What is your PTO doing to be more racially equitable? How are you reaching out to parents who donât speak English? How do people of different cultures and backgrounds know you want them to have an equal voice?
School parent groups are asking these questions, but the answers arenât simple. While the ethnic backgrounds of Americans and their children are ever more diverse, change in parent groups can be slow to happen because of cultural, historical, or sensitivity issues that have to be addressed.
Some robust conversations with leaders in PTO Todayâs PTO and PTA Leaders & Volunteers Facebook group and an expert on equity in education have pointed toward earnest paths for moving forward with inclusiveness within parent groups.
Adjust Thinking and Goals
If youâre thinking in terms of inclusion, itâs a fair and well-intended startâbut thereâs a difference between just âinvitingâ and true inclusion.
âBeing âincludedâ in a system that was not designed for your familyâs goals and edification is not a gift,â says Jennifer Malone, PTO copresident at Longfellow Elementary in Oak Park, Ill. âBe sure you ask what your Black and Brown families want to see and need to see change. Just inviting is not necessarily welcoming. People who are disenfranchised are not going to just show up unless they believe they will actually get a seat at the table.â
Allyson Criner Brown is the associate director at Teaching for Change, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that coordinates a variety of programs to encourage teachers, students, and parents to build a more equitable, multicultural society through education.
âInclusion and inviting are two different things,â she tells PTO Today. âThereâs a difference between saying you are invited and âthis has been created with you in mind.ââ
Instead, says Criner Brown, consider the big picture of how your parent group is structured. Not everyone uses email or can attend an evening meeting. Finding ways to encourage and engage those parents is a key step toward true inclusion.
âHow do your meetings look? How does your outreach look? How do you change these structures of your group? Thatâs when you get into real inclusion,â she says.
For Tonisha McNish Walker, PTA vice president at Dolphin Bay Elementary in Miramar, Fla., putting a focus on authenticity and building bonds leads to the type of inclusion that makes parents feel welcome in the group.
âIt has been my experience as a Black woman in America that no matter what organization I am a part of, when people are authentic everything falls into place,â she says.
Focus on Language and Communication Barriers
While many schools and groups have worked to overcome language barriers, others say theyâve had a hard time breaking through to non-English-speaking parents because of it. As well, whatever their primary language, some parents just don't use (or have access to) email, texting, or social media to communicate.
âThis is a subject Iâve been thinking about a lot for my school,â says Leah Fallon, PTA vice president at Frederick Douglass Elementary in Leesburg, Va. âWe have a diverse school with a large population of non-English speakers. I would love to get them on board and have a voice at the table.â
Itâs not easy, but itâs an important part of inclusion efforts. Even if you canât fully close the language gap, continuing to try to find ways to do so will let parents know you want them to have that voice.
If many parents speak a language other than English, add a bilingual parent liaison position to your board. You could also see an uptick in participation simply by finding bilingual parents or high schoolers in your community and asking them to wear a button to meetings that identifies them to non-English speakers. A button might say "Yo Hablo Español" (in English, âI speak Spanishâ) or convey the same message in another language.
Other steps toward overcoming a language barrier include offering culturally relevant materials, programs, and training that resonate with diverse populations of parents.
Criner Brown says that in terms of overall communication, some leaders donât realize that not every parent has access to email or texting, and that they need to find ways to reach those parents, too.
âStart with simple questions,â she says. âSay hi. Find out who they talk to. Thereâs always that trusted teacher⊠start a conversation with that person to get some insight to your approach.â
Create a Diversity Committee
Following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others, many companies across America have taken a deeper look at the issue of racial justice by forming in-house task forces or committeesâand some parent groups are doing the same. A diversity committee would be a forum for discussing communication strategies, planning culturally diverse events, and making other efforts toward equity and inclusion.
Some parent groups have used other models for creating spaces that promote idea-sharing. At Tyler Elementary in Washington, D.C., PTA president Elsa Falkenburger used a concept sheâd helped implement at her workââaffinity groupsââto give Black and Spanish-speaking families a safe and comfortable place to be heard and then to address issues that arise.
