Letter to the Editor: Parents, be involved

I haven’t attended school in more decades than I care to think about, and I don’t have any kids in the Newton School District, but I read the recent article about the report on the conditions at Berg Middle School, and since I am a resident of Newton I figure I might as well throw my two cents into the mix.

This report, which came from a focus group consisting of students, school staff and administrators, points out some serious problems at Berg. There weren’t to my knowledge any such focus groups back when I went to Berg, but the problems this group exposed are most likely the same types of problems that existed then. Maybe they didn’t seem as bad then as they do now because back then they weren’t reported as often.

So what is the solution?

I have spoken to teachers I have known throughout the years and they all tell me that if parents would show up to parent/teacher conferences, become more active in school organizations such as the PTO, or visited their kids schools, went to school events and actually spoke with teachers and staff, maybe just a couple times a year, some of these problems might not become as big as they tend to become.

That’s maybe one solution that might make a difference, there are probably others. I only know what teachers have mentioned to me. And those teachers have also told me what is not the way to fix these problems, and I’m pretty sure they know what they are talking about.

The wrong solution would be jumping on social media and joining angry groups on Facebook where disgruntled parents have found a new way to whine and complain to each other about how terrible things are at their kids’ school, and who now use these online groups to spread gossip and rumors about school staff and other students. These types of online gripe/gossip sessions do nothing to solve anything, and only make bad situations much worse.

How about instead of automatically logging into a Facebook group to vent, maybe a parent could contact the school, set up a meeting with the teacher or principal, and find out what is really going on? That to me makes more sense than joining some online group where the members do nothing except complain to each other and who for some strange reason think doing that is the same as taking action in the real world to fix problems in the schools and community..

The online world is not the real world, maybe it’s time to get offline and start making a difference in the real world for a change.

John Moore

Newton