Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! by Julio Vincent Gambuto

Author:Julio Vincent Gambuto
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2023-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

School Community

Anyone who has kids or who has been a student knows that the school community is its very own unique circle. I don’t have kids yet (we’re working on it; it’s a process), but I have two sisters who have kids, and it is super clear that being part of their school community is nearly a full-time job in and of itself. I have pulled this one out from the more general “community institutions, associations, and organizations” because school can be a uniquely intense circle, one that often comes with a lot of bullshit. Families are subscribed to school letters, grade portals, homework websites, parenting guides, communications from the school board, the school district, the state, the volleyball team. There are parent groups, class leaders, team sports, academic clubs, extracurricular activities, and student organizations vying for your focus and that of your children. Subscription in this circle is strong, and the pressure is on full blast to participate and engage, and to adopt group beliefs, practices, and behaviors.

Unsubscribing from a school community will be tough if you are an active parent, but for a short time, try to create as much space as you can from the demands that this circle puts on you and from the noise its pinging and ringing creates in your day-to-day life. With the pressure to succeed ratcheted up, especially in this economy, many parents think that if they are not constantly tethered to these communications or obligations that their children will suffer emotionally, socially, academically, or intellectually. But, again, try to remember that educational systems existed for thousands of years without three dozen email updates a day. Your kids need your love. Not more prodding to be perfect and always “on.” Use your voice, as a parent, to advocate for streamlined communications, realistic expectations about involvement, sustainable and family-kind scheduling. When schools adopt business practices that mimic the Big Forces, when they enthusiastically participate in the relentless swirl, all we are teaching our kids is that the only way to live—and to succeed in life—is to participate blindly and on autopilot.

You may highly disagree, but here’s my point: you have the power as a member of the school community to advocate for your mental health and for that of your child and family.

Perhaps email or call the school coordinator or even head administrators. Let them know that you are engaging in an important family process to reevaluate the constant influx. You come in peace, but you need a breather. You might even use this communication as an opportunity to ask for help or to ask what the school is doing to support parents in managing the constant chaos you find yourself battling. If that approach feels too intense, perhaps attend the next PTA meeting and bring it up to other parents, many of whom are likely feeling the very same way.

If you have children of an appropriate age, call on them to manage their own schedules and responsibilities and advocate for themselves. You

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