he liveliest spot on Alaska's Kodiak Island on Friday nights is the middle school gym, where Filipino, Asian, Latino, and Caucasian 12- and 13-year-old kids devour nachos, gab, and listen to music for two hours under the watchful eyes of Robin Cassidy, PTA President.

"I guess it's one of our main PTA programs," Cassidy reflects, sounding almost surprised. "It's a warm, safe, clean place. Kids-usually over 100-that come stay the two hours we're open, and their parents know where they are."

Kodiak is a small, remote island where one-third of the children qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches. Children of workers at the fish canneries and the naval base attend elementary schools where, because of geography, they are separated by race. Funneled into one middle school, they create a melting pot that occasionally bubbles with hormonal tension. Where wholesome alternatives are limited, the PTA Friday Night Live programs provide space for kids to have fun and get to know one another.

Cassidy, who is also an Alaska PTA Vice President, is typical of the new generation of PTA leaders in the Northwest: She's an advocate for children who responds creatively to kids' specific needs in her community.

The National Congress of Parents and Teachers was founded 100 years ago as a feisty advocacy group that fought hard to establish public kindergartens, a national health bureau, and better marriage, divorce, and child labor laws. Its threefold mission was to speak on behalf of children, to help parents develop the skills they need to take care of their kids, and to encourage public involvement in public schools.

But in the years between 1960 and 1990, PTAs lost their edge. Membership plummeted. In Montana, alone, numbers fell by two-thirds.

MORE THAN COOKIES AND CARNIVALS

"Now PTA is coming full circle back to its original mission, and coming into its own as an advocate for all children," says Martha Rice, Legislative Chair for the Lewis and Clark Middle School PTA in Yakima, Washington. "We still struggle with the 'cookies and carnivals' mentality, but that is slowly changing."

Dian Anderson, President of the Oregon PTA, agrees. "At our trainings, we tell people we're not the fund-raising arm of the school. They say, 'We're not?'

"So things happen differently now. In Springfield recently, a school in a poor neighborhood badly needed a playground," Anderson says. "In the past, everyone would have expected us to raise the money. Instead, PTA involved the whole community, including the Parks Department, businesses, and the city. PTA members were the thinkers, but they weren't, themselves, the money."

Paula Pawlowski, President of the Alaska chapter, has a "three-to-one rule" that she applies to fund-raising efforts. For every single fund-raising event, the PTA sponsors three enrichment programs. Otherwise, she fears, they'll become a coffee-klatch organization again.

Pawlowski's interest in PTA was originally sparked by former national President Joan Dykstra's challenge to local units to make school equity their issue. "You can't have the PTA in one neighborhood raising money for a fantastic playground when a few miles away you have a school that has none," says Pawlowski. "Money should only be raised to help you achieve your goals-which implies that you have to set them. Not everybody is comfortable with this advocacy approach, but those who are, often end up as PTA leaders."

The threats to children requiring advocacy have, of course, changed a great deal since 1897. "For one thing," notes Dian Anderson, "we've had to become advocates on behalf of public education-to actually defend the concept. There's been a trend from the conservative right in the last few years to attack it in a variety of ways."

Anderson believes the move toward charter schools and vouchers falls under this heading. "Public dollars belong in public education," she says, "and these are ways to siphon off money for private schooling."

Idaho PTA, whose members are creating a marketing plan for public education, faces similar issues. In Twin Falls, parents who home school want to start a charter school with limited enrollment, which sounds a lot like a private school to PTA president Brenda Miller. "All schools should have the choice to do what's best for their community," argues Miller, "but there are ways to do that now within the system, with waivers, site-based councils, and so on."

ENCOURAGING PARENT PARTICIPATION

Yet even for parents who do believe in public schools, involvement may be difficult. With many mothers working and more single parents, time to participate in their children's education becomes a luxury fewer parents can afford.

In addition, schools today draw children from a rainbow of ethnicities. In Yakima, Washington, for example, half the population has ethnic and cultural roots outside the mainstream, mostly Hispanic. In other areas of Washington, recent waves of immigration from the fractured Soviet Union and from Asia have brought populations that, according to Michelle Anciaux, Parent Involvement Coordinator for that state, "haven't had the experience of joining in organizations like PTAs, and may not share the ethic of volunteering."

