PTA: PARENTS FURNISH EDUCATORS A HELPING HAND AT SCHOOLS

For hundreds of parents like Donna Maguire, the Parent-Teacher Association chapters at Cape Girardeau's public schools provide a chance to be involved in their children's education.

"I wanted to know what my children were doing," said Maguire, who has three children attending Franklin Elementary School and is president of that school's PTA.

Maguire said it's important for parents to take an active role in their children's education. "I think it is important for their children to know that their parents are involved."

From playground equipment to classroom volunteers, and drug awareness to teacher appreciation programs, the PTAs provide a helping hand to Cape Girardeau's elementary, middle and junior-high schools.

"It's just a wonderful opportunity to get in there and help make your school a better place," said Libby Roeger, who along with her husband, Bob, serves as co-president of the Alma Schrader PTA. "I can't think of a better way to do that."

The Roegers have three children attending the elementary school.

There are eight PTAs in the Cape Girardeau School District, with a combined membership of more than 1,500. There is no PTA at the high school, where instead a booster club provides a vehicle for parents to take an active role in the school.

At Franklin school, the PTA has put up new playground equipment and even built a tree house. "We have an ongoing project of updating our playground," said Maguire.

This academic year the PTA has presented two $250 grants to teachers to supplement classroom activities. "With the budget cuts, everyone is asking the PTAs for money," said Maguire.

"With an older school, a lot of things just fall by the wayside." A PTA can help spruce up a school, she said.

Through the Franklin PTA, a beautification committee has been formed, and trees and shrubs have been planted on the school grounds.

The Alma Schrader PTA, which has more than 500 members, is considering ways to address the storm drainage problem on the school's athletic field. Water often stands on the field, which has been nicknamed "Lake Schrader," Roeger said.

As to other activities, she said, "We help sponsor field trips; we give money for extra teacher supplies; we provide a wonderful volunteer program."

Parents in the organization serve as library volunteers and class monitors, and help raise funds for projects through spaghetti suppers and bedding-plant sales. "We also have a huge drug prevention team," said Roeger.

At Washington Elementary School, the PTA sponsors a unique VIP program. Under the 3-year-old program, various civic leaders have visited the school to meet with students one on one.

"We have had the mayor (Gene Rhodes) a couple of times," said Thomas M. Meyer, PTA president. Southeast Missouri State University basketball players and Coach Ron Shumate have visited the school, as has the university's president, Kala Stroup.

VIPs have lunch with the students in the school cafeteria and meet each child individually. "It makes them feel very important and have pride in their school," said Meyer.

"We have worked with a theme this year of Washington pride," he pointed out.

Through the PTA's efforts, display boards have been set up in the school. The boards feature newspaper clippings on accomplishments of parents and students, as well as focus attention on accomplishments of teachers and staff.

At Charles C. Clippard Elementary School, an intercom system was recently installed, thanks to the fund-raising efforts of that school's PTA. "We just did a major fund-raiser and raised about $7,500," said Bipi McGinty, who serves as co-president of the school's PTA, along with her husband, Frank. The McGintys have three children attending the school.

The new intercom system was a welcome addition to the school, she said. Previously, she explained, "the kids were being dismissed by the fire alarm; the secretary was having to run messages" all over the school.

Two years ago a pedestrian bridge was installed along Hopper Road to make it safer for children walking to and from the nearby school.

"We try each year to do a project," said McGinty. Sometimes it may be improving the playground, just whatever is needed."

The PTA, she said, provides a way for parents to be involved in the school. "When the children see you involved, they know you are interested and you care, and I think that's important," said McGinty.

At May Greene Elementary School, on the city's south side, a major task of that school's PTA is to foster school pride.

"We try to assist the teachers and administration the best we can to keep up good morale, school spirit and some pride in the children," said Dawn Evans, PTA secretary.

Last October the school held a chili supper and art show. "We gave out prizes for the best art work," she said.

"Our biggest project every year is our Play Day." The end-of-school event raises funds that are used to help the school.

Some of the money, said Evans, goes to assist the Bobcat Den program. "It's like an in-school thrift store that merchants donate to," she explained. Students receive play money called "Bobcat bucks," with which they can buy Christmas presents, clothing and household items. Students earn the "money" by being good students, she said.

Evans said she has a daughter attending May Greene and three sons who previously attended the school.

Unlike some schools in the city, it's difficult to get parents involved in the PTA, she said. "It's a struggle in that area to get very much parent participation."

She said, "We're still trying to find a way to reach the parents and show the parents that we care."

At Jefferson Elementary School, the PTA has worked to foster communication between the school and parents.

"Rather than fund raising, we're more into trying to bridge communication between the school and parents," said Judy Donley, president of the school's PTA. "With more working mothers now and more single-parent homes, I think it (PTA) is even more important," she said.

At one PTA meeting this school year, parents turned out to hear about a new reading program that had been implemented.

"We had a big turnout because we had a lot of parents that were so resistant to the program," she recalled. The meeting proved to be a benefit, helping parents better understand the reading program, said Donley.

Donley, who has a son in sixth grade at Jefferson, said the PTA has been involved in the school's "Just Say No" drug awareness program. "The school is really into drug awareness."

At L.J. Schultz Middle School, the PTA plans to purchase yearbooks for all students this school year. The seventh-grade students come from all over Cape Girardeau. "There are very poor children and very wealthy children," said Dianna Todt, PTA president at the school.

Students get their pictures taken for the school yearbook, but in the past some students have not had the money to buy the yearbook.

"It was just heartbreaking: the students who couldn't afford even the cheapest package of pictures," she said.

"Seventh grade is such a transitional year anyway, and it is so important for parents to be involved," said Todt, who has a son attending the school and has been active in PTAs for years.

At Central Junior High School, the PTA typically sells sweatshirts and T-shirts to purchase school equipment such as solar calculators and even a video camera.

The school's PTA has four meetings a year, with two of them involving performances by the junior high choir and band, said Connie Bergerson, PTA president and mother of a ninth-grader.

"It's a way for the parents to meet each other," she explained. "Interaction between the school and the home is, of course, the first objective of the PTA."

The PTA also holds a teacher appreciation luncheon during the school year. Said Bergerson, "We try to let teachers know that as parents we support them."