| OCR Text |
Show Know Your Schools .... Hov Can We Obtain A Continuing Public interest In Education ? ... This is a report of another one" of the important local education problems which we're included on the agenda of the Duchesne County Coun-ty Rural Education Conference. The answers to four specific questions ques-tions were sought by the participants partici-pants in Section A of the' conference. confer-ence. Here are the results of their thinking on these questions: 1. Is there a constructive public attitude toward our schools? (A) If yes, how is this attitude expressed? ex-pressed? (B) If no, how can it be obtained? In answering these questions the groups felt that the public, in general, was -pleased with its schools. However; it was felt that there was a great deal of apathy toward active participation in solving the problems of education. To stimulate the public to become be-come more concerned and active in school business it was suggested: sug-gested: (1) That the pubilc be kept informed about school business and school issues. The pubilc has a right to know what is going on and what problems the school district is facing. Church groups, clubs, P-TA, radio, newspapers, etc., should be utilized to get information in-formation to the public. (2) That more parent's day's be held when parents may come to school to learn what the school is doing. Programs on these days should be planned to acquaint the parents par-ents with what the school, is teaching teach-ing and methods used. (3) P-TA meetings should deal with important impor-tant school issues. P-TA organizations organiza-tions should be formed for Elementary Ele-mentary and Secondary schools. The P-TA should become the organization or-ganization that effectively represents repre-sents the parents of the' county in school matters. 2. How can the various organizations organ-izations within the county work for a continuing public interest in education? It was felt that at times some organizations do things that strain relations between the public and the schools. Some organizations hoping to stimulate worthwhile activities in the schools sponsor various kinds of contests. Care should be taken by these groups to follow through fully on any such projects. " It was suggested by the confer- ence that essay, poster, orations and other such organizations sponsored spon-sored contests be cleared through the superintendent before the school year begins and then if approved these could be planned to be included in the 'curriculum. Several way's for organizations to be more helpful to schools were . i suggested by the 'conference participants. par-ticipants. Some of these are: Book fairs, ground beautification projects, proj-ects, purchase playground equipment, equip-ment, donations of books to school libraries. 3. What is thought of the method used last year for publishing publish-ing the annual financial report of the district and the "Know Your Schools" articles as means of keeping the public informed about the school? The conference' groups generally commended the information that was presented last year along with the published list of vouchers issued by the district. The teachers in the conference did not favor the practice of publishing each teacher's salary. It was felt that the articles, "Know Your Schools", have done much to inform the ctizenry and that more could be done along this line. Care should be taken to keep the language of these' articles understandable to all readers. Statements should be simplified' and clarified and written in an interesting manner in order to have . then, read widely. These articles should be written by administrators, ad-ministrators, teachers and lay citizens in an effort to get a cross-section of opinion and interest in-terest in these articles. The' conference participants felt that the public has a right to know what is going on and that every means should be' used to create an interest on the part of the public in its schools and to j keep them informed. |
