My favorite paragraphs?
Yet even Korach will admit that the one major issue with relying on parents to help pay for school essentials is that it exacerbates inequities that already exist between well-off school districts and those with lesser means. "We're not naive," he says. "You couldn't do what we do in other communities."Can a PTA Bake Sale Save a Teacher's Job?
Randi Weingarten, longtime head of the New York City teachers union and now president of the American Federation of Teachers, has long seen schools beg parents for additional help, handing out lists of classroom supplies that need to be purchased. To ramp that up would only "punctuate the haves and have-nots," says Weingarten. "It leaves the nagging feeling of, What does that mean for kids whose parents aren't able to fundraise like that?"
Update as reported in the NYTimes:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/nyregion/26aides.html
NYC parents will be able to pay for extra aides in the classroom, although the principals will need to account for the extra labor.