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For [[Miraleste High School]]

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Below is printed part 1 of a two-part series dealing with the rise of the Parent Teacher Student Association. The parents' view point is given in the first part and the views of the administration and students in the second part. By DIANE LUCK CARTER Parent Teacher Associations as we know them today usually start out strong at the elementary school level with healthy participation from the parents (or at least mothers) and teachers. In junior high school the student's parents and teachers begin to lose interest and by the time a student reaches high school interest in the PTA dwindles severely. Enrollment this year at San Pedro High School is 3,219 Membership in the PTA is 1170. Sounds like a good representation doesn't it? Talking with Mrs. Douglas Hook, a member of the San Pedro High PTA board this year, she revealed that of these 1170 members, only about 24 usually turn out for meetings one afternoon a month. She observed, "By the time your children reach high school they stop bringing notices home from school. Postage is so expensive, we cannot afford to mail notices." Mrs. Orland Hanse, president of Gateway Council PTA which includes all Harbor Area secondary schools, agreed: "Not enough parents know about the meetings.' The kids do not take the newsette home. Either they think it is kid's stuff or else they do not want their parents to go to school and find out what is going on." She continued, "I have two sons at Narbonne High School; they never bring anything home. My daughter did a little better while she was a student there. "Another thing, the turnout is much better at night but we have to have the principal's permission for a night meeting and he doesn't care about having meetings at night since he has so many to attend. In the afternoon, the best we can do is to attract a few mothers who do not work." Peninsula high schools felt the same pressures, the same problems . . until three years ago. In the fall of 1969, Miraleste, Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes High Schools added a letter to PTA making it PTSA - Parent Teacher Student Association. Miraleste High School this year has a student enrollment of 1,500, 498 of which have joined the PTSA along with 870 of their parents, bringing the total membership to 1,368. Mrs. Ralph (Dorothy) Hollingsworth, PTSA president for 1971-72, reported that the first meeting of the year, a college orientation program, brought out more than 500 of these members. "The PTSA is working out very well in most respects," she said. "We have real good dialogue at our meetings. The kids are not afraid to speak up and bring all kinds of problems to the board. Because they do not always understand the ramifications of what they are asking it has been an eye-opening experience for them also for the parents. "Some of the ideas which the students present are very good and they have all kinds of enthusiasm to back up these ideas." It was only one year after Miraleste High School opened its doors in the fall of 1968, that the PTSA was proposed. Mrs. Don Hanley was elected president of the PTA in the spring of 1969 and that summer she attended the California PTA convention. "I was fortunate enough to be put in a group with the president of the Culver City unit which initiated the first PTSA in California," Mrs. Hanley recalled. "They decided to allow students to become members because their PTA was nearly defunct. "Brenda White, incoming president of Rolling Hills High School in 1969, and I, decided to propose having a PTSA at our schools," Mrs. Hanley explained. She considers 1969 as the pilot year for the project. Because several of the PTA board members who were opposed to allowing students to become members were absent the day the vote was taken, the PTSA amendment was passed unanimously. Mrs. Hanley said, "We had 100 student members the first year. All of the $1 membership fee they paid, stayed with the local unit since they were not permitted to be members of the council, district, state and national levels of PTA. "Four students served on the board the first year. We wrote it in our by-laws that students could not be elected to offices but could serve as committee chairmen. The function of an officer is | primarily administrative not creative like a chairmanship. Rolling Hills High School PTSA began with 40 student members the first year. "'Then in 1970 they switched to family memberships charging $2 per family, which proved to be very successful," Mrs. Hanely noted. Miraleste High School went to family memberships this year. Students who join without their parents pay 50 cents dues. Recalling initial attitudes regarding student members, Mrs. Hanley said, "At the first two meetings the kids were scared to death and the mothers just were not used to having kids on the same level. "By being at the meetings the kids were able to open up a new channel of communications. Now the kids are very vocal. They are active planning their own graduation and baccalaureate." Last week the students put on an Ideas Forum to which they invited 92 experts in 92 different fields ranging from mountain climbing to nuclear medicine. Each student chose in advance which seminars he wished to attend and members of the forum committee programmed the schedules. The day began with orientation and concluded with : an assembly to asses the forum. Mrs. Hanley, giving another example of student enthusiasm, said, "Last year the PTSA was responsible for distributing 15,000 pieces of literature favoring the tax override in Palos Verdes Unified Schools District. It was the first time students knew or cared about what was going on.' Mrs. Hanley, who is president this year of the Palos Verdes PTA Council, noted that there was a move to start PTSAs at the intermediate level but that the parents would not hear of it. She said, "I can't believe 30 women couldn't control five or six kids at a meetings." One of the changes which Mrs. Hanley said comes from admitting students is in the type of person chosen for president. "Someone might be a fabulous administrator but if she is the bun-in-the-back type, she will turn the kids off. She has to be able to communicate well with the students. "You cannot answer students with just a yes or no. You have to answer with a reason." Mrs. Hanley feels that PTSA also serves to bring teens and their mothers closer together. "If kids know you are interested, they are not so inclined to think you are not going to be with them. Understanding comes from working together," she commented. Another area where Miraleste PTSA varies is in the number of meetings. Rather than meet every month, just for the sake of meeting, they plan just three general meetings a year. A program on vocations is planned for January and the students will be responsible for the final program in March. PTSA raises money only through the membership dues. The organization is responsible for printing a calendar (which can either make or lose money). It lists all school meetings, activities and a complete athletic shcedule. PTSA officers are listed by name and phone number on the back page. "Since kids never bring anything home from school, this lets the parents know what is happening," Mrs. Hanley remarked. She believes that "the strength of the PTSA depends on how much the administration and parents want to cooperate. Part 2 will appear on Monday on the Harbor Living page. STUDENT-ORIENTED - Two mothers who welcome student participation in meetings are Joan Hanley, left, and Dorothy Hollingsworth. Mrs. Hanely was first president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Miraleste High School two years ago and still serves on the board. Mrs. Hollingsworth is current president.
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