Scales helps increase PTAs

Since Jim Scales took over leadership of Hamilton County Schools in 2006, the district has added four PTA chapters, answering his call to increase parent involvement.

“I’ve always been passionate about PTA because we know that students do well in school generally when their parents are involved,” Dr. Scales said.

But 10 of the district’s 79 schools still are without official representation by the nonprofit parent-teacher associations, and next month is the deadline for organizing new chapters.

Lee Ann Hammer, the Hamilton County Council of PTA president, said a parent-teacher association is “not feasible” at Washington and Dawn schools, Hamilton County’s two alternative facilities. Clifton Hills Elementary School is working on a chapter.

“We’re working with Clifton Hills and hope they soon will have a PTA,” Mrs. Hammer said.

PTA, a child advocacy nonprofit, has organizations at the national, state and local levels. Members must pay yearly dues, typically $3 to $5, and each group must elect officers and establish bylaws.

The goal of PTA, Mrs. Hammer said, is to make sure every student in Hamilton County has an advocate.

Mrs. Hammer said she and other parent volunteers are working hard to get the seven remaining schools to form a PTA. They send their newsletter to the schools, invite them to council meetings and contact the principals to brainstorm ways to encourage PTA formation.

Through their efforts, Mrs. Hammer, who is serving the first year of her two-year term as president, said she hopes all schools will have an active PTA in the near future.

“Over the last two years with Dr. Scales supporting PTAs, we’ve had more coming to our meetings. He helps us be acknowledged,” she said. “I’m very confident that we’ll get (the remaining schools signed up) if we continue with the support we’ve been receiving.”

Increasing the number of parents who take an active role in their child’s education will in turn make the community more invested in local schools, Dr. Scales said.

In addition to offering a student and a teacher scholarship and national student contest opportunities, PTA members often organize school fundraisers and serve as volunteers.

Jill Levine, principal of Normal Park Museum Magnet School in North Chattanooga, said last summer’s $50,000 renovation of her school’s library would have been impossible without countless hours spent by parent volunteers who are painters, contractors and interior designers.

Many of the schools that have no PTA have a high minority population, the audience Dr. Scales said he most wants to target.

“We need to get Hispanic and African-American parents more involved (in PTA),” he said. “We need to be more inclusive.”

Emily Baker is principal of East Side Elementary School, where 43 percent of students are Hispanic and nearly 52 percent are black. East Side does not have a PTA, and although Ms. Baker said she would appreciate having one, it is more important to her to have parents who read to their children at home and get them to school on time.

“There’s a very narrow definition of parent involvement in a community,” she said. “Unless you can show me a study that shows making copies raises student achievement, I could care less to have parent volunteers.”