San Juan PTA--a Class Act : Johnny, Martha Diaz Spur Active Involvement of Latino Parents

As co-presidents of the San Juan Elementary PTA, Johnny and Martha Diaz have forged a new frontier in parent involvement at San Juan Elementary School--at the most recent back-to-school night, about 75% of the students’ parents showed up.

Getting parents involved in the Parent-Teacher Assn. has never been an easy task, but in a school whose students are primarily Latino, this has been a challenge. For a long time, the number of Latino parents who participated in the San Juan Elementary PTA was small.

But since the Diazes assumed the presidency in September, 1991, Latino parents have greatly increased their participation in school events. Of the 85 to 100 parents who attend PTA meetings, nine out of 10 are Latino.

“They’ve revitalized the PTA at the school. They’ve more than filled a vacuum,” said Michael Hoy, principal at San Juan Elementary. “Parent involvement is probably the most critical element to the students’ success. I attribute most of the increase in parent involvement to the Diazes.”

The Diazes are part of a small but growing group of Latino parents who are playing an active role in their children’s education by becoming involved in the PTA. However, the San Juan Elementary PTA is an exception, rather than the norm.

Although Orange County has a large Spanish-speaking population, Latino parents have been almost nonexistent in PTAs. Of the estimated 200 PTAs in the county, only about 22 have Latino presidents.

“I think it’s a severe underrepresentation,” said Juan Lara, director of the Educational Opportunity Program at UC Irvine. “If (Latino parents) group, they can exact an accountability out of the school and quality of education of the school.”

Lara, who has taught for 25 years at every level from elementary to graduate school, believes that there is a direct correlation between the number of Latino parents who participate in PTAs to the number of Latinos who graduate from college.

“This is a goal that we have had, to get more minorities to step forward. It is a continual effort on our part to encourage minorities to participate,” said Sheila Benecke, president of the Fourth District PTA, which oversees all the PTAs in Orange County.

Some Latino leaders believe that the PTA should be doing more to attract minority parents.

“If schools want to engage parent participation, they really have to mold the organization around the parents and their working lives,” Lara said. “It’s a question of will on the part of the school. By not increasing the participation, they keep the parents ignorant.”

The Diazes are the third Latino PTA presidents at San Juan Elementary, but they have been the first to create such an overwhelming response from Latino parents, Hoy said.

One of the first things they did was to organize a back-to-school night specifically geared for Latino parents. Conducted in Spanish, “Noche de Padres” (Parents’ Night) introduced Latino parents to the U.S. educational system and to the PTA.

“Latino parents do want to participate. They do want to help, but they don’t know how to go about it. They’re scared of the American educational system because they don’t know how it works,” said Martha Diaz, who was a registered nurse in Mexico before she came to the United States about 15 years ago.

Another event which has helped increase Latino participation at San Juan Elementary is the “Ninos Bien Educados” (Well-Educated Children) workshops.

Also conducted in Spanish, the 13-week, once-a-week workshops teach basic parenting skills, from discipline to how to help children with their schoolwork.

“There are parents who have never gone to school, yet they’re sitting there with a notebook in hand,” Martha said.

Part of the problem in getting Latino parents involved is the big socioeconomic gap between the different groups living in San Juan Capistrano. While some families earn more than $100,000, others are living below the poverty level.

According to the 1990 census, the average per-capita income for someone living in San Juan Capistrano is $24,797. But for Latinos, that figure drops to $8,883.

As the owner of San Juan Upholstery, Johnny Diaz said that, like anybody else, he struggles to make time for his two children, Viviana, 14, and Johnny, 8.

“I have to give my children priority. I know sometimes I neglect my business, but it’s important to set aside at least one minute a day for them,” Johnny Diaz said.

One of the main challenges for the San Juan Elementary PTA has been not neglecting the white parents.

“How do we make sure that everybody is equally included and everybody is equally comfortable? That is the challenge of the year, but that’s a better challenge to have than have the problem where one group attends and the other doesn’t,” Hoy said.

The Diazes have tackled that problem by conducting PTA meetings in both English and Spanish. However, Martha acknowledges that this takes a lot of time and sometimes people get impatient.

“We could hold separate meetings, but that defeats the purpose. We want to work together,” Martha said.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has set up a program specifically geared to educate Latino parents about their rights and responsibilities in the educational system. The Parent Leadership Program is designed to get more parents involved in their children’s education through such organizations as the PTA.

“When the school is receptive to working with the Latino parent, then the Latino parent will want to participate,” said John Palacio, leadership program director of the Orange County MALDEF.

Latino leaders and educators agree that as the demographics in Orange County change, schools and PTA officials have to actively encourage Latino parents to participate.

“I think it’s important not just on a little school level, but on a national level. The school reflects the demographics of the Southwest for the next 25-50 years,” Hoy said. “Now, we have to get current PTA leaders to groom others for a leadership role, so that we have other Johnnys and Marthas ready to take over.”