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09/20/99 16:05 FAX
NATL ECONOMIC COUNCIL
002
non
the National Campaign for Public School Impr
314-726-0536
9/20/99
11:28 AM
2/3
TEN PEOPLE WHO SHAPED THE DECADE
ACTIVISTS TAKE ON SCHOOLS
A MoM AND POP SHOP
What Do Schools Need? Parent Power, Says Kevin Walker.
BY RACHEL HARTIGAN
T
he eΓa of the bake sale is nearly over. The last decade has seen
gritty of schools and education policy. Like other
traditional forms of parent involvement in schools usurped by
boosters of parent involvement in schools. the
more activist models. Rather than sclling rafflc tickets, parents
39-year-old Walker contends that the fate of pub-
in Kentucky serve on school site-based management commit-
lic education hinges on turning the average mom
tees. #Texas parents don't just sign report cards; they weigh in on
and dad into players in the school reform arcna.
whether a new math curriculum is "educationally deficient." Moms
"I want parents to be involved in policy," he says.
and dads everywhere, no longer content to show up at school just once
"It goes beyond just having input"
a year for open house, park themselves on campus at "parent centers."
Schools have been deluged with "inpur" dur-
To Kevin Walker, the age of the parent activist has arrived none too
ing the '90s Politicians, businessmen, and com-
soon. A former political organizer-he worked for Walter Mondale's failed
munity leaders have all made school business
presidential campaign and the star-crossed movement to draft Mario
their business. Even Star Wars creator George
Cuomo for a White House bid-he runs Project Appleseed, a nonprofit
Lucas is throwing his clout-and money-around
group that helps parents shed their timid, "teachers know best" atti-
toinfluence schools. But the people with the most.
tudes and dive into the nitty-gritty of schools and divc into the nitty-
at stake are parents. For years, they've been de-
manding that school officials fix fail-
ing schools. Now they are realizing that
nothing will change unless they do
some of the heavy lifting themselves.
"If we wait for others. the problems will
never get solved." says Charles Olson
of Parents for Public Schools, a Mis-
sissippi-based advocacy organization
that has set up chapters in 22 states since
its founding in 19S9. "We're not going
to wait any longer."
Kevin Walker came to this conclu-
sion in the early 1990s. Having with-
drawn from the itinerant life of a vet-
tran campaigner to spend more time
with his young children he heard that
his suburban St. Louis school district
was inviting parents to participate in
strategic planning. Walker accepted the
invitation and, bitten by the reform bug.
founded a small parents' group that
eventually evolved into the local chap-
ter of Parents for Public Schools. He
soon became the Midwestem regional
director of PPS, leading a successful
lobbying campaign to force Missouri's
50 ACHRMAZIN
09/20/99 16:07 FAX
NATL ECONOMIC COUNCIL
003
the National Campaign for Public School Imprt
314-726-0536
9/20/99
11:28 AM
3/3
10
TenthAnniversarylssue
TEN PEOPLE
Who Shaped
THE DECADE
istory is often the study of the leaders, the politicians, the
H
generals, the powers that be. But when it comes to telling
the story of education in the '90s, the usual suspects merit
little more than a footnote. Behind each of the dominant
trends of the 1990s-the advance of technology, the curriculum wars,
the push for teacher quality, to name a few--there was not one per-
son but hundreds. Some were education insiders, of course, but oth-
ers had not set foot in a classroom for years. Some purposefully
sought change, while others inadvertently sct the stage for it And
while some influenced policy, others transformed school culture and
traditional attitudes toward education.
Here, then, are profiles of 10 such people. Though the 90s have
seen two 'education presidents' and at least a dozen 'education gov-
ernors', these 10 and others like them are the decade's most influen-
tial people.
34 TEACHER MAGAZINE