Both parents and communities must be involved in the local schools. Education is too important to leave solely to a group of professional educators.

Local schools are an integral part of a society and of each individual community. Much of what happens in a community is directly tied in to the local schools, whether the members of that community's children are of school age or not. The quality of the local schools also depends a great deal on the community. If the schools are well supported, they generally will be good quality schools. If the community ignores or contributes to the school's problems, the schools and students may not perform to the best of their abilities. Without the involvement of parents and the surrounding communities, professional educators cannot do their jobs properly. Additionally, the involvement of the parents ensures that educators will keep the school children as their first priority, rather than focusing on maximizing personal profits through teachers unions and the like.

Traditionally in years past, the parents and communities cooperated to set up schools to serve all the children in a particular location. As the United States has become larger, local, state and federal governments have become further involved, thus lessening the responsibilities of the parents with regards to the schools. Parents cannot and should not abdicate all of their responsibilities to the various governmental bodies, however. It remains incumbent upon the parents and communities to remain involved in as many aspects of the local schools as they can.

First of all, the most fundamental responsibility of the parents is that they must ensure that their own children are properly dressed, on time and actually behaving themselves in the classrooms. Professional educators cannot properly teach children that don't know how to behave while at school. Other children are distracted or maybe even misled to misbehave themselves by children who are chronically disruptive. Parents must control their own children and not leave the job of child behavioral training to the teachers at school.

Secondly, parents and communities must make sure that they contribute financially to their local schools, and not only by the mandatory payment of taxes to the government. School groups are always trying to raise money for some beneficial school projects. It is important that parents do not turn their backs when school children come door to door asking for money, even when (and maybe especially when) it is not their own children who are asking for help.

Furthermore, parents have more than just a financial responsibility to the local schools, they also have an obligation to give generously of their time whenever possible. Attending their own child's sports games and recitals are certainly important. Volunteering to coach, referee or to help organize activities for the school children are also extremely important. Local schools seem to never have enough help to accomplish all that needs to be done or to accomplish all that should be done. Just ask any teacher or professional educator, they can probably find a place for any volunteer that desires to help.

Finally, parents and communities must be involved with local schools just to be sure that the professional educators are indeed "professional" and are giving the children the proper educational basics that they need. Direct and continuous communications with a teacher or principal can sometimes give parents all the information that they need to decide whether he or she is properly fit for the job. Powerful teachers unions have developed over the years that sometimes tend to put the teachers first and the priorities of the children second. By staying involved with the local schools, parents and the communities can show the educators that they are committed to the children and the schools, and that they should always remember whom the schools were built for in the first place.

The success or failure of a local school depends almost entirely on the involvement of parents and the local community. The parents and others in these communities must be willing to make sure that their own children are properly behaved, that they support the school both financially and with their time, and that the professional educators always put the well-being of the children as the number one priority.