‘Unsung Heroes’ of Needham Public Schools

October 4, 2024
• Parent-teacher councils across the school district fund learning and experiences for students, all on their own time. But as their numbers dwindle, the councils hope more parents step up.

In the flurry of back-to-school season, all eyes are on the students, their teachers and school leadership. But behind the scenes, small groups of parents coalesce to fund field trips, out-of-class activities, teacher support and more in the coming months.

The district’s parent-teacher councils are a small but mighty force in the Needham Public Schools ecosystem, and those who lead them acknowledge the work required. Still, their passion is evident, especially when it directly impacts their own children’s education.

As vice president of Newman Elementary’s PTC, Stefanie Forman works as a coordinator between the principal, school staff and families to fund a number of programs. “It’s a big position to fill,” Forman said.

Each grade at Newman — from kindergarten through fifth grade — receives a lump sum from the PTC for curriculum enrichment activities, and teachers can use the money however they see fit, Forman said. That includes field trips, guest speakers and other ways to supplement ongoing lessons, she said.

“My daughter and her kindergarten class, they went to the Natick Community Organic Farm for an activity where they got to learn about farming and the environment,” Forman said. “And the PTC paid for [all] the kids in the kindergarten class, all of the classes, to go expense-free.”

The rest of their budget is divided between educational opportunities, social events outside school and funding for teacher and staff benefits. Newman teachers can place requests to buy classroom items, and the PTC also provides occasional lunches and coffee carts, Forman said.

Teacher appreciation became a central focus at Needham High School’s PTC after the pandemic, Co-President Frederica Lalonde said. Through a grant program, high school teachers can apply for funding programs or activities with student impact, Lalonde said. Teachers also signal their needs to liaisons, who can respond accordingly.

From teacher happy hours to sponsored cookie trucks, Lalonde said those events help “teachers feel valued and part of the bigger picture.”

“I think that bolstering their morale will benefit students, inherently,” she said.

The Eliot Elementary PTC recently organized its Welcome Back Bash, an event intended to both boost morale and fundraise. For the school’s curriculum night in September, the PTC offered babysitting for young children in an effort to encourage parents to attend and be able to listen to teacher presentations, co-president Katie Barker said.

Fundraising and fostering school spirit are their primary objectives, Barker said, and the two go hand in hand.

“If people don’t come together and spirits aren’t up, then people obviously aren’t going to fundraise and donate money to the school,” she said. “So it’s really trying to just raise some money so we can offer more to the school.”

Lalonde’s oldest and youngest sons are 10 years apart, and in that time, she’s witnessed a shift in PTC involvement. Back then, Lalonde remembers a strong cohort of PTC volunteers and parents willing to fill in when necessary and attend meetings. “That is not the case anymore,” she said, as she and other PTC members report difficulties with recruitment. She and her two co-presidents started their roles last year, during which the cohort was “treading water at best,” Lalonde said.

It’s particularly more challenging as kids get older and parents, in turn, become more disconnected from school, she added.

“I feel like the big draw was really trying to reach more and more people, because the more people that are involved, the better things are going to be, the more people you can represent, the more understanding you have,” Lalonde said. “We’re really trying to build, pull this community back together after a period of history, when, unfortunately, everyone was in their own silo.”

School size and demographics can also make fundraising a challenge, Barker said. Eliot is the smallest elementary school in Needham and the town’s only Title 1 school — 12.7% of its students are from low-income families, according to 2023-2024 data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Every grade at Eliot, including its 50 Kindergarteners, go on a field trip, and the PTC covers transportation, Barker said. Field trip buses run about $500 a piece, and with most grades requiring two buses, the PTC will spend $6,000 on that busing alone, Barker said.

“For us at Eliot, that’s a lot of money,” Barker said.

Pollard Middle Principal Tamatha Bibbo echoed Barker’s sentiments — in a school with 875 seventh and eighth graders, funding experiential learning is a costly affair. Between buses, travel, food allergy and all the effort rounding up students in and out, Pollard field trips are an undertaking, Bibbo said.

The PTCs, however, are not islands. Representatives meet with Superintendent Dan Gutekanst monthly, and School Committee members check in with PTC leaders. Multiple stakeholders, all intent on supporting and uplifting the school community, allows NPS to thrive as a result, School Committee Chair Liz Lee said.

“We want every student to succeed, and that’s not possible when only one group is working on it,” Lee said. “It really has to be input from a variety of groups.”

PTCs, in Needham and elsewhere, “play a really critical role,” Lee said. Through the councils, parents can positively contribute to what takes place in schools, she said.

Lee herself worked with the PTC when her children attended Hillside Elementary and Sunita Williams Elementary — she wrote grants to bring new programming to the schools, including a revolutionary reenactment group and a guest who performed a tea ceremony.

Their efforts, Lee said, do not go unnoticed.

“I’m aware, and I think all of the School Committee members are aware of how much energy and work and expertise and competence goes into what they’re doing on behalf of our children,” Lee said. “And it’s a deep sense of gratitude that goes along with that. Those folks are amazing.”

Bibbo and High Rock Principal Jessica Downey shared Lee’s affinity for the PTCs. Their schools share a joint PTC, but that council is currently in transition and has yet to find a president or vice president. Both principals routinely meet with parents more informally during the school year.

Needham parents, fortunately, “jump in and get involved in whatever capacity they can,” Bibbo said. Their fundraising is student-centered, but they also find ways to lift teachers’ spirits, she added. Parents also express a desire for their own education — in the past, concerns over vaping prompted the school to host a guest speaker on the topic, specifically for families, Bibbo said.

With a new middle school on the horizon, Bibbo said she hopes some parents are enticed to join the PTC. Her dream is to host more performances and guests on school grounds, as well as fund overnight trips, like a service trip to Costa Rica that’s currently in the works.

“I would love to have parents with the PTC involved and work alongside us when we’re thinking about the design of the building and some of the things we might not be thinking about for parents when you have sixth, seventh and eighth graders all come together on one campus again.”

At High Rock, a school of about 440 students, Downey said the PTC sets up future generations of parents and ensures student success — it’s just a matter of getting them involved.

“We have so many things on our plate as parents, so many things going on. Giving a little extra, sometimes it’s really, really hard. We recognize that,” Downey said. “How can we help families participate and be engaged without it being burdensome?”

Barker’s three-year stint on the PTC will conclude at the end of this school year, and she plans to step down to make way for another parent. Barker, a parent to a third-grader and first-grader at Eliot, said her involvement “brings me a lot of happiness.”

“I like being involved with activities that my kids can also be involved with. I think that that’s probably the biggest thing,” Forman said. “In my former career, I was a professor for a college, so I’ve always been part of teaching. So, it seems like a natural way to step into being part of the parent-teacher council.”

“I think Needham in general, all the PTCs do such a great job,” Barker said. “And it’s a lot of work, but I think everyone really enjoys it.”

Without the generosity of parents and the PTC, Bibbo said Pollard would not be able to provide many of its programs.

“I really do think they’re unsung heroes,” Bibbo said, “and I hope that they know how much they’re appreciated, because it makes a difference.”