By MADDY VITALE
An Ocean City married mother of two wants parents to be more involved in classroom activities. She would like to see a greater partnership between school officials and the community.
And she would like to see new programs where students could bring family members in to honor them and other events that could help boost the morale in the Ocean City school district.
So what Ocean City parent Laura Wheeler did was to form a parent group — OCNJ Families United for Sensible Education (FUSE) for the purpose of opening up a conversation.
“I feel that I speak for many, and I am proud that I have the ability to do this for the community,” Wheeler said in an interview Wednesday.
Parents met for their first “FUSE” meeting in August at Wheeler’s Ocean City home.
“We had too many people, so we moved it to a bigger venue. We want people to feel safe and welcome,” Wheeler said.
Now, the meetings are held at the Ocean City Free Public Library. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 5, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The meetings create a platform for parents to speak their concerns, Wheeler noted.
“It’s a safe place. No labeling. No political agendas,” Wheeler emphasized. “It is just a place for parents to go and say what is on their minds.”
On Sept. 24, Wheeler, who also coaches the Ocean City Jr. Raiders soccer and lacrosse programs, addressed the Board of Education about her concerns and her hopes with her newly formed group.
“Board member Jacqueline McAlister stated in last week’s board meeting she thought our community should be more involved within the schools,” Wheeler said. “In that same meeting, I requested the intermediate school allow parents and family members who are active or retired in the military to be invited into the school on Veterans Day.”
Wheeler, whose sons both go to the intermediate school, approached principal Michael Mattina to speak to him about her idea for veterans to be honored.
“I asked Mr. Mattina to give me a good reason why this is not allowed, because it is important to many. And if the school district says they want to be inclusive of everyone, this is a good way to show that.”
The following day, Interim Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott McCartney spoke to Mattina about Wheeler’s idea and some other things that could promote positive programs in the school district.
“I did speak with the principal the next day,” McCartney said in a text message Wednesday. “He and his staff are developing some programming to bring community and guest speakers into classrooms and other school spaces to access the community and he is open to creating some quarterly programs to get parents, grandparents, veterans etc. in the school.”
So far, the biweekly FUSE meetings have had excellent attendance from families throughout the community, Wheeler said.
“We have had some Board of Education members show up and they give us facts,” Wheeler said. “We have different parents attend every meeting. I would say we have at least 20 people at a meeting.”
Wheeler recently ran for PTA president and lost, but stressed that it is all the more reason why she wanted to create a new forum for families to speak out.
“I ran for the PTA, so I could help achieve these ideas,” Wheeler said of ideas to improve parental involvement in the schools. “I believe our PTA board members should be fighting for more parent involvement in our children’s schools. Parent involvement is the foundation for student success, and the research is overwhelmingly clear, when parents play a positive role in their children’s education, students do better in school.”
For more information about the Ocean City school district, visit www.oceancityschools.org.