In Yakima last year, PTA tailored programs to interest Hispanic parents. The programs addressed drug and alcohol abuse and prevention, gang involvement, and self-esteem. Events were translated, and attendance and participation were good. From time to time, bilingual Hispanic parents have also joined the PTA board, but, says Rice, "we still have quite a ways to go."

All PTAs in the region struggle to make involvement easier. In Oregon, Anderson is working on breaking tasks down. The PTA holds as few as four or five meetings a year, all featuring speakers who address community needs.

In Alaska, Pawlowski has taken unusual steps to fit in with parent schedules. "Evenings are too busy," she says. "We meet at 6:45 a.m. over coffee and donuts, and we keep it short. It works-we've had to bring in extra chairs." Pawlowski conducts board meetings on a chat line or by teleconferencing, and communicates by e-mail with units around the state. She uses the PTA newsletter as an educational forum to discuss issues that once might have taken up meeting time.

Interest in PTAs is rising, but many local units still struggle to find the best ways to draw in over-extended parents. Some employ strategies like giving out "warm fuzzies" that one official referred to unofficially as bribes.

Washington's Anciaux recommends a different approach. "If you build a credible organization and provide services that instill a sense of value, people will join," she says. The Washington PTA is the only one in the region to have a paid staff member; Anciaux works full time to draw parents in. Her committee offers seminars on advocacy to local PTAs and other organizations, and holds an annual summit for parents, students, educators, administrators, businesses, and others. Participants develop concrete ways in which parents can intervene to secure the kind of education they desire for their children.

PTAs in the Northwest have also collaborated with schools to create onsite Parent Resource Centers. There, parents can browse through books and other resources on parenting, find activities for the whole family, or take classes. "In Missoula, the centers tend to be located in lower-income areas," says Jean Curtiss, Montana PTA President. "Parents who won't cross the school threshold for anything else come for that."

EDUCATIONAL REFORM

New forms of parental involvement have also been a component of educational reform measures percolating through the Northwest. These reforms have been most sweeping in Washington and Oregon, where statewide standards for performance-based learning have been instituted. In addition, site-based management councils have been formed to include teachers, parents, and other sectors of the community in decisionmaking on school policy, including curriculum and hiring-although the power and influence of the councils is not always clear.

After participating in a school site council for two years, Laurita Barth, PTA Regional Director for Oregon's Lane and Douglas counties, describes them as "wonderful." Says Barth, "We had good parent involvement and equal representation."

Surveying the statewide picture in Oregon, Anderson is less enthusiastic. "Here, they are required to have only one parent per council, although many schools choose to increase that, and many members are involved," says Anderson. "When well run, site-based councils can be positive; otherwise, they become a vehicle for the school principal."

The Washington PTA was involved in reform from the beginning. When statewide school improvement measures were being discussed in the Legislature, PTA led focus groups around the state to discuss them.

Taking an up-front, visible, advocate's role is not always easy or comfortable. "In the process, we got slashed by a very well-organized opposition," says Carol Lockett, Washington PTA President from 1993 to 1995. "These people were convinced that 'performance-based' education meant a dumbing down of instruction, when the whole purpose of it was to expect more and get more from our kids. When these people were in the audience, we got nowhere; elsewhere we had good discussions with parents."

Parental involvement was Lockett's passion during her presidency. "During our annual convention in 1993, the Legislature was voting on (educational) reform," she says. "We had cell phones available for delegates to call their representatives. It was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen. When the governor signed the bill, he gave the pen to our president, acknowledging the astronomical amount of work we did to bring that about."

Education reform legislation in Washington has transformed the ways in which schools do business, and the ways in which parents and others interact with schools, Lockett says. "There's been a groundswell of interest among parents. They feel the doors are finally open to them, and teachers who never knew how to involve parents are finally getting trained."

In Alaska, instead of sweeping legislative reform, smaller initiatives by the governor and the Alaska Coalition for Education are being discussed. Meanwhile, site-based councils have been voluntarily adopted by several districts. Pawlowski finds they've worked better for teachers and principals than parents. She agrees with Oregon's Anderson that in the hands of a strong principal, councils are reduced to puppet organizations.

