Parent organizing groups | Use Insideschools to campaign for change | City and state-wide change
Your elected officials | Legal and advocacy groups | Help if you don't speak English | Computer access in your community

Parent organizing groups

The groups listed here help parents organize for change in their children's schools. They also may be good resources if you want to get more actively involved in your child's school.

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Use Insideschools to campaign for change

Do parents at your school have a common gripe – unclean bathrooms, poor security, or a window that never seems to get fixed? A lot of times when one parent complains, little gets done. But strength comes in numbers. Connecting with the PA or a community organizing group can help. One way groups of parents can work together is by writing letters en masse. You can use Insideschools’ Speak Out section to write your principal, division superintendent or the chancellor’s offices on-line. If you want to do a letter writing campaign, we’ll keep track of the numbers for you. Contact us if you’d like us to track a letter writing campaign.

• To write a letter using Insideschools.org, click here.

City and statewide change

Many community groups in New York organize together to fight for greater city and state-wide change. Alliance for Quality Education is a state-wide umbrella of community groups and labor unions that advocate for greater funding for public education. Another collaborative effort is New Yorkers for Smaller Classes which as the name suggests, campaigns for smaller numbers of students in the classrooms. See our links for a more complete list of organizations working for change.
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Your elected officials

If you don’t get a satisfactory solution to your problem from the school officials, you may need to go to outside sources of help. One good bet is to contact your local elected representative. Your city council member has a walk-in office in your neighborhood that offers information and direct service to local residents. The borough presidents' staff also help constituents solve problems. Both are a particularly good source of help with traffic and safety problems as well as other school-related issues. To find the name and address of your local officials, see http://www.nyc.gov or call the League of Women Voters Telephone Information Service, 212-213-5286.
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Advocacy organizations

These organizations provide direct advocacy assistance for individual students who have school-related problems. For more detailed information about these organizations as well as legal referrals for non-educational issues, please visit http://www.lawhelp.org/NY.

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For help with English…

These organizations have agreed to provide parents with access to the Internet and language support. These centers will help parents who:

• Do not speak English, and need translation in Chinese, Korean, or Spanish.
• Do not have a computer or Internet access in their home.
• Need help using this website to find information, research schools, or lodge a complaint.

These organizations have staffers who speak your language but they may not be equipped to give advice on individual school-related problems.

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Need computer time?

Here is a list of organizations that have agreed to provide parents with access to the Internet. Their staffers will help you visit the Insideschools website, but they may not be equipped to answer your questions about schools. These will help parents who:

• Do not have a computer or Internet access in their home
• Need help using this website to find information, research schools, or lodge a complaint.

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Click here for where to go for help within the school system.