Has anyone ever seen a school change?

[madskye]

I've always been interested in our local schools, but now DD is about to start Kindergarten in the Fall and I've been talking to a lot of people and reading a lot about the school system.

Her elementary school is great, by all accounts. The High School is also great.

What will be her Middle School--not so great. There are big issues with bullies, that I heard about from current parents and then a quick google search turned up 10 complaints online about bullying and the lack of direction from the administration.

I am wondering, if I started now, could I create any change? I am a good fundraiser, I know of some good programs to combat bullying and I'm sure I could research more? What are the odds of my getting a school to participate? Has anyone ever tried to do anything like this in their school? I figure I have seven years to try to make the school better before my precious peanut attends.

Any advice on creating change within your school system. I'm a newbie, I realize that.

[Youngfrankenstein]

YES! There were several of us at our local school (small district) who were unhappy with the gifted education program. Long story, short: We had parent meetings and meetings with the principals and superintendent and realized that there was a HUGE communication gap. They instituted a whole new gifted cirrculum (sp?) and a whole new way of communicating. They didn't realize there was a problem. It was all very cordial.

So I think it's possible. I find that sticking to specific and realistic goals is way more productive than saying "I think this whole system stinks!"

[JollyGG]

I'm currently in a similar situation. Our local school district has so many awesome schools, open enrollment, lots of specialized schools with open enrollment, ect. Our highschool has tons of options, the ability to move between high school campuses for classes only offered at one school, ect.

The middle school seems to think there job is to make it through puberty and that is about it.

We are right now starting a parent group to tackle the academics at the middle school level. We will be meeting with the curriculum coordinator and other parents to figure out what is desirable, feasible and possible to do.

My son is finishing up second grade so I figure we have 3 years.

But I know parents have made change in our district in the past. I'm confident it can happen again. The reason our district offers the specialized schools is because parents asked for them. The first was a school that required and encouraged parental involvement and was optional. From there we got fine arts focused instruction, math and science focused instruction, a fill time gifted program, and several others as well. Just last year they started a language immersion school in Spanish. These changes were all at the elementary level.

But if change can happen at the elementary level I'm confident it can happen at the middle school level.