PTA Creating ‘Pride of Ownership’ at School : Parent group launched at newest Santa Ana campus energizes community and classroom.

Getting drafted into office was the last thing Maria Teresa Tobar expected when she came to a kickoff PTA meeting last fall at the new Wallace R. Davis Elementary School.

With two daughters in second and fifth grades and plenty of work at home, Tobar figured she would make a good volunteer in the school’s nascent Parent-Teacher Assn. But treasurer?

“Least of all me,” Tobar said. “For me, that’s a lot of commitment. When they called on me, I was saying to myself, ‘What am I going to do?’ ”

What Tobar and her peers have done is launch a new PTA at one of Santa Ana’s newest schools and energize the campus and the community. Their story may hold lessons for parents at dozens of other Orange County schools without a strong PTA or similar group.

Starting a parent-teacher organization is not easy, even in neighborhoods that have a long record of school involvement.

There are usually a host of logistical tasks for people with little time: organizing, writing bylaws, electing officers, brainstorming activities, setting up bank accounts, reaching out to parents and--not least--raising money.

The rewards are not always tangible. It’s hard to see a direct connection between parent time invested in a school organization and improved grades or standardized test scores.

But Lillian French, principal of Davis Elementary, sees results already. The PTA here already counts 500 families as members in a K-5 school with 700 students.

“You see pride of ownership,” French said. “That’s very important. I see parents coming into the office area, feeling comfortable walking into the conference rooms. They have a box. They come in and check their box.”

When parents demonstrate interest in campus affairs, French said, it can pay off in student performance in the classroom and on homework.

Parents “are there because they want their children to see them there,” she said. “And the children understand that being in school is important.”

Davis Elementary, which opened July 1 in the shadow of this city’s signature “Education 1st” water tower off the Santa Ana Freeway, started with a strong base of parent interest.

The school’s mission was the focus last year of intense community discussion. Initial plans called for all-English teaching, in a neighborhood where most families speak Spanish. After much parent prodding, the Santa Ana Unified School District set up a bilingual program at Davis that seeks to give students equal parts English and Spanish.

When the school started, organizers said, there was no question that parents wanted a PTA. For one thing, French said, they wanted the clout that came from being affiliated with a state and national organization.

Another key was the liability factor: The state organization has insurance that covers its chapters if an accident occurs at a PTA-sponsored function.

The Davis PTA was so eager to get going that parents elected officers before they wrote bylaws, technically a no-no. They are rectifying it now.

On Sept. 16, the parent group sponsored a festival marking the independence day of many Latin American countries; they raised $1,200.

The group garnered about $900 from a Mexican-style posada celebration in December, in which students paraded through the neighborhood. It is also charging a $5 membership fee, a nominal amount that takes into account the modest income level of most parents. To date, the treasury has about $4,000.

The PTA officially discourages its chapters from making fund-raising the primary activity. And the unit at Davis Elementary is no different. What makes parents proud here was a PTA-led Thanksgiving food drive that assembled 30 baskets, each with a turkey and canned food, for needy families.

“Community outreach is our biggest thing,” said Jerry Wilhoit, a third-grade teacher and parent at the school who is vice president of the group. “We’re setting the tone for all future PTAs.”

In an interview at the school, the officers emphasized that their success has come from a policy of inclusion.

“The PTA is not just us,” said President Carla Leonardo, a mother of three. “It’s everybody. It’s all the families. We’re just representatives.”

Santa Ana historically has had low PTA participation, a record that organization and school officials attribute to linguistic and socioeconomic barriers. In a district with 47 schools, there were just 16 PTAs at the beginning of the year. Some had other parent groups unaffiliated with PTA.

But PTA officials report an upswing in membership. Kathi Jo Brunning, first vice president of the Santa Ana Council of PTAs, said seven schools were in the process of obtaining PTA credentials as of Jan. 1, including Davis, and two more had asked for information.

Brunning said that the biggest obstacle the PTA faces when organizing a campus is parent reticence--the bout of nerves that Maria Teresa Tobar confronted and overcame.

“It’s a cultural thing,” she said. “It’s kind of a new concept for the parents to really be involved at the site and have a decision-making capability.

“We’re working to allay some of those fears and to inform the parents how important it is to be involved at the schools.”

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PTA Tips

Here are some tips from the PTA on how to set up an effective parent-teacher organization:

1. Make fund-raising a support activity, not the primary mission.

2. Invest time. For the leadership, that could mean 10 hours a week; for others, one or two. Five or six people can lead a group. Ten, 20 or 30 are needed for short-term projects.

3. Run efficient meetings with a policy of open participation.

4. Create opportunities for parents to come to campus. Possibilities are ice-cream socials or school carnivals.

5. Remember, it’s for the kids. Every activity should be geared toward them.

Source: Barbara Ledterman, president of 4th District of PTA, Orange County.