WHAT’S UP

Steve Smith

The first time I heard the phrase “Less is more!” it was a concept

described in a manic appearance by “Professor” Irwin Corey on the old

“Steve Allen Show,” not to be confused with the “Tonight Show” Allen used

to host. Corey was magnificent in his tuxedo, sneakers and wild hair,

using a chalkboard and his special version of mathematics to prove his

point. A decade or so later, a rather interesting gent named Jerry Brown

used the “less is more” concept to become governor of California.

Audiences laughed at both men, but in Brown’s case, it didn’t help his

career.

Now, there is a local mom who is testing the “less is more” concept out

on the parents at Victoria Elementary School. This time, it’s serious

business and no one is laughing.

Mary Fewel is the new PTA president at Victoria. Addressing her

constituents in a flier sent home just prior to the first PTA meeting

Monday, Fewel, who has been cranking out the “Canyon Park News” for

several years, proclaimed in a headline: “PTA Goals for This Year -- Less

is More.”

Yeah, right. And pigs fly and advertising on campuses is a win-win

situation. But Mary is serious and she began her commentary with an olive

branch to returning parents. “We’re not going to sell ANYTHING this

year!” reads the newsletter. Fine with me. While I’ve never been an

advocate of simply writing a check for a lump sum to avoid filling the

neighborhood with hundreds of short candy salespeople, this year has been

one for the books. Between the fund-raisers for Little League, Indian

Maidens, AYSO and school, we weren’t tapped out, we were burned out. It

was simply “fund-raising overload.”

So, this year, this courageous board will make do with about 30% less

money than last year. They will try to replace the money with the one

thing parents can’t buy more of: time.

“As parents,” Mary told me, “we need to help our kids focus on their

class work this year by supporting our teacher’s classroom and homework

policies, by reading with our kids and turning off the TV and by having

more classroom parent volunteers.”

My guess is that the other PTAs in the district are similar to

Victoria’s. There are about two dozen very active parents who are helping

to make a difference and the rest are too busy with their lives to do

much. Mary acknowledged that the policy may only mean a break for that

active handful of parents. “I don’t know if this will translate into

higher parent involvement, but I do know that some of the parents who

spent a lot of time fund-raising might be able to use that time with

their own kids. We want our PTA meetings to be something fun to do. We

don’t want any more drawn out analyses of small problems. We’ve got

activities lined up and we have teachers who want to do their part, too.

We have to compete with what’s on TV.”

Of course, Mary is right and only time will tell if the new plan will

work. But I’ve always believed in the concept that something that is not

working must be changed or ditched immediately in favor of something

else. And if that doesn’t work, something else is tested. And we keep

trying until we get it right.

The past fund-raisers have made some important contributions to the

school. We now have a big beautiful patio cover under which the kids can

eat lunch, and the new marquee in front of the school was the result of a

lot of hard work by that handful of parents.

But the truth is that our test scores could improve and more parents need

to be involved with their kid’s education. So if Mary’s plan works, it

will be a model for PTAs across the country. If it doesn’t, I am

confident that Mary and the board will try something else. Either way,

it’s the start of an important message, one that has yet to be learned by

many people controlling the education purse strings throughout the state:

All the money in the world can’t make up for parents who neglect their

child’s education.

Perhaps the “Professor” was right all along.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and free-lance writer. He can be

reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at [email protected].