Parents Can Make a Difference in Schools

Dear Editor,
   I want to thank the Chronicle and congratulate Rachel Proctor May on her excellent articles about our schools ["Shrinking Schools," News, May 20]. Austin is in a quandary: People want to live central, but if they have children, they feel they have to drive to other neighborhoods or move to the suburbs for the best schools.
   We were in the same predicament three years ago when our daughter first attended Travis Heights Elementary. The school was at its lowest point. That one year we went through two principals and two assistant principals. More than 80 parents took their children out. Instead of fleeing, my husband and I and other parents decided to fight for the school. This meant taking on AISD to get a great principal, and then working with her to stretch what little money we were getting to hire the best personnel.
   But a principal cannot do it alone. We parents made it our goal to bring the neighborhood kids back. We did that through house meetings with preschool parents, a quarterly newsletter distributed to all homes in the neighborhood, and taking every opportunity to open up the school and encourage our neighbors to visit. The school is truly wonderful today, and our own expert – the school secretary – estimates that we will break the magic number of 600 for next year’s enrollment, up from 427 in 2003.
   If we can do it, others can, too.