Our Mission and Beliefs:
The mission of SEOC is to bring together and organize public school parents and community members in low-income cities in New Jersey that have struggling school districts. We work together to identify common problems in the school system and develop and implement campaigns for the necessary improvements.
To be “organized” as a community is to be informed, active, vocal, engaged, united, and strategic. This makes a community more powerful, increasing its ability to solve problems and challenge injustices.
We believe organized parents have to be leaders in the school-improvement process 1) to make sure policies are based on the real experiences and needs of the community and children, and 2) because the widespread commitment of parents and community members to changes in the schools enables us to overcome barriers we cannot overcome otherwise.
Our method is to organize district-wide parent groups – our SEOC chapters - which join together at the state level to address issues common to all low-income and struggling school districts.
We believe that all children deserve a high-quality public education, and we work and fight for a system that provides a high-quality public education to the many children in New Jersey who are currently denied one.
Our Vision for our Schools:
An Independent Parent Voice:
Too often, parents involved in their children's schooling identify changes in the education system that would improve their children's learning, but they don't have a way to make these changes a reality. SEOC organizes independent parent organizations as the best way for parents to work together in a strategic and organized fashion to achieve these necessary changes. We ensure that parents have the information and tools to make a difference. As an independent group, we ensure that no one can silence parents when we expose harsh realities and fight for difficult changes.
Safe and Healthy Learning Environment:
We work to see that all aspects of our children's learning environment are safe and healthy. This means students shouldn't be put in danger by their drinking water, their school lunches, or their deteriorating school buildings. They also shouldn't be in danger walking to school or walking the hallways, whether by cars, gangs, or fighting. SEOC has worked on campaigns related to all of these issues.
Quality Academics and Extra-Curriculars:
We envision schools with quality curricula that are challenging enough for students at the top of the class, enough books so that students can bring them home with them, enough working computers, and teachers who have experience, training, and skill at working with low-income communities and students. We envision schools with quality art, music, and life-skills programs, and after-school activites that provide enrichment and not just baby-sitting. And we envision schools with quality tutoring programs, which are not only mandated by law but also essential in districts where few families can afford private tutoring. SEOC parents have drawn attention to all of these issues and built campaigns to address them.
Effective Social Support Systems:
We envision schools that have effective systems for making sure students don't fall through the cracks when they are struggling. This means having effective guidance counselors, drop-out prevention officers, truancy officers, and social workers, with school policies that support the effective use of these staff people. And it means having discipline policies that don't just suspend students but seek to identify and address the cause of students' misbehavior. SEOC campaigns at the district and state levels have revolved around these issues
High-Quality School Buildings:
While the NJ Supreme Court has clearly ruled that all low-income "Abbott" districts must have school facilities comparable to affluent suburbs, the state has generally failed in terms of management and results. SEOC has from its beginnings pressed to see high quality schools built in our communities. SEOC parents have pressed for community-oriented school designs with parents engaged in the planning; we have saved land for new schools when some cities have wanted big developers to take over land for other uses; and we have pushed successfully for urgently needed school repairs in Newark and Camden.
Authentic Parental Engagement:
SEOC parents have worked to protect parents' rights to involvement in important decisions made at and about their children's schools. For example, parents have a right to elect their own representative to each school's School Leadership Council, a body that addresses student achievement and, when necessary, makes recommendations on the hiring of a new school principal. In reality, SEOC parents have had to fight to see these promises of parent involvement implemented.
Fair Funding for Our Schools:
We believe that in order for our schools to provide these needed programs and services that make up a quality education, our schools require adequate state funding. We have fought for fair and adequate school funding for New Jersey's low-income districts, and we will continue to work in coalition with our partners across the state on this issue.
