Reflections on Chapter 7 Collaboration and Change

            A good leader must listen and take criticism from their team, but the team must also trust their leader. This year will be my second year as the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) president, and it is the toughest year that any previous president presided in the past. The same can be said for all those that serve this role across the nation. However, the purpose of PTA is a collaboration not only within the school but also with the school district. The relationship with the school district is somewhat one way as there are state laws in regards to school board meetings protocols, but that does not mean we cannot work with them. “Collaboration is often about the relationships between organizations, and the people relationships need to be kept in perspective”¹ The perspective portion is the most difficult; some families believe that PTA has the power and is influential on policies and staff positions at a school. Other parents’ opinion of the PTA that it is a joke and a reason to drink alcohol once a year paid for by donations. This perspective is challenging because it is also affected by both racial and gender bias.

            Before the pandemic, the PTA and school staff had a very supportive and amicable relationship. A hot topic every year that PTA funded was the community disaster readiness, in a tremendous feat and coordination with city services for the first in over a decade my children’s school was deemed disaster-ready before the other 17 schools in our district. The difficulty came with disagreement with a teacher, which reflected well in the section styles of change. This teacher was an originator, who likes to challenge the process and do things their way and have the PTA be silent and pay for everything. I am a pragmatist with a hint of being a conserver, mainly because violating specific protocols or policies can result in the dissolution of the PTA, which is a not for profit organization. One of the particular issues I had with this chapter is how to get definitive answers on dealing with difficult people and those who like to stick their nose into areas and not officially be part of the committee. The chapter is excellent about describing collaborations and challenges to change, but it would have been helpful on how to deal with specific situations. Highly educated parents in my community hold professional degrees and some holding multiple PhDs. Still, when it comes to working with PTA and school district, there is no to little collaboration, mostly demands on what to do.

Another interesting point is that the book only mentions patience once, and I was a bit surprised it was not covered more in this chapter. My perspective believes is that patience is a key in collaboration; without patience making changes will become extremely difficult. Lately, I have agreed with the low resilience struggle as a leader as I have lost a large number of my executive board team members due to situations that I can not control due to the pandemic. Families moving, transferring from public to private, new principal, new K-8 director, and soon new school board members all we can go for is an “incremental change approach without great enthusiasm.”¹  However, I must remember that the PTA was here before I became involved, and it continues to be here long after I have left; all I can do is work with those who can help make changes to bring equity in education. 

Reflective question

Have you ever had to be a leader and support the ideas of the team’s collaboration, of which you do not agree?

Figure 1.1 – Collaboration from a small non-profit against a bureaucracy like a school district can feel daunting.

References

1. Rowitz L. Essentials of Leadership in Public Health. (Riegelman R, ed.). Burlington: Jones Bartlett Learning; 2018.