Iona High to take PTA meetings to communities
TOWER ISLE, ST MARY: A PERENNIAL problem affecting some schools in Jamaica is the lack of adequate support from parents in the running of the institutions. This is reflected by their failure to attend parent teacher association (PTA) meetings.
Now, one high school in St Mary is about to change that by embarking on an innovative strategy.
According to principal at Iona High School in Tower Isle, Melva Humes-Johnson, the school is seeking to take the meetings to communities where there is a cluster of parents, thus making it easier for them to attend.
Simply put, the principal is saying that if parents can’t come to the meeting, the school will take the meeting to them.
“When we call parenting meetings, yes, we may have a good turnout, but we need more, we need all the parents who are part of Iona to come,” HumesJohnson said.
“We are planning to have a cluster parents teacher meeting, so we’re trying to identify where the bulk of our students are coming from and where they can cluster together, and we can take the meeting to them. We realise that there is a change in many things that we do, and we have to change in order to make a change,” she explained.
Iona has over 840 students on roll, with a staff of 50, reflecting a growth in its population in recent years. However, participation by parents in the school’s business has not grown accordingly.
Currently, Iona is in need of more classrooms, and the support of parents is seen as crucial in achieving this goal.