn Akin-Myers said she was happy Monlux held a back-to-school day--some schools have opted to cut it out.

“In essence, I think we’d have more parent support if we had it at night,” said Akin-Myers as a dozen or so parents wandered through her room looking at student projects. But “I’m just glad we have one. It’s so important. And their being here tells me they value education.”