Education leaders call Germantown home
Germantown, a city that 40,123 call home, can boast of a strong national voice in education:
Two of its residents simultaneously held the presidential seats for the National Parent Teacher Association and the National School Boards As- sociation, and another resident holds a state title.
“It’s a unique occurrence that state and national leadership are from the same town,” said former national PTA President Betsy Landers, referring to PTA Tennessee president Charlotte Parks and current National School Boards President David Pickler.
Landers said the unusu- al qualities of Germantown made the municipality a focal point for education, as she looked back on her two years in office that ended June 23.
“I started in PTA because of my children and somewhere along t he line I reali zed how i mportant t hi s i s ,” Landers said. “I am an advocate at heart and t hat will continue long after my presidency.”
Landers and Pickler David Pickler met 25 years ago when Pickler’s wife and Landers participated in PTA at their children’s school.
“You might think that something like this would happen in a larger city like New York,” Pickler said. “It’s a great testament of the parent involvement in Germantown and Shelby County. We’re at the epicenter of education.”
Landers said the nine schools in Germantown serve as a prototype for what education could look like for the entire country because they all have a very strong Parent Teacher Association presence.
“It highlights what can be done when parents and educators come together for the purpose of making our schools better,” she said.