| abstract | - Parents already are legally responsible to see that their children attend school and can be hauled into court if they fail to do so. Now a coalition is organizing to find ways to require parents to be involved in their children's education. Deborah Vereen, an educator with more than two decades of experience and principal of Fairless Intermediate in Woodland Hills, is the founding director of the Parental Accountability Initiative in Public Education. The initiative is to begin with a rally in May 2009 at Freedom Corner in the Hill District. "Parent involvement is the key," said Dr. Vereen. "There are so many accountabilities that are placed upon educators, principals, school districts and so on. While we are working as educators to ensure children are being successful, the missing key to the whole national reform movement is putting some accountability on parents." She does not have a specific suggestion for how to hold parents accountable but believes that will develop through the initiative. "As we continue our effort, we are going to work with the government to define what that will look like. This is going to be a lengthy process," she said. The groups plans to use the legislative process "to produce the desired outcome of mandated parental involvement in the public education of their children." The initiative plans to work at both the state and national levels. Its brochure lists areas in which parents "must be required to be actively engaged," including participating in conferences about their child, ensuring the child has completed assignments, and helping children develop study skills at home. "The most important thing is to introduce this effort," she said. "There's a lot of talk among educators about the need for parents to get involved. No one is taking a stance."
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