Of the many changes that immigrant families face, stepping into the role of a PTA parent can be among the most intimidating.
Language can be a barrier. The close-knit arrangement of other parents can be discouraging. And some cultures don’t advocate the same parental involvement pushed in suburban schools.
A group of Japanese women, however, has forged a path into the Whiteley Elementary School Parent Teacher Association in Hoffman Estates–and they are trying to make it wide enough and easy enough for other ethnic groups to follow.
Akemi Kawashima and other Japanese moms with English-language skills helped translate the parent handbook for roughly 16 Japanese families, the largest minority group at the school. In their free time, they formed a welcoming committee for Japanese parents and an International Friendship Committee of the PTA to welcome other immigrants.
They showcased their ability to get involved in Palatine Township Elementary District 15 when they organized a recent Japanese festival, even though most do not speak English.
In a quiet classroom, women in kimonos served green tea and delicate sweets, while the cafeteria pulsated with activity: food, handmade games for children with prizes from Japan and the chance to pose for photographs in everyday kimonos.
Despite the language barrier, the mothers entered what can be an impenetrable fabric of local politics in some districts. And they managed to raise $300 for the school.
“Japanese students sometimes have a hard time adjusting to American culture. But we are doing OK. This is our way of thanking you,” Kawashima told the packed room as traditional dancers and drummers took the stage.
The Illinois PTA is encouraging just this type of diversity in local chapters. The group wants to bring more immigrants, minorities and fathers into the traditionally female corps, said Anna Weselak, Illinois PTA president.
“It is a priority for many PTAs to be more inclusive. That is what builds student achievement and stronger PTAs,” she said. “PTAs need to reflect the demographics of their schools.”
To do that, the state group is encouraging member groups to translate district documents into foreign languages, find parents to serve as translators and encourage newly arrived folks to get involved as teams.
The District 15 Japanese mothers are among thousands of Japanese nationals in the northwest suburbs selected annually for coveted short-term stints with local companies. While their husbands work to provide a mostly upper-middle-class existence, the mothers are without work permits and find themselves taking non-credit classes and buttressing a growing inter-suburb corps of volunteers.
Their school involvement is unusual among immigrant parents, said Diep Nguyen, director of bilingual and multicultural programming in neighboring Schaumburg Elementary District 54, where there are roughly 75 Japanese families.
“It is our experience that it takes immigrant parents a few years just to get acclimated with the American public school system,” Nguyen said. “We have parents who volunteer in classrooms or go on field trips, but as far as taking leadership roles in PTAs, it is very unusual.”
She said some poorer immigrant families are bogged down by inadequate day care or a lack of transportation. The language barrier intimidates even affluent immigrants, as does getting to know PTA members who have been volunteering for years, she said.
But she said Japanese mothers have been especially assertive when they move to the same subdivisions and, in groups of two or three, approach individual schools.
Yoji Imaizumi, director of community relations for the private Chicago Futabakai Japanese School in Arlington Heights, said parents in America get more involved in school matters than in Japan, for practical reasons.
In Japan, students are more likely to take public transportation. Here, parents walk their children to and from a school bus, he said. Further, he said, the Japanese government mandates a national curriculum, while local districts here have more choices, leading to more parental involvement.
“They don’t have to acclimate to our culture, but this demonstrates that they are getting involved,” said Edward M. Yung of Inverness, a school board member.