Pawlowski prefers the research-based Joyce Epstein model, which conceptualizes six types of parental involvement: collaborating in the community, volunteering, parenting, communicating, decisionmaking, and learning at home. It offers a framework for evaluating how effectively the PTA is intervening in each of the six areas. Districts or schools may adopt this model, which counts the Juneau School District among its adherents.

PTA in Alaska is also becoming involved in teacher evaluation. A new state law requires more stringent evaluations that include parental input. At the same time, a new licensing system is being developed that will also involve parents. These measures have been controversial, but PTA has taken the lead on several fronts. In Anchorage, for example, the PTA proposal was the basis for the new evaluation system adopted.

In Idaho, the state education board and the Legislature are looking at creating exiting standards. "Much of the leadership in the state is leery that national standards might be imposed on us," says Brenda Miller. "And the PTA is leery of standardized state testing. We want other aspects of a child's performance evaluated, too."

Optional in Idaho, site-based councils have been adopted in some cities like Boise, but less often in rural areas. The state PTA supports councils, but hasn't been active on the issue. However, several local PTAs were instrumental in applying for federal money to set up innovative schools stressing computer use. The Pioneer School in Meridian boasts five computer terminals in each classroom, and Internet access from third grade on. The school, with PTA blessing, is also experimenting with a year-long calendar.

In Montana, a move toward uniform standards, backed by the governor and superintendent of public instruction, was defeated in the Legislature, despite wide disparities across the state. Site-based councils have been voluntarily adopted by some districts and schools, but hold little power, says Jean Curtiss. However, Montana-with PTA assistance-leads reform in developing an integrated approach to teaching math.

COPING WITH EDUCATIONAL CUTS

Although the extent of reform varies over the region, securing adequate funding remains high on everybody's agenda. "It requires constant vigilance," says Pawlowski. Equity continues to be a major concern for the Alaska PTA. "When I visit schools in the bush here, and they have no flush toilets, I know we can't lobby for more money for urban schools until we have necessities everywhere," Pawlowski says.

Most Northwest PTAs actively lobby their state legislature and publicize local levies for funds for education. "We don't like cuts no matter what they are," says Oregon's Barth. "We're advocating for children and we don't go away."

Funding cultural enrichment programs has long been a staple of PTA activity, and remains so today. But as school budgets shrink, some units are feeling pressure to fill the gaps. Parents are asking themselves how much of the fund raising burden should fall on PTA shoulders. They also are questioning whether fund-raising activities should pay for essential programs.

In Juneau, for example, at least $5,000 of the elementary school PTA budget funds a "Naturalist in the Schools" program to supplement the science curriculum. Many parents, though, argue that the district should bear the cost, says Wendy Cwiklinski, past President of the Auke Bay Elementary PTA. Pawlowski agrees: "If we are asked to pay for the buses for a school trip, we have to ask if the trip is a necessity or an enrichment. Making the distinction isn't easy, but necessary trips should be paid for by the school."

STANDS ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES

With funding cuts, PTAs and other organizations have become creative at finding other ways to bring resources into the classroom. Grants and gifts are two options. Commercial sponsorships are also increasingly appearing, but they alarm some parents. Brita Butler-Wall, parent of a Seattle eighth-grader, became concerned in 1996 when her district resolved to sell advertising space inside schools. Butler-Wall raised the alarm, and the Seattle PTA lobbied against it. Although the school board had already approved of advertising in the schools, the decision was quickly rescinded when parents voiced opposition.

Meanwhile, the PTA had gained a reputation as an advocate on the subject. When the superintendent of schools wanted an audit of advertisements already in the schools, he turned to the association for help. "We found the schools already full of commercialism," says Butler-Wall. "The environment is very attractive to advertisers; kids are a captive audience there."

Of particular concern to Butler-Wall is Channel One, the broadcast program that provides TV monitors to schools in exchange for the promise that 90 percent of students will watch their daily 12-minute programs containing two minutes of commercials.