â[The groups] were pulled together after feedback from Black PTA parents in the fall that they needed a safe space to talk and share ideas and concerns,â says Sarah Bainton Kahn, PTA fundraising chair at Tyler Elementary. âIt took a few months to identify leaders and to get the groups meeting. They had only met a couple times before COVID but their input/readouts at the last PTA meeting we had were powerful. So even though ours was in a nascent stage Iâd highly recommend schools consider this model.â
Ask for Suggestions
Some parent groups have had gotten help with figuring out the types of changes that would be beneficial and positive from people of color on their school staff.
âWe just started collaborating with the director of the afterschool program (who's Black) to help engage more Black families,â says Heather J. in the Facebook group.
However, Criner Brown warns that while people of color on staff may have insights on racial dynamics at the school, asking them to lead or direct these efforts ultimately could place the onus on them. There is a delicate balance between asking them for solutions and inviting them to share any thoughts or suggestions to inform your school's approach.
Share Cultural Experiences
Getting families together to share different aspects of their culture can be another tool in building and strengthening relationships.
At the Howard C. Reiche Community School in Portland, Maine, where 29 languages are spoken and 22 countries are represented, it can be challenging to find the right event to bring the community together. For instance, some families arenât comfortable with auctions or evening social gatherings because of their religious or cultural beliefs.
But the PTO found a perfect fit with their annual multicultural potluck, a âwonderful, feel-good event thatâs made us proud of who we are,â says Jeanne Swanton, former PTO cochair and treasurer.
Other ideas include movie nights with subtitles in another language, bringing in speakers and performers to celebrate other cultures, and events that celebrate a particular culture or event, like Cinco de Mayo or Juneteenth. Ask parents with those cultural backgrounds or experiences to help plan and volunteer at the event, and donât charge for themâremember that your goal is to engage families.
Donât Give UpâIt Will Take Time
Recognize the fact that although you want to make changes and you have the right intentions, thereâs no âsilver bulletâ to convince people whoâve historically felt left out that they have an equal say, says Criner Brown.
âThe traditional model for parent engagement is built around a white, suburban, middle-class model that says parents can be fundraisers, chaperones, members of parent-teacher associationsâor come to parent-teacher conferences or back-to-school nights and read to their child at home,â Criner Brown says. âFor the families we work with, mostly low-income families of color, that is just not the most effective model.â
And with a system so historically oriented toward âthis is the way itâs always been done,â she says, there could be a disconnect between what groups say they want to change and people believing itâs genuine.
âIf [a group] doesnât get an immediate response for rolling out the red carpet, allow that it hasnât really been rolled out until 2020,â she says. âHave patience for hesitancy.â
Itâs also OK if not every attempt is perfect. Donât let a fear of not knowing exactly the words to use or steps to take keep you from trying to do better. The key, says McNish Walker, is to keep listening.
âSchools that have an all-white school community and donât know where to start need to start with listening. Listen to the people of color around them no matter how small the population is. How do they want to be represented?â she says. âOnce it is said, honor it. Donât over-speak and over explain, just allow them to be represented in their way. If they say they donât like certain terms, traditions and ideas, then get rid of them. No matter how embedded it may have become in a schoolâs tradition, once you realize that it offends a group of people, itâs time to do away with it.â
Over time, that kind of listening is what can lead to real change.
âIf youâre listening to gain experiences and build with themâŠItâs not always going to go right, but it is worth doing,â Criner Brown says.
Equity and Anti-Racism Tools
Teaching for Change Equity and Inclusion Tool
Teaching for Change offers a downloadable PDF designed to help parent organizations and leaders within those groups pursue equity and inclusion, and to disrupt practices that support racism, classism, and other âisms, whether intentional or unintentional.
Kindred
Kindred builds trusting relationships between parents of diverse backgrounds and supports them to work with school leadership to drive equity and diversity in their schools and communities.
National MultiCultural Institute
NMCI works with individuals, organizations, and communities to increase communication, understanding, and respect among people of diverse backgrounds, and addresses important systemic issues of multiculturalism.
Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance supports the efforts of Kâ12 teachers and other educators to promote respect for differences and an appreciation of diversity.
PTO Today also recently published a list of helpful links for talking with children about race, protests, violence, diversity, and activism in todayâs world.