How do parents participate in their kids' charter education?
Some charter schools require parents to sign a contract of what they're expectations are of the parent in terms of their involvement in the charter school. So at Partnerships To Uplift Communities, we have our parents sign a contract that basically states that they will have their children at school on time, that they will in some cases volunteer in the classroom at least once a year. In other cases, that they will sit and shadow their student for a day so that they can see what it's like to live the life of their child for that day. In other cases, we ask them to come and volunteer at fundraisers, or at student dances, or at different events that we might have. We cannot mandate our parents to do that, that is that there is no law regulation that says if you don't do this we can ask you to leave, that would be unfair, that would be unjust. But because we're a small community, the act that we have a contract, the act that we say "Please sign this" and then sit with them and explain it to them, really helps us to then engage them in wanting to do it. Many charter schools do that. Many charter schools sit with parents and say "This is what we expect of you." At the same time they also turn around and say "This is what you can expect from us and hold us accountable to these things". It's a mutual accountability piece that most traditional public schools don't have.
