Parents are “Raider Strong” By Elizabeth Goussetis
Staff Writer
Raider Strong, a parents group, at the Tomato Festival last August where they performed community outreach, from left to right, Beth Thompson, Emily Thompson (daughter), Sabrina Gray, Shawn Gray, Christine Smith, Debbie Dunlap, Tori Begeny, Lisa Waickman, and Kevin Waickman (son).
Calling for parents to play a more active role in school district leadership decisions, members of a parent group, who vocally supported the teachers during the recent contract negotiations and strike, formed a political action committee called Raider Strong.
The group’s primary goal is “to ensure effective involvement of all Reynoldsburg parents in their children’s education and to support the partnership between our community, our educators, our administration, and our board of education in the interest of our children and equitable, high quality education.” according to the bylaws.”
“We keep saying if there was ever a silver lining to the strike, it was the awakening and the gathering of all these different people from all these different walks together,” said parent and Raider Strong member Debbie Dunlap.
Dunlap credits social media with helping parents to organize grassroots activities during the contract negotiations. Facebook pages allowed the informal group to organize plans to canvas neighborhoods, speak at school board meetings, circulate petitions, write letters to city and state political leaders, and hold fundraisers to provide financial support for the teachers, who were on strike for 15 days until a contract agreement was reached.
Although the impetus for the group was the negotiations and strike, parent Margaret Mary Luzny has been agitating for this kind of involvement for a long time.
“The community is only as strong as the schools and the schools are only as strong as the community,” said Luzny, who has worked on school levy campaigns, served as a PTO president, and is a paraprofessional who was working in the schools during the strike. “I’ve pretty much attended every school board meeting for the last 10 years, because I felt there was a lack of accountability to the community by the school board. I’ve never been anti-school board, but I’ve always felt there was a lack of communication and accountability. The superintendent told the board what to do and the board pretty much just rubber stamped it.”
School board meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in Reynoldsburg City Hall. On most months, the meetings are quiet affairs. A small group of regulars typically attends. Occasional special events, recognitions or presentations draw more spectators, but there rarely is a large crowd.
That changed during the negotiations for teacher contracts this summer, when the board had to move meetings to the high school Summit campus auditorium in order to accommodate the large crowd and the many people who signed up to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.
At the Oct. 21 school board meeting, a standing-room only crowd filled the usual venue at city hall.
Raider Strong member and parent Beth Thompson spoke and asked the board to adopt a formal process that would include parents in decision making. Another parent working with the group, Denise Shook, presented a petition asserting a vote of no confidence in the superintendent and board.
Organizing as a political action committee (PAC) allows the group to raise money, endorse candidates for office, and provide a more formal identity that group members can build from. The idea came from a resident of the Groveport Madison school district, where parents formed a PAC following a teachers’ strike, and the community adopted a shared decision making process, Luzny said.
The Raider Strong PAC will be led by a 10 to 14 member executive committee that will be voted on by general membership of the group. Only executive committee members will be able to vote on decisions about endorsing candidates, according to the bylaws.
The group held its first meeting on Oct. 28. Committees have been established, and group leaders plan to begin signing parents up to volunteer.
“We’re taking all this pent up energy that’s coming forth and use it for something positive,” Luzny said.