Community steps up to support Winston-Salem schools without strong PTAs

The doors to the teachers' lounge at Carter High School in Winston-Salem were closed last Thursday for what most of the educators in the building believed was some routine maintenance and carpet cleaning.

But that’s not what was happening.

In fact, the stained, outdated carpet would be coming out entirely and replaced with wood floors. The white cinderblock walls were going to be repainted a deep, cozy charcoal, accented with floral wallpaper. New appliances, furniture, art, lamps, and even a coffee station were also on the way. 

This room was getting a complete makeover made possible by donations and volunteers, and envisioned by local interior designer Jourdan Fairchild. 

“I want it to feel like a really cozy, relaxing, sort of luxurious place that they can go to eat lunch, to recharge, to really fuel them to go back out and do their jobs," Fairchild said of her design. 

A space like that is something Fairchild says all teachers should have. But if she can give one school a makeover, she said it’s only right for it to be Carter, the district’s school for students with special needs. 

Sonna Williams is an interventionist at Carter, which means she provides support to the school, whether that’s with academics, behavior, families, or school improvement plans. She says Carter High School teachers and staff do a lot for students. 

“So here, we make sure we guide their instruction based on their next leap in life, whatever that may be," Williams said. "And we want to make sure we give their families the support they need because our students require a lot of school support, as well as family support. So we do that by building relationships.”

They prepare students for finding a job or entering a college program, and living life after high school. Williams said the teachers here do more than just teach.

“Some of them are caregivers," Williams said. "They are the one that takes care of the student's needs, you know, we do everything from toileting, pottying, nurturing, and social emotionally letting them know 'we see you and you're amazing.'”

That’s the same message Jourdan Fairchild hopes to send to the teachers with a renovated lounge. 

“I hope that they feel how much the community appreciates them, that their work matters, and that they deserve a place to rest, recharge, and feel a little bit pampered," Fairchild said.

The makeover is just one component of a larger effort spearheaded by a local group called Community for Public Schools, or CPS. The organization advocates for students, educators, and families in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County. 

Earlier this year, CPS began working with the district to come up with ways they could support schools that lacked strong Parent Teacher Associations. That’s because schools with well-established PTAs tend to have access to more funds and resources than schools without them. 

According to Mark Batten, the district’s executive director of community engagement, about a quarter of the schools in the district don’t have an active PTA. 

“And really what that kind of boils down to is that schools that do not have PTAs don't have significant access to unrestricted funding sources that allows them to do some of the things that you see other schools doing," Batten said.

PTAs are considered nonprofits and are part of a statewide network which means they have access to greater resources. 

Also, Batten says there are some expenses that schools are responsible for, rather than the district. Things like playground upgrades and repairs need to be paid for by the school. PTAs usually help take care of that kind of thing. They also organize fundraisers, school events, and volunteer opportunities. 

“And so PTAs do function in many and powerful ways. And that's not to say that if you don't have a PTA, that still can't happen, it just reduces the school's capacity to manage some of those things," Batten said. 

Batten said there are lots of reasons why some schools don’t have PTAs, and it doesn’t mean there’s not strong parental involvement in other ways. He said there are challenges to getting a PTA up and running. 

"For many of our communities, it's hard for parents to get involved because they're working different shifts, or they have a completely different work schedule or other commitments that keep them from doing that. And so, that's usually what inhibits the PTA from getting started," he said. "But also it can't always be teacher-led. And at some schools it is, but teachers already have enough that they're working through to make it day to day.”

Cost can be another barrier. Batten said one school in the district had a PTA, but wasn’t active for a couple of years, and had to pay a fine to the IRS to reestablish itself. Other schools might not have had the best experience with their PTA, and don’t have one anymore. 

Whatever the reason, the result is some schools have access to more resources than others. Community for Public Schools is trying to fill in some of those gaps. 

Batten worked with the group to identify three schools that could use some extra love — Easton Elementary School, Philo-Hill Middle School, and Carter High School. 

Valerie Brockenbrough with CPS said the group decided to focus specifically on the teachers at these schools. 

“We feel like the teachers, they need their cup full so that they can give back to the children," Brockenbrough said. "And with everything that is going on after COVID, and all the attacks on teachers and you know, everything we hear on the news and the gun violence and all those things, we feel like it's important to give back to teachers as a community.”

The group raised money with GoFundMe pages, and reached out to local businesses for donations. Easton got a new coffee maker, along with drinks and snacks to stock up the teachers’ lounge. A couple dozen teachers were also gifted $25 Amazon gift cards to purchase necessary school supplies, which are often paid for out of their own pockets. 

And places like Bobby Boy, Burke Street Pizza, and Camino Bakery chipped in to provide quarterly breakfasts and lunches to the teachers throughout the school year. 

“Even though I don't have any children in those schools, it's in the interest of the community as a whole that every school gets, you know, what they need, and that every teacher, every school, feel loved in the community,” Brockenbrough said. 

This work has been going on for several months. But the teachers’ lounge renovation at Carter High School wrapped up this week with a big reveal on Monday.  

The teachers cheered and clapped, admiring the fresh paint, new decor and comfortable chairs. Shawnna Penn, the principal at Carter, shared a few words after the staff got to see their new space. 

“I think we probably have the best teachers area in the district. This is amazing," Penn said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.” 

And for one last surprise, the volunteers arranged for weekly delivery of fresh flowers to the teachers’ lounge through the end of the school year. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.