The Parent Coalition of Stamford

As most of you know, I have been involved in the Save Toquam community since September and have been attending numerous Board of Education meetings since then.

Where all of the redistricting issues have not yet been resolved, and the Board of Education still has much work to accomplish, the positive outcome of this experience has been that the parents from many different schools have begun to band together and are now beginning to speak with one unified voice of the community.

I have received the following message from Stamford Parent Coalition (stamfordparentcoalition@yahoo.com) and wanted to forward it along, since the fact remains that we all have a vested interest in making our schools better:

To Our Fellow Parents of the Stamford Public Schools,

The past year has been a difficult one for many of the parents with students in Stamford 's public schools. Some of us faced imminent school closures, others faced haphazard and piecemeal redistricting decisions. Some saw school class sizes increase to concerning levels, while others struggled to promote good ideas and the expansion of best practice teaching models.

Despite the fact that we have great teachers and a wonderfully diverse community, we continue to see an outflow of neighbors to nearby towns solely because they are concerned about the state of education in Stamford .

However, despite the struggle, something good happened over the past year. We got to know one another better. Through these new relationships we realized we all share a lot in common:

• a tremendous level of commitment to our children,
• a deep respect for education,
• an awareness of what is at stake (our children's future),
• a sense of empathy for one another, and
• the belief that things don't need to be this way.

As individuals, we have never claimed to know what all of the issues are that our school district is facing, nor, more importantly, what all of the solutions should be. However, we rightfully demand information, transparency, and accountability from those who are leading our school district. We also know that we will never be in 100% agreement as a parent community. Yet, even 70% agreement across all of us is far better than where we are today.

It comes down to this:

As parents, the most important thing we can give our children, after values and a moral core, is an education. It will dictate the opportunities available to them in the future. More importantly, an education will ensure our children can grow into free and independent thinkers. However, all of us will only get one chance to get it right for our children. There are no "do-overs". Two years of turmoil in our school system is too costly and something needs to change. Yet, in order for education to work for each of our individual children, it must work for all the children in Stamford .. Not only is that the just approach, but we will fail if that is not our mission as a parent community. We have learned that once we divide ourselves as a parent community, we lose all ability to ensure our leaders in the school system (both elected and non-elected) are held accountable. As a united community of parents concerned for the education of all of our children, we can be a powerful force for good.

We are asking that you join us to continue the dialogue as a community of parents who care about education. Please feel free to forward this invitation to any parent you know that may be interested in engaging in this dialogue.

Date: Sunday, May 18

Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Italian Center of Stamford

Kind Regards,
The Parent Coalition of Stamford

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ANY OTHER CONCERNED FRIENDS OR FAMILY IN THE COMMUNITY