Observing in her daughter's classroom, Butler-Wall noted that the teacher didn't watch with the kids, or teach about the material. "There were 25 eighth-graders who mostly ignored the program, but all their little heads swiveled around to watch when the ads came on," says Butler-Wall. "It doesn't make sense to advertise sneakers costing $140 to poor kids, or worry about kids having off-the-wall energy and then flash ads for Pepsi at them."

Butler-Wall is sympathetic with teachers who, strapped for resources, accept materials offered by commercial sources. "But," she says, "most parents are unaware that the teachers use these things without being critical. I saw lesson-plan material published by a major candy manufacturer in which the food pyramid was topped by chocolate!"

Other districts have been concerned with how children are effected by television. The national PTA produced materials on critical viewing for parents, which several PTAs have circulated.

In Montana and Oregon, ballot initiatives for "Parental Rights and Responsibilities" alarmed parents. "It's essentially the right to sue over just about anything," says Anderson. "If teachers expressed concern about potential child abuse, they could be sued. If a school didn't offer a class someone wanted, they could sue. It would undercut all existing procedures." PTAs took stands against this initiative, and the measure was defeated.

The Oregon PTA adopted a controversial measure several years ago against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The state PTA lost a few members, but Anderson finds that the controversy clarified the organization's values. "Now we automatically know we can't support any legislation that discriminates," she says.

Montana PTA fought until 1991 to make spanking in schools illegal, only to have it proposed again last year. With PTA on the front lines again, the measure was defeated.

Also in Montana, the PTA helped institue sexuality education; more recently it worked to bring education on AIDS/HIV to the community as part of the health curriculum. The Idaho PTA Health and Safety Committee has also tackled this issue with a five-year project to educate parents inside and outside the PTA about HIV.

KEEPING KIDS SAFE

Safety concerns all parents, but the threats to children come from different sources across the Northwest. In Idaho, in addition to HIV, concerns for safe school crossings and busing loom large.

In Montana, the PTA and state superintendent collaborated on a "Kids Council on Good Character," a forum to learn what children thought about good character and encourage them to adopt values that will keep them safe. Nearly 600 students from grades three through eight across Montana were involved, and some were chosen to write public service announcements for TV and radio.

Ann Bisgard, chair of the Washington PTA Safety Committee, reports that safety hazards vary widely even across her state. "Here in Walla Walla, programs on irrigation pipes, combines, and electric fences would be a hit; not so in Seattle," she says. Rather than develop a new set of programs, Bisgard coordinates and publicizes information on existing resources.

Dangers in Alaska arise from coping-inside and outdoors-with severe and extended winters. "Because we spend nine months inside every year, and our buildings are so well insulated, we have tremendous problems with indoor air quality as well as with wood smoke outside," notes Pawlowski. The PTA recently sent a representative of its Health and Safety Committee to Washington, D.C., for training in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues such as air and water quality.

"We also have one of the highest rates of tobacco and alcohol use, and there's a problem with sniffing-usually gasoline-in the bush," Pawlowski says. "We need to educate about these things village by village where we often don't even have PTAs. Snow machines and four-wheel vehicles, necessities out there, present hazards, too. And hypothermia is a real danger."

Bonnie Schaeffer, first Vice President of the Alaska PTA, lives in the tiny hamlet of Kotzebue, south of the Brooks Range. "Last year we had our main street paved here, and now everyone walks, plays, and rides bikes there," she says. "We'll have to educate people about how to cross the street safely."

From Kotzebue to Klamath Falls, the PTA in the Northwest is gaining membership and momentum again, and tackling ever broader issues, including the reform and funding of education, commercialism in schools, and threats to children's safety. Parents are returning to the PTA because they find it an effective forum to fight for their children's needs, one that combines national support with the flexibility to adapt to local conditions, note PTA leaders and members.

On Kodiak island, Cassidy surveys the shifting scene of preteens on the gym floor. She remarks that the local high school has no PTA. Soon, however, her child will be graduating from middle school. "I guess we'll have to start a high school PTA then," says Cassidy. "This group of parents has learned too much to stop now."

Maya Muir is a Portland-based freelance writer and editor.

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