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“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 Chapter Work

Still Engaging…Differently

Pitt-County
PPS of Pitt County In our Parent Engagement Program, we talk a lot about the difference in involvement and engagement. Both are great ways to connect with our children’s schools. Involvement entails doing things for the schools…like delivering orange juice for a monthly teacher breakfast. Engagement involves doing things with the schools…like chaperoning a field trip or reading to a class of students. Both involvement and engagement look a bit different right now, but both are still happening in full force. The community has donated diapers, food, household items, and more, all forms of involvement. Parents have attended teacher conferences,...
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Joann Mickens
In Joann's notes

Parents for Public Schools in New Book About Parent Leadership Impact

PPS  authored a chapter in the 2019 book, The Ripple Effect in Action: What 7 Parent Leadership Programs Learned from Participatory Evaluation. The project was coordinated by New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools.   Methods A team of Parents for Public Schools parent leaders and staff joined with parent leadership organizations nationwide to form the Parent Leadership Evaluation Network (PLEN). PLEN members received extensive training and coaching from Dialogues in Action in a participatory, qualitative evaluation process designed to elicit evidence of transformative impacts. Evaluation questions included: What kind and quality of...
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Joann Mickens
In Chapter Work

Chicago Regional Meeting “Eye Opening”

PPS leaders attending the PPS regional meeting in Chicago, IL on September 28 expressed appreciation for the opportunity to be encouraged and inspired in their efforts at home. At least one participant described the meeting as an “eye opening experience.” The theme, “Strengthening Our Network,” set the tone for major agenda items including Fundraising approaches, roundtable discussions about Diversity, Equity and Charter Schools, and insight about PPS’ new Strategic Plan. “I am so thankful for our donors who believe PPS makes an important difference in the education environment of our public school students and have given money to this organization...
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Joann Mickens
In Joann's notes

The 2020 Census: An Undercount Means Communities Miss Out on Money

The country is gearing up for the 2020 Census, set to begin April 1, 2020. For the first time, those responding to the Census will have the option of completing an online questionnaire. Recognizing that the online questionnaire will not be the best option for many, Census officials are geared up to use paper ballots and door-to-door canvassing as second and third options. The Census is a cornerstone of our American republic. James Madison argued vehemently in favor of including the census—known as the enumeration—in the United States Constitution. He meant for the official count of the population to be...
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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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