Neighborhood resident Veletta Forsythe-Lill did all the right things when looking for a school for four-year-old son Stewart.
She visited schools, talked to teachers and administrators, and read books and pamphlets. But she still couldn’t find out what she wanted to know – the school’s philosophies, hidden costs and where other children in her neighborhood attended.
Then she began talking with friends.
“The think you seem to trust the most is your friends,” Forsythe-Lill says. “I couldn’t find out things from the school, but I found out things I really needed from moms.”
To help other parents facing her predicament, Forsythe-Lill established a free school referral service with neighbors in Hollywood-Santa Monica. Volunteer parents answer questions from other parents about their children’s schools. The parents can talk about teaching and discipline philosophy, car pooling, extracurricular opportunities, school rules and hidden costs.
“I think mainstream America wants to find a good place for their kids,” Forsythe-Lill says. “People are needing to make choices.”
To get the program started, she compiled a list of some of the private and public schools in our neighborhoods, including Lakewood, St. John’s Episcopal, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard’s, White Rock Montessori, Woodrow Wilson, Arts Magnet, Lakehill and East Dallas Community School.
She talked with neighbors and friends and advertised in her neighborhood newsletter to recruit volunteer representatives with children in each of the schools. Parents from several schools have volunteered, but more are needed in order to get all East Dallas public and private schools represented in the service.
Lakewood Elementary principal Karen Rogers says she is glad to hear about the parent referral service, which she says should give parents a more realistic assessment of neighborhood schools.
Many parents hear rumors and make wrong assumptions about schools without ever visiting or inquiring, Rogers says. By talking with parents who have children attending the school, first-hand information about how the school operates is available, she says.
“There certainly are a lot of things about our school and others that could be improved, but there are also a lot of good things going on,” Rogers says.
Unfortunately, she says, parents don’t hear about the “good things” very often.
Rogers says that although talking with friends and neighbors is a good way to begin learning about a school, parents should still visit schools, talk with administrators and teachers, and become involved in their child’s education.
Forsythe-Lill says she has received a few inquiries, but expects the service to grow as more children in her neighborhood reach school age.
“I think it’ll be an ongoing thing for years to come,” Forsythe-Lill says. “It’s something people can participate in and not give huge amounts of volunteer hours.”
For information, call 321-6668.
