Parental Assist : Education: With class size growing and dollars dwindling, helping out at local campuses has become a top priority in districts.

It was a busy day for Thousand Oaks attorney Susan Witting.

She hit the law office at 8 a.m., took a deposition in Century City at 10, raced back to Ventura County in the afternoon to pick up her children from school, and then spent five hours helping with a fund-raiser for her daughter’s junior high school.

Like many parents in the Conejo Valley, Witting struggles to balance profession and parenthood. But at a time when class size is growing and education dollars are dwindling, helping out at local schools has become a top priority.

“I am very concerned about the level of education these guys are getting,” Witting said of her two daughters, ages 10 and 13. “I want to make sure their education is the best it can be.”

The push is on statewide to get parents more involved in their children’s schooling, educators say. And a new law that went into effect Jan. 1 allowing mothers and fathers to take time off work to volunteer at school may make life easier for those trying to meet the obligations of parenthood and work.

The reason for emphasizing parental involvement is simple: A child’s learning is heightened by his or her parent’s participation in school, educators say.

“That has been studied over and over again and the conclusion is always the same: Children whose parents participate learn more,” Ventura County Schools Supt. Charles Weis said.

“When the important adult in your life shows by modeling that they are interested, kids put out more effort and do better,” Weis explained. “It is sending a message to kids that this is important.”

Parent involvement in Thousand Oaks schools is among the highest in Ventura County, largely because families have more money and more time to participate in school activities, educators say.

“It seems to flow with socioeconomic status,” Weis said. “East county seems to have more than west county.”

Weis said he visited more than 3,000 classrooms across the county last year and, although many parents in the west county help out, volunteerism seemed to be highest in the county’s eastern portion.

In recent years, Thousand Oaks schools have come to rely on parental support to maintain educational programs. Fund-raisers sponsored by the PTA pay for reading specialists and classroom computers.

And many parents volunteer in their children’s classrooms to fill a void left years ago when budget cuts eliminated instructional aides.

“There used to be more money for this type of thing, but it just isn’t there anymore,” said Pat Adams, principal at Madrona Elementary School.

“Everyone fully believes that the state should provide all of this,” she said. “But people know the money isn’t there and it has to come from someplace.”

Enter moms and dads.

“If there weren’t parents to do this, it wouldn’t be done,” said Emily Avery, a mother of two children at Madrona, who is expecting a third child in April.

Avery organized a jog-a-thon that generated almost $20,000 for the school last month, and she spends at least three hours a week volunteering as a class tutor.

She is one of between 125 and 175 parent volunteers at Madrona that school officials would be hard-pressed to live without. “If we did not have the parents, we would not have the program we have,” Adams said.

Conejo Valley students have consistently outperformed their peers in most other school districts on assessment tests, and educators attribute much of that success to parent participation.

“Where there is parent involvement and parent support, you’re going to have higher test scores. That is a given,” said Pat Grant, who taught, counseled and was a principal in Conejo schools for 22 years.

Many parents find class tutoring the most rewarding form of volunteerism. Though some teachers prefer not to use parent aides in the classroom, many welcome the extra help.

“I’d rather help in the classrooms than do anything else,” said Avery, who assists in her son’s fourth-grade class and volunteers a few hours each week in teacher Imelda Wagstaff’s second-grade class.

“She is a blessing,” an exhausted Wagstaff said last week, after her students darted outside. “With a classroom of 32, it is kind of difficult to do it on your own.”

Because Conejo Valley schools have the highest class sizes in Ventura County, teachers depend on parent volunteers to give students individual attention they often cannot provide.

But the level of parent participation fluctuates. Last year, Wagstaff had 12 parent volunteers in her class. This year, she only has five. “I am just thankful to have them,” she said.

Wagstaff’s students recognize the need for additional help too.

“She’s a great teacher,” 8-year-old Dayna Ross said. “(But) sometimes a lot of kids get on her nerves.”

Although most of the parent volunteers are stay-at-home mothers, many working mothers, fathers and even grandparents juggle their schedules to help at Thousand Oaks schools, educators said.

Charles Bucher, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, is among Wagstaff’s five volunteers this school year. He and his wife, Sandy, juggle work schedules to spend time in their daughter Jennifer’s class.

“I think it is a tremendous boost for your own child to see you there,” Bucher said. His 10-day-a-month work schedule allows ample time to work in the classroom, helping students with reading or math problems.

But many parents are not as fortunate. Some Thousand Oaks parents said they have sacrificed careers and tightened finances to spend more time with their children.

A former high school and community college teacher, Twila Cook decided to put her career on hold while her two young daughters are in school.

“My husband and I made a conscious decision to forgo the second income,” she said. “Rather than having the nicest cars and clothes, we try to devote more time to our family.”

Newbury Park parent Kathy Lakovich worked two jobs for more than a year to help pay for her son’s and daughter’s extracurricular activities at Newbury Park High School. She struggled to find the time to help with school events.

“It is hard because I have friends who are stay-at-home moms,” said Lakovich, who worked at a real estate office by day and waited tables at night. “It’s hard, because they have so much more time.”

As her children have grown up, finding ways to participate in their education has became more difficult, she said. To stay involved, Lakovich now volunteers as a football and cheerleading booster.

“At the elementary level, I was very involved in PTA and worked in the kids’ classrooms,” Lakovich said. “But the older they get, the harder it is to do that. Especially at the junior high level. Your kids don’t want you hanging around that much.”

Parent volunteerism typically is highest at the elementary level, and tapers off once students move into junior high and high school, educators say. But children benefit from parent involvement at any age.

“Obviously, when they are in elementary school, you are setting the foundation for their future--their study habits and how you interact with them,” said Mary Litzsinger, whose 15-year-old daughter, Karey, attends Thousand Oaks High School.

But as they get older, they still need to feel support from their parents, said Litzsinger, whose 18-year-old daughter, Courtney, is a student at Moorpark College.

Like Lakovich, Litzsinger has found new ways to stay involved with her daughters’ activities. She is the publicist for the high school band and color guard, in which Karey is a member, and follows the group to almost every performance.

“I’ve had a great time with my daughters as teen-agers,” she said. “You can’t go back on those years.”