Good article (although not all is true) form bad liberal paper (its true) okay response (although not all is true, also)

[ 03-02-2006, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Shawn ]

Thought you might be interested in the PTA's response to the Wall Street journal article:

www.pta.org/ne_press_release_detail_1141246553703.html

Particularly enjoyed this passage:

"Most schools have a parent group of one kind or another, but not all parent groups are the same. A parent group is not measured in dollars; it’s more than print and dot-com how-tos; it has a role greater than hosting bake sales."

While I suspect she may be attempting to backhandedly put-down some friends of mine (a certain company I'm fond of and about 60,000 non-PTA parent groups), she'll likely be surprised to learn that I agree with every word of that quote.

Tim

Fair enough. Couple of points:

1. Don't believe the author of the piece is on staff of the Wall Street Journal. I believe it was a contributed opinion piece. Disagree on how far off the article was (though I do think it's off in some places), but respect your opinion. And to clarify, I didn't call her a "wingnut". I said she "isn't a wingnut."

2. I wasn't quoted at all.

I think part of this site's role is as media-of-record of parent group goings-on. When one of the nation's largest and most influential papers includes an opinion piece like that about our little ol', often overlooked piece of the world -- it's newsworthy, in my opinion.

Tim

[ 03-02-2006, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: Rockne ]

Because someone is on staff for the Wall Street Journal certainly does not mean that this Rita woman is not a "wingnut" as Tim called her.

The story is a very one-sided account, why is Tim quoted, but not even a mention from someone at PTA being able to defend? Yes, I understand it is an opinion piece, but if you are going to quote people, the story should at least make an attempt to be fair.

PTA is not affiliated with NEA any more than PTOtoday is. We are all united in our support for issues that support education. Perhaps PTA has some policies that traditionally align with "the left", but only because they more often bring forth bills that support public money for public education. Because the national office of PTA hired someone from NEA doesn't mean a thing about the current connections, Tim, unless you want to make the connection to you and all your staff and every place they have ever worked as well.

Anyway, this is just another divisive article that is trying to split apart the good work that parents are doing all over the country. I don't know why we need to keep rehashing all the negatives instead of trying to help each other out with running our local groups.

Can't we all just get along and stop the slamming on each other in order to get attention? If we are really here for our kids, then let's be here for our kids and show a good example by supporting each other instead of tearing each other down.

This is from the free for all thread. kmamom posted this. I found it to be a good article. As I've said before, it depends which one is the right choice for your group. We are all in it for the kids.

I found this link--I'm not sure if this is the one Tim was talking about but:

www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008010

It's a basic rehash of the PTA bashing stuff. The article depends quite a bit on Charlene Haar--while she does her homework, she is also affiliated with Phyllis Schlaflay--an UBER right-wing kook.

On the whole it speaks the truth about the PTA--especially that it's strayed from the members who support it to address a much bigger political arena, but hey-- no one's perfect.

No demise of PTO Today.... as far as I know .

It was a long article about the PTA. The last section talked about PTO Today and PTOs.

Tim