District 15's PTA Election Day Bake Sale Brings Schools Together

District 15 is one of the most economically diverse districts in the city encompassing a wide range of schools. It has some of the top schools around with enormous PTA budgets, and some schools with no PTA budgets and low involvement. 

Parent leaders have discussed moving beyond thinking of just their own schools to create more equity in resources for all district schools. 

"At meetings of the Presidents Council, we brainstormed ideas about helping schools with low parental engagement and few PTA resources," said Nagita Sykes, PTA President at MS 442. 

Last year MS 442 and PS 32 – schools that share a building -- ran a joint bake sale during the national election. Unfortunately, MS 442 had very low volunteer turnout, both in terms of donating baked goods and running the sale, according to Sykes. 

So remembering the conversations with other parent leaders in the district, Sykes sent an email to all other schools, asking for donations. PTA leaders were called to do the same for all other district schools that are Title I or have problems with parent engagement. 

MS 51, with a base of affluent parents and a resource-rich PTA, sent a message to its thousand families, highlighting the inequalities between district schools and asking for donations to help this year's bake sale on Election Day.

Throughout the day, MS 51 families delivered baked goods and helped with the bake sale. Other schools also made donations. In the end, the PTA Election Day Bake Sale raised over $700 which will be used to help support the MS442 basketball team in purchasing much-needed uniforms.

"I want to share our experience with other school communities to encourage all of us to support each other's schools," Sykes said, "and strengthen our public education system."