Note from the President

Thank you for all you do …

I remember the day I wrote my first "thank you" note to a teacher. My daughter was just completing kindergarten. I wanted her teacher, Mrs. McKay, to know my daughter looked forward to going to school almost every day and came home after school to excitedly show me her drawings

So I wrote a short note thanking her for making my daughter's first year of school such a success.

I loved saying thank you to someone who made such an impact on my daughter's life. And Mrs. McKay made a point of stopping me at school to let me know how much she appreciated the note.

A lesson learned about the importance of "thank you."

Ever since then, I tried to let my children's teachers know how much I appreciated their work.

You may well ask: "Why am I saying this? It is not teacher appreciation week."

Here is why:

We are living at a time when our teachers – now more than ever – need a note of thanks.

Every year teachers – good teachers – get pink slips and don't know if they will have a job.

We are living in a world where teachers have many more students in their classes and less support to help them.

Like that old children's song about "no more pencils and no more books," our teachers are living in a classroom world of "no more" lots of things.

And while they are helping our children learn to read and comforting a struggling child, the political "noise" somehow blames our teachers for the havoc caused by massive budget cuts to education.

Our teachers have furlough days and less support to improve their practice. Yet, during this Great Recession, they are held accountable as if they live in Lake Wobegon, where "all the children are above average."

What distinguishes PTA from others is our clear recognition of the importance of parents and teachers working cooperatively to improve the lives of children.

I don't want to live in a world of "us" versus "them."

I want to live in a world of "us"– a world where "we" can work together.

That is why we are starting a new teacher recognition program.
(Find the application to nominate PTA teachers, in English and in Spanish.)

Please let us know about a PTA teacher you would to like to recognize.

And let me share another short story.

Years later ... and I mean lots of years later ... after my daughter was through high school and even through college, I ran into Mrs. McKay. We looked at each other.

And then she asked, "How's Deane?"

After hundreds and hundreds of students, she looked at me and remembered my daughter's name.

Thank you, Mrs. McKay.

Carol Kocivar
California State PTA President