I am so pissed off! I volunteered to serve as webmaster for my daughter's school. But I explained that I would have to bring Hannah to the Board meetings because I don't have a baby-sitter at night and I am a single parent.
What is the response of the President of the Board? "Ideally, we don't want kiddos there; makes it harder to get through the business at hand :)" Give ME a break! This is a Board of a Community Pre-School. I have served on the Board of TESOL, I have been President of CATESOL. I serve on the Editorial Board of TQ. I teach at the university. And I would have never EVER told another woman that it's harder to get through business when you have children at hand!
So here was my response to this person: ... unfortunately, I don't have an alternative arrangement for my family situation. So unfortunately, I won't be able to help. Something to consider in a distant future: It could be that as (or if) the school demographics or parents' work schedules change, there might be a need for changes in the policy... (This is actually happening in my professional association where bringing children to our committee meetings was not acceptable in the past and now there has been a change.)In any case, again, thank you to all the parents on the board. You do so much work on behalf of our children!
As I wrote my message, I kept wondering whether it was a good idea to send it out. But I said to myself: YOU HAVE TO! One of the things that I learned from my friend Aya Matsuda is thatyou have to educate people about what it means to be a professional woman or a single parent.
What do YOU think? I'd love to get your comments! Be blunt! Be truthful! Kuki
Random Thoughts
13 years ago
2 comments:
I assume the woman lawyer who responded to you also has a child at the same school where you both serve on the Board? If so, perhaps she considers the meeting a purely business meeting and that she is not used to mixing her public sphere (the meeting) with her private sphere (a child's presence). To play devil's advocate - although I understand why you felt indignant about the woman's response to you - if I consider something a business meeting, I would not bring my 2-year old toddler to the event. On the other hand, if most parents on the board consider this an informal get-together to simultaneously take care of some business at hand for the preschool, it wouldn't be totally out of context to bring one's child. But then again, if EVERYONE brought their child to the meeting, don't you think there would be quite a bit of distractions and it would take longer to finish the meeting?
As another mother of a 2-yr.-old, I feel I should chime in. I think all the members of the board should be given a voice in this matter. It's hard to find volunteers, and especially talented and committed ones. I would think it would be more important to the board to have you than it would be disruptive to have Hannah there. In what other kind of meeting than the board of a pre-school would it be more appropriate to have a child in attendance?!?! Do they know for certain that Hannah would be disruptive? Not all children are! Of course, it depends on the day and the time. If I had the option, I probably wouldn't bring Rohin to such a meeting, but that's because my situation is different. My husband is often available to stay at home with him in the evening. If I were on that board, I think I'd be mad not to have you on the board with me. They really are missing out on a good volunteer!
Post a Comment