Why I Decided to “Run From the Floor” for the District-wide PTA Board

And Why We Are Asking Members of the JCPS Board of Education for Their Help

Dear JCPS,

Thank you for your time! My name is XXXXXX XXXXXXXX. I am a parent of students that attend XXXXXXX and XXXXXXX Middle. I am writing this letter to make you aware of circumstances involving the 15th District PTA. First, let me give you background information about myself.

• PTA President of XXXXXX Elementary for 2 Years
• National PTA Award of Excellence Award
• Raised over $25,000 that went to create different outlets that caused a shift in the minds of students as well as parents
• Served for the past 8 years on different SBDM Boards at XXXXX Elementary and XXXXXXXX
• Fellow of the GCIPL (Prichard Committee)
• Served on Head-start and Early Childhood Committee in Development of George Unseld Early Learning Center
• Zones of Hope Newburg
• Advocating for Parents in JCPS when needed
  

After seeing several posts on how help was needed in 15th District PTA, I decided that I was going to run to be a Board Member. I wanted to run so that I could go into the schools and help the PTA’s that had low parent involvement and struggling with raising money to get tools needed to help with children. I was notified by the Nominating Committee on a Thursday and was told that an interview had to take place on that same weekend. A weekend in which I already had prior engagements. I voiced my thoughts on how I was not available. But ended up receiving a call anyway because they had a deadline to meet.

The interview went really well from my standpoint and I even gave ideas because they said that they needed ways to get volunteers and I suggested a program that we had come up with at XXXXX Elementary that worked successfully.

That following week the nominating committee had chosen their slate and I wasn’t on the list. I started to think about things and I researched Bylaws and decided to run from the floor. I decided to run from the floor because the Board that was chosen by the nominating committee didn’t reflect the students that the Board represents. I made a post about running and then it became others who wanted to be involved and wanted to see change. We joined together and had people who had made a commitment to change for all children.

We all notified 15th District PTA about what VP Positions that we wanted to run in. We then all had an appointment with the President of the PTA and she spoke about the position and its expectations. I also was told on my call that the reason I wasn’t chosen by the nominating committee was that I had a business. In which, this threw me off because what does that have to do with my commitment to the position that I was applying for and how does a committee who didn’t even ask me about my business know what I can do and who I have behind me? At the time of the call, there were three African American women who all were running from the floor for VP2, VP4, and VP 5.

We all had kids that were in the same District (Area 4) but we knew that it wasn’t just our kids that we were advocating for it would be all kids. In the interview process, the conversation ended up being that we all should run in the same District in which we would all run against each other. We worked it out among ourselves so no one would run against each other. But when the Ballot came out and in the VP 4 Slot it was two of us running against each other. People were told when they showed up to vote, if anyone wrote on the Ballot to correct it the ballot was voided. Ten ballots were voided that night. I can’t help but wonder if they were efforts to correct the VP 4 situation.

I have tried to communicate with the District PTA prior to the actual election day and had a lot of unanswered questions. But I believe the thing that really got me is that the Ballot highlighted who they wanted on their Board versus us. We had questionnaires that we had to fill out and if you read those you would be surprised at how much we have been involved in advocating for children. But I wasn’t chosen because we do not fit into a box and I fight for children at all cost.

I am asking the Board to look into this election and how it was unfairly rigged. We are asking for an election that is not about who the Board Members are connected to but about who can make a great impact on the welfare of all children. Please look at how many members serve as the Head of a Local PTA, District PTA, and State PTA. If the same people are recycling positions how can we create change and how can change occur if they choose who they want and not allowing those who serve as members to choose?

In conclusion, I know that suppressing schools to have 5 Delegates per school to vote for an election and then the actual Board having access to those members is not right. It is sad to see so much going on for an organization about advocating for children.

The views expressed here are those of the author, submitted via email at moderator@dearjcps.com or via our open letter form. While the full name of the author has been withheld here, they are not anonymous to us. If a school board member would like to follow up on the content of this message, they may contact us via email to request a connection with the author.