“I have really enjoyed PPS's training and what I have learned I can apply to my job. It helps me understand how to work effectively with parents. ”
-PPS PEP Graduate
Joann Mickens
In Joann's notes

First Moon Landing Memory

The commemoration of the first moon landing has taken me back to a time when the United States’ explorations into space filled me with wonder. I remember being in elementary school and learning about Sputnik, the Soviet Union’s satellite (a new word for my 6-year old brain) launched into space.  The space race was on, and President Kennedy — a man with a glamorous aura and inspiring words —  announced the United States would not only go into space, but go all the way to the moon! We were going to beat those Russians: they might have been first in...
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In Public School Proud

Educating Communities, Stimulating Hope

This is the final of two features about PPS National’s Community Coordinators. These unsung heroes work within communities to help citizens understand how to influence positive change in the places that they call home. Becky Glover came to work for PPS in 2009 at a time when she was “growing frustrated and weary with folks talking about public schools, but not actually doing anything hands-on and effective to strengthen or improve them.” Her son graduated from a public high school that same year. Becky’s family had experienced great benefits by being a part of the public schools over the years:...
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In Guest Blog

Brown v Board of Education: A Divided Legacy?

An Interview with former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Fred Banks, Jr. This article is based on an Interview with former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Fred Banks, Jr. Currently, Judge Banks is a senior partner in the Jackson, Mississippi office of the Phelps and Dunbar law firm — established in New Orleans, LA in 1853, with offices across the Gulf Coast, Raleigh, NC and London, England. Fred Banks, Jr. was in middle school in Jackson, Mississippi at the time of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision in 1954 (subsequent references: “Brown v. Board”). Years later (1968), he...
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In Public School Proud

Empowering People to Transform Their Communities

This is the first of two features about PPS National’s Community Coordinators. These unsung heroes work within communities to help citizens understand how to influence positive change in the places that they call home. Chiquikta Fountain worked as a Parents for Public Schools Parent Coach for five years before becoming a PPS Community Coordinator. The new position meant working within communities to educate people about how to help improve their community’s standard of living. At first, the job was not exactly what she had in mind, to say the least. Chiquikta admits that the job had to “grow on her,”...
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In Chapter Work

PPS of Pitt County Provides Special Workshop to Prepare Kindergarten Parents for School

Each year around January and February, a special group of parents begin to call and email Parents for Public Schools of Pitt County. The conversation usually begins with something like, “I can’t believe the time has come!” or, “How did my baby grow up so fast?” These parents have questions about kindergarten, such as how to register their child, when and how to know which school their child should attend, and, how to navigate the school choice option in Pitt County (where some schools have an Open Enrollment policy). Thankfully, as those calls and emails begin to roll in, PPS...
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In Chapter Work

Working for Education Funding and Equity

All Parents for Public Schools chapters share a mission of supporting quality public education for everyone. The context of the Hawai‘i chapter is different in a few ways. Hawai’i is the only state with one school district, the only one that does not fund public schools with property taxes, and Hawai‘i has the highest private school enrollment in the country. Hawai‘i also ranks 45th in per student funding and has the lowest teacher pay (adjusting for the cost of living) and highest teacher turnover. This school year, over 1,000 classrooms are without a qualified teacher. Native Hawaiian students are more...
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In Chapter Work, Public School Proud

Pitt County Economic Sector Reps Unite to Show Students Their County’s Career Options

Grow Local A subtitle goes here Great things happen when communities unite their resources! Pitt County Schools, the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, and the Pitt County Development Commission joined forces to sponsor Grow Local, a weeklong opportunity held March 18-22 for local businesses to highlight the careers available to the county's middle and high school students. Kathy Herring, board member of the Pitt County PPS, served on the planning team, providing input as organizers designed an event they hoped would engage 1,000 students with businesses across the county. They were thrilled that almost 3,000 students participated, taking advantage of...
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Joann Mickens
In Public School Proud

Congrats, Former PPS San Francisco Executive!

Courtesy NYC Department of Education. Hydra Mendoza, a founding member and former executive director of the San Francisco Parents for Public Schools Chapter, is now deputy chancellor for Community Empowerment, Partnerships and Communications at the New York Department of Education! We at PPS couldn’t be happier for her! She is featured in the Asian Journal. Check out her continuing story of helping empower parents and communities to positively influence children’s education!
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Joann Mickens
In Public School Proud

MS House Education Committee says No to Voucher Expansion

The members of the Mississippi Legislature’s House Education Committee, headed by Chairman Richard Bennett, should stand and take a bow. We applaud each of you for allowing Senate Bill 2675 to die quietly, without it even being considered by the committee deadline on March 5. Great Job!!! We at Parents for Public Schools couldn’t be more delighted! Senate Bill 2675, introduced by Sen. Gray Tollison, amounted to a voucher program, and would have expanded the Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program dollars for public school students with disabilities to include footing the bill for private school student education. Sen. Tollison’s bill...
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Joann Mickens
In Public School Proud

Public School Supporters Like Becky Goff

Parents have the absolute right to choose the education institution they believe is best for their children; they do not have the right to pilfer public tax funds to pay for that choice. Thank you, Ms. Goff, for your unequivocal support of public education in your letter to the editor, “A head’s up for public schools in Tennessee”.  Thank you for not flying the banner of “school choice,” under which we see the continual erosion of funding for our public schools. We at Parents for Public Schools (PPS) are also unequivocal in our support for public education and in our...
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