Activities

Parents for Public Schools of Syracuse has been engaged in a variety of activities since its formation in 1998. PPSS activities include:




Community Forums

• Held community forums in 1998, using civic leaders on listening panels, to create a vehicle for parents and community to have a voice in hiring a new superintendent.



• In partnership with the League of Women Voters, the Southside Newsstand, and the Southwest Community Center, sponsored a Meet the Candidates forum prior to the 1999 school board election.



• Collaborated with the Syracuse University School of Social Work to help plan and run a Rosamond Gifford Community Exchange Forum, "Educational Enhancement through School/Community Collaborations (March, 2001).



• As part of the Equity Project, hosted a workshop, Working Together to Close the Gap" (May, 2002) to kickoff the Syracuse Community Coalition for Education which worked throughout the 2003/2003 school year to achieve targeted change in four areas of inequity.





The Parents' Press

• Publishes chapter newsletter, distributing 3,000 copies to all public schools and libraries in Syracuse, and mailing to PPS members, community leaders and elected officials.





Voter Action Packet

• Developed this information packet as a resource for members of the Syracuse community prior to the 1999 school board election. The packet included biographical sketches of each of the candidates for Commissioner of Education, as well as their positions on important issues facing the city schools. It also included a list of frequently voiced parent concerns and suggestions for how these concerns might be framed as questions for the candidates.



• Revised the Voter Action Packet for each subsequent school board election. (2001, 2003)





Member Alerts

• Sends out periodic alerts to PPS membership to inform them of public hearings, meetings, or upcoming legislative votes relating to public education.





Equity Project

• A multi-year series of initiatives aimed at mobilizing the Syracuse community to work together for fairness of educational opportunity for all our children in all our schools. The Equity Project was begun in the spring of 2000 with the School Profiling Project (a collaborative venture with students from the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Public Affairs and the LeMoyne College Department of Education and with the Syracuse City School District).



• The focus of our efforts during the 2003/2004 school year has been school funding issues, highlighted by the successful Campaign for Fiscal Equity suit.





Rally for M.O.R.E, #’s 1, 2, 3 and 4

With the Syracuse Teachers’ Association and the Alliance for Quality Education, Parents for Public Schools of Syracuse has sponsored a series of rallies. The goal has been to kickoff a greater level of investment in our schools by city and state elected officials and by parents and other community members. The acronym M.O.R.E. was coined to capture the fact that for our schools to thrive we must invest in many different things:

Momentum
Opportunities
Resources and
Excellence.

• Rally for M.O.R.E. #1 (October, 2003) inspired more than two hundred people to come out on a very cold and rainy Saturday afternoon to demand that we as a community do more for our schools and more for our children.



• Rally for M.O.R.E. #2 (March, 2004) was held on the steps of City Hall. Soon after, the Common Council voted to support the school district’s budget despite a significant projected shortfall; joined forces with the school board to lobby the state (a move unprecedented in the last decade); and voted a 9˝ % property tax increase to help close the budget gap.



• Rally for M.O.R.E. #3 (June, 2004) challenged our state legislators to do their court-mandated duty, to remedy the school funding formula and to increase funds for education to ensure that each child receive a “sound basic education.” Unfortunately, the legislature was later adjourned without having passed a budget or resolving the school aid issue! To protest, three Syracuse elected officials got themselves arrested by participating in an act of civil disobedience (organized by the Alliance for Quality Education). Two of the three are longstanding PPS members.



• Rally for M.O.R.E. #4 (October, 2004) featured Syracuse City School District students telling us in their own words what makes good schools and good learning communities. This Rally was one of two dozen events held as part of the National Kids Speak Out On Education Day organized by the Civil Society Institute.
  
  
  

  Right Question Project

• Brought in staff from the Right Question Project, Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts) to prepare a local group of twelve individuals (Syracuse City School District staff, PPS members, and community service providers) to train others in a method of empowering parents to take a focused and proactive stance in advocating for our children.





Celebration of Excellence

• This annual celebration honors members of the Syracuse city school community who contribute to excellence in our schools. Go to the Celebration of Excellence page for more information.



Local Lobbying

• PPS, with the Syracuse City School District, organized individual meetings with elected local officials. These meetings offered a chance for parents and school staff to talk personally with Common Councilors about what our children need and to find new ways to work together to improve our schools. PPS members chaired similar meetings with state legislators at their local offices.





Buses to Albany

• PPS has acted as the local organizer to fill buses to lobby for more adequate state funding for our city schools. (Spring 2002, 2003, 2004) This was a coordinated effort with the Alliance for Quality Education, Syracuse City School District, and the Syracuse Teachers’ Association.





Shadowing Project

• PPS, in partnership with the Common Council Education Committee, arranged for most Common Councilors to shadow an administrator in at least one of the schools in their district. This provided invaluable, first hand information to those who make important decisions on behalf of our children.