Impact: Communication and Participation

District 5 Report: "Developing Parent-Teacher Teams," Spring 1968

Community Connections at Many Levels

Communication between parents and teachers - and at a broader level, schools and communities - developed in several ways with the structure of the Parent-Teacher Teams program. Some of these connections took place in individual classrooms, where parent educators used their knowledge of neighborhood and family life in Harlem to make students feel at home in school, and to inform teachers about particular needs or challenges that a student might face. Parent-teacher conversations were also built into the training process, which allocated one hour every week for teachers and parent educators to meet face-to-face. At the neighborhood level, parent educators moving between their homes, schools, churches, parks, and supermarkets carried information with them in both directions, keeping fellow parents appraised of what was happening in schools and informing teachers and administrators about the changing conditions of life in Harlem.

The Neatline map that accompanies this exhibit visualizes the presence of these new educators in the urban landscape and social geography of Harlem and the Upper West Side.

In the following clip, Shelvy Young-Abrams describes her own place in the community where she worked and how her social position made her effective as an educator.

Shelvy Young-Abrams: It was great because you have to understand, I lived in the community with them. When we shopped, we saw each other at the stores, so I had a very good rapport with the parents, the kids, the community at that time, you know. That's when you had local school boards, and they wanted their turf, they wanted this. But I had a very good working relationship with everybody, you know. Parents would come to me and ask me questions, or you know, if I say, "We're having a PTA meeting, would you come?" As a matter of fact, I was a PTA president at one point. I started as a PTA president, and that also helped. So I was fighting also for parents' rights and everything else, and I was one of the ones [to] say, "I've been there, and this is how you do X, Y, and Z."

The Parent Council: Highlighting Parent and Paraprofessional Needs

Parent-Teacher Teams was also designed to include a formal organ for parent participation in public schooling, the 12-member parent council. Officially, this council was intended to "advise" the District on the shape of the program, but what power parents had in this capacity was undefined. However, for many parents and community organizers, programs like Parent-Teacher Teams provided a platform from which to challenge authority figures. Mary Dowery, a social worker who started her career in Harlem (at the Salvation Army) before moving to work with paraprofessional educators on the Lower East Side, remembered this process of empowerment in an interview. As she put it, programs like those developed at HARYOU and Mobilization for Youth taught parents "how to confront authority figures. Don't be afraid, don't be intimidated. Be respectful and courteous, but don't take any crap!"

Early on, in the spring of 1968, the council gathered and issued an emergency statement (to the left). Their list of demands included better wages, job security, and formal certificates to acknowledge their participation in training. In the short term, it appears that the program was able to meet at least some of these demands, hiring paraprofessionals back for the summer and fall programs. 

Ultimately this trio of issues became rallying points for paraprofessionals across the city as they organized with the United Federation of Teachers, New York City's Teacher's Union, in 1969 and 1970. As discussed later in this exhibit, the combination of grants that funded programs like Parent-Teacher Teams often proved unstable. Making paraprofessional jobs permanent required citywide organizing.