School makeovers, fueled by the middle class

Two years ago, the Joseph J. Hurley Elementary School in Boston's South End had no gym and no library. Students jumped rope in the hallways on rainy days and trekked several blocks to the public library. For years, the school had been shunned by parents during the annual school selection lottery.

Today, the school is a dramatically different place, thanks to dozens of South End parents who banded together to adopt -- and improve -- the small school. Parents raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to subsidize arts and science education. They pushed the School Department to convert makeshift offices back into a gym, and last month, they dedicated the new library, with Swedish-designed furniture donated by IKEA.

Similar transformations are occurring in about a dozen other of the city's 78 elementary schools. Savvy, often well-connected, middle - class parents are joining forces and adopting undesirable schools, infusing them with new life, resources, and expansive extracurricular offerings.

But even as the city heralds the new engagement, it has set off worries and debate about diversity and empowerment. Some fear that the efforts of the overwhelmingly white parents might leave black and Hispanic parents feeling excluded or, worse, alienated. In addition, the schools chosen by the parents for improvement have undergone changes in their racial composition, as word of mouth spreads and other white parents decide to send their children there.

"We're so lucky we have people who say, 'This isn't good enough and we're going to have to take it into our hands to make it better,' " said Leesa Kurtz-Stolbach, an art teacher at the Joseph P. Manning Elementary School in Jamaica Plain whose salary is subsidized by parents. "There are a lot of schools that don't have middle - class parents to support them and those kids don't get what we get."

Some of the parent partnerships began on a grass-roots level. But now the city has formalized the effort, through a joint program with the YMCA aimed at persuading more middle-class parents to choose the Boston public schools, especially schools that are undersubscribed. Since 2003, 14 schools have received grants from the city, the YMCA, and local foundations to better reach out to prospective parents. Cadres of parents tout their good experiences to new parents during house parties and neighborhood meetings.

Their efforts have boosted the schools' popularity. The number of parents who now list a formerly undersubscribed school as their first choice has tripled in some schools. Seats fill up faster, occupied mostly by well-informed parents who know to register their children during the first round of the lottery.

"We should be doing everything we can to get groups from all segments of our community and make them aware they have the power to adopt a school and make significant changes to improve the learning environment of their kids," said Elizabeth Reilinger , chairwoman of the School Committee. "This should be going on in every school, every neighborhood."

The movement began in 2000 after the School Committee, prompted by a lawsuit filed by a group of white parents challenging the city's race-based school assignments, loosened its racial balance policies and gave parents more geographic control over where their children went to school. Families began aiming more for neighborhood schools, where they wanted to make an impact.

South End parents formed a nonprofit network called the Neighborhood Parents for the Hurley School, independent of the parent council, and drew up a plan to improve the school. The effort started in 2002, when many of their children were just toddlers. The network now has an annual budget of $90,000, which is spent in consultation with the principal and teachers.

The parents shy away from using the word "takeover." But it is clear that by selecting less sought after schools, often smaller ones, they and like - minded friends can have a powerful impact on the atmosphere and ambitions of a school.

"It's important to me to have my children going to a school with other children from families where education was a real focus," said Hilary Law , a textile painter who lives in Jamaica Plain and who helped organize a group of about 10 families to enter the Dennis Haley Elementary School in Roslindale in 2004.

On top of academics, the parents, whose ranks include doctors, lawyers, architects, and professional grant writers, wanted to ensure that their children would receive a well-rounded education, with music, art classes, physical education, and excursions to the theater and museums -- frills in the Boston public schools that are considered staples in many suburban and most private schools.

The fund-raising efforts are constant and ambitious, and parents often draw on their professional and social connections to bolster them. Parents at Haley Elementary wrote grants to get money to landscape the schoolyard and hire a coach who teaches students conflict resolution and leadership through playing games. An auction this month to benefit Manning Elementary garnered $15,500 through bids on a chalk portrait of one's child, spa packages, and a time-share in Falmouth.

Parents at Hurley raised nearly $5,000 when they hosted a recent Sunday evening benefit at Tremont 647 and the adjoining Sister Sorel, a trendy South End restaurant and bar.

Some teachers and administrators say they initially worried the active parents would be overdemanding or entitled or leave them feeling trampled. Instead, they seem impressed with the parents' commitment and ability to listen.

Marjorie Soto, principal of Hurley Elementary, said she credits the parents for turning the school around in such a short time. Soon after she was hired in 2005, parents invited her to a meeting in one of their homes and asked her how they could support her goals for the school.

"You begin to accept this mediocre world in public schools because there's not enough to go around, knowing the children deserve more," Soto said. "These parents have helped me see the possibilities. Some skeptics might see their actions as self-serving, but in reality, they have become great advocates for all children."

On a recent day at Hurley, a Spanish-immersion school, a kindergarten class stood in a circle and sang Spanish and English songs as part of a weekly music program funded through a grant parents wrote. More than half of the students in the class were white, in a school where 97 percent of students were black or Hispanic four years ago.

Bridget Fernandes, a fifth - grade bilingual teacher, was initially wary when the parents group formed in 2002. In her eight years at the school, she had never taught a white student; 90 percent of her students are Hispanic, 10 percent are black. She envisioned struggling to balance her energies between pleasing demanding middle - class parents and continuing to meet the needs of at-risk students.

Instead, the parents attended monthly teacher lunches, providing sandwiches from a neighborhood bakery, and surveyed teachers on their needs and the types of after-school programs they would like to see.

Still, Fernandes worries about the voices of black and Hispanic parents becoming weaker.

"It's just hard to get the black and Latino parents to sit at the same table and not be intimidated," she said. The school recently renamed its parent council, "Padres en Accion" to attract more Hispanic families.

At the Manning School, too, demographics have shifted dramatically. White students now make up half of the school; they are the majority in regular education classrooms, especially in the younger grades. The number of students from families at or below the poverty level has dropped from more than half in 2002 to less than a third today.

In contrast, 75 percent of Boston public school students are black or Hispanic; three-quarters are classified as poor under federal free and subsidized-lunch standards.

The shift has alarmed some parents, including those responsible for the changes, who say they chose the school in part because they wanted their children to learn in diverse classrooms.

"It's kind of like gentrification of the schools, and now I'm part of this problem," said Kathy Brown, whose son is in the fifth grade at Manning. "On the one hand, people are bringing good resources and have a lot of energy and interests and vision, but are we creating an environment where it's harder for other parents to participate?"

Brown, who works on affordable housing issues as a coordinator of the Boston Tenant Coalition, and her husband, Kevin Whalen , have tried to recruit more black and Hispanic families to the school, with limited success.

Teaka Isaac, who is African-American, recently attended a parent council meeting and was surprised to find only one other black parent there. She said she would like the school to be more diverse, but is grateful for the resources middle - class parents bring. Her fifth-grade son has been able to take violin lessons at the school because of a grant.

"I feel blessed to be in a school that can supplement a child's education," said Isaac, a single mother who lives in Dorchester and works in human resources for a healthcare company. "This is almost like the feel of a private school without the tuition.

"I got to give it to these white parents," she said. "They are very passionate about raising money. They move like a wheel. And sometimes minority parents might find it hard to find a way in."

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.