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It’s six o’clock on a Tuesday night, and Masterman is in shambles. The School Advisory Council (SAC) is meeting, and a Zoom room full of parents has fought for their children since minute one.
It’s no secret that Masteman parents are dedicated. With a large concentration of high-performing kids, the quality and equity of education at Masterman is always under scrutiny. And when parents have concerns, SAC is one of the first places they turn.
Since the shutdown, SAC has seen a surge in popularity. Their previous meeting, on September 15th, was perhaps the largest forum yet.
“We had 109 people in the Zoom,” says SAC facilitator and Masterman parent Maria Beatty. “I think the virtual platform made a lot of parents curious, and they had a lot of questions.” The central topics? Admissions criteria, the seventh grade math curriculum, and the state of virtual learning.
The monthly meetings last only ninety minutes, and it’s hard to juggle the variety of questions from parents. “The questions that middle school parents have are so different from the questions high school parents have,” Beatty says. With both groups in a single meeting, “there are a lot of people who feel like they’re sometimes not heard.”
Photo courtesy of Maria Beatty
Despite the struggle to stick to an agenda, SAC has a unique role in shaping the Masterman community. When Maria Beatty first joined she thought of it as a twin of the Home and School Association (HSA), but actually found the goal and makeup very different.
Sophie Gala (11-1), a junior at Masterman and student government delegate on the council, has a similar story. “SAC frames their work around school issues and the student experience directly, as opposed to informing parents and doing community outreach.”
Maria Beatty explains that SAC is primarily designed to be a tool for the principal, more of a sounding board than a governing body. Committees within the council work to create “tidy, well-fleshed-out proposals and then offer them to the administration.” After that, it’s out of their hands.
SAC is also unique in its three-pronged approach to the Masterman experience – an official ratio of parents, teachers, and students sit on the voting council.
Sophie is relatively new to the position. She started attending meetings last year to take notes for the Student Government Association (SGA). Now, she’s hoping to increase their involvement with the council. “Involving parents, administration, teachers, and as wide of a circle as possible in what students are going through,” is important to SGA, and SAC provides that opportunity.
“As helpful as student advocacy has been at Masterman,” Sophie says “it’s nice to have a more external group that can look at issues holistically, a group that can simultaneously advocate for students and take in the teacher, parent, and administrative perspective.”
Parents and students can get involved by coming to the monthly meetings or reaching out to the SAC executive board. More information is available on the website. In the spring, parents can run for positions on the council. Getting elected isn’t difficult as long as you’re passionate about making Masterman the best it can be.
To prospective and current members alike, Maria Beatty leaves parents with some words of wisdom. “Too many parents are too grateful,” she says. “They're just grateful to be there and they don't think that they can change anything. They don’t think they can root for themselves, or root for their kid.” SAC provides that opportunity. “There should definitely be more voices in SAC,” she tells me. For now, at least, there’s more SAC in Voices.
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