Advocacy

Education Advocacy:

CCPTA takes seriously the PTA’s mission to advocate for the well-being of every child. At the county level, we do this in a number of ways:

  • The CCPTA membership develops, votes on, and advocates for recommendations we make to APS leadership and the School Board.
  • The CCPTA executive board communicates questions, concerns and ideas to APS leadership and the School Board via letters and position statements. These are clearly labelled as coming from the executive board and not the full CCPTA membership.
  • We provide comments about School Board policies that are under review. In 2020-21 we provided feedback on policies related to seclusion and restraint; counseling crisis management; bullying prevention; and more.
  • We engage the Superintendent and School Board members at our monthly general membership meetings, raising questions that CCPTA members have submitted in advance and then following up with officials to make sure questions are answered.
  • We host special forums where CCPTA members can discuss issues of common concern. In 2020-21, we hosted a forum about the December 2020 limited elementary boundary changes that were under consideration; another forum in January 2021 about the APS FY22 budget; and a third in May 2021 about student mental health issues. Topics for these special forums can be suggested by CCPTA members.
  • We look for ways we can collaborate and advocate with other community groups around issues of shared concern.
  • We facilitate information-sharing and discussion of particular topics as part of our general membership meetings–for example, in 2020-21 we hosted SEPTA/ASEAC/APS to talk about inclusion for students with disabilities and the Center for Youth and Family Advocacy to talk about restorative justice.

Documentation: