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Upon entering John H. Taggart Elementary School’s new Parent Resource Room, it is hard to imagine it was once used for storage just six short months ago.
Student artwork decorates the space and colorful paintings, masks and pyramid-shaped sculptures adorn its outskirts. A low, circular table and chairs sit between a bookshelf and a TV. Videos with titles like “Christmas Customs,” “African Odyssey” and “Michelangelo and His Art” are stacked beneath the screen, while three computer workstations line one of the walls.
“We’re trying to change the dynamics of what the school looks like,” parent Jason Mango, who has been community ombudsman since November 2008, said of the institution at 400 W. Porter St.
The purpose of the room is to provide resource for parents so they can become more involved in their children’s lives, a school press release stated. Parents are able to meet at the space to discuss ideas about the school and learn skills to improve their children’s lives, as well as their own, the release stated.
The room is open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and has computers to surf job placement and training Web sites, a media area to watch parenting and educational videos, and a lending library full of children’s books.
“Now the parents have the opportunities to explore the same books and educational materials that their children are using every day in school through the resource room,” Mango said.
Time also has been carved out for parental workshops that focus on resume creation, English as a Second Language (ESL) studies and parenting. ESL is particularly useful, Mango said, since Taggart parents collectively speak 17 different languages.
Parents also can receive free school supplies, uniforms and clothing through the center, as well apply for free medical care through the school nurse and fill out civil service forms and School District of Philadelphia employment applications.
The undertaking is a major part of the district’s Imagine 2014 five-year plan to improve City schools, according to Mango. The goal is “to have everyone on task and be responsible for their own actions, from the students to their parents to the teachers,” he said.
Right now, Taggart is “one of a handful” of schools with a functioning parent resource room and the district is encouraging others to build similar ones, Mango said.
The room’s overhaul began in July with everything in the space being cleared out by mid-September, Mango said. Since no funding was available for the project, all of the items now in the room were either gathered up from around the school and repurposed or donated.
“We scoured the building looking for anything we could use,” he said. “The paint was donated from craigslist.”
Starting in January, parents will be able to take classes for college credit that will transfer to Temple and Cheney universities and Community College of Philadelphia, Mango said. Plans to return to academic life are not a prerequisite to take the courses, but the option is available.
Tara Ramrattan, whose son is a Taggart first-grader, said continued learning is important, regardless of age.
“Parents need to be educated to help their children,” she said.
Many are “shy” when it comes to asking for help, she added, “but they are very interested in being tutored. You just have to put it in front of them.”
Ramrattan has completed basic computer training herself and loved teaching it to others.
“I jumped at it,” she said of the chance to gain the skills. “It’s important for them to know how to post their resumes online so that parents who need work can actually find work.”
Taggart Home and School Association President Diana Tucci-Lavini, a parent of third-grader Montana, agreed the main goal is to get parents more involved.
“There’s a better vibe here now,” she said, adding the room has “turned the school around.”
Adrian Sills, whose 6-year-old daughter attends Taggart, said he has not gotten a chance to explore the center, but finds it encouraging to know it is open and hopes parents take advantage of it.
“It makes me want to do more,” he said simply.
The Home and School Association’s Michelle Wilson has a daughter in the first grade and two grandchildren in first and sixth grades at the school. It is still a little early to gauge the effects of the resource room, she said, but creating it is part of Taggart’s overall “change in the right direction,” she said, adding one of the most positive aspects of it is its being inclusive.
“You don’t have to be on a committee to use it,” she said. “We just need to get the word out that it’s available to everyone.”
