Parent Leader Has A Teacher'S Insight

Teacher Pat Lewno, who is president of the Wisconsin PTA, shares a laugh with a group of 1st-graders at Racine's Schulte Elementary School.

By Joanne M. Haas

When teachers, parents and the community combine forces on behalf of children, the possibilities send chills up Pat Lewno’s spine.

“Nobody lives in isolation. We can’t operate in a vacuum,” said Lewno, an English as a second language instructor for some of the youngest students enrolled in the Racine Unified School District.

“It takes everyone to help that child to become a future adult.”
And when the child succeeds, Lewno said, everyone succeeds.

“When it all comes together and everyone is working together, the things that can happen are absolutely amazing.”

It is this team approach that Lewno plans to intensify as she powers through her two-year term as president of the nearly 50,000-strong Wisconsin PTA. “This is exciting,” said Lewno, who took office July 1.

Some might think it could be confusing for Lewno to address issues from the varying viewpoints of a WEAC member, a parent of two sons, and a taxpayer. Rather, Lewno is banking on her membership in all camps to assist her in being an effective leader. Still, she has no images of grandeur as she starts her term.

“I’m not doing anything that anybody else couldn’t do,” said the native of Aberdeen, S.D. “There’s nothing miraculous about being the president of Wisconsin PTA.

“All it takes is a commitment to creating a bright future for children,” Lewno said. If she can accomplish that by using her perspective as a teacher and a parent, “then that’s pretty good.”

Lewno’s six goals
Top on Lewno’s six goals as president is to continue the work of creating that “dynamic learning community” that is possible when the school-family-community connection is made.

That goal boils down to “helping (all) realize what a dramatic impact can be made when we are all working together,” she said.
Lewno cites National PTA research that documents improvements in test scores, attendance and consistency of children whose parents and communities are involved in local education issues.

“Equally important ... is adequate public school funding,” Lewno said as her second priority.

The Wisconsin PTA spent the past nearly two years listening to horror stories from public school district administrators and teachers grappling to provide quality education programs and maintain facilities under the 1993 revenue control law.

“It is very evident that revenue limits have created some impossible situations,” she said. “It doesn’t seem right. Our kids are put in jeopardy. I don’t think we have the answers.” But, Lewno said, people have a right to insist those in power keep searching for the answers.

Lewno said when the law first took effect, the PTA thought it might be able to make up the loss in some districts’ funding by holding bake sales and other fund-raisers.

“Last January, we had our last bake sale at the State (Capitol) Rotunda,” she said, referring to an exhibit set up by the PTA as part of a daylong protest against revenue controls.

“We would have to sell a mountain of brownies and cookies to even come close to a fraction (of what is needed). There is no way that parent groups of any kind can make up the difference. ...Instead, we have to use our collective voice to talk to those people who need to hear.”

Lewno hopes all parties can speak in a unified voice to persuade those in power to change the revenue control law to benefit children.

Third on her list is safe schools. “Children and teachers should feel safe within their buildings,” she said. “Safe without being bullied, threatened and without being afraid.”

Right in line with her own profession of helping Racine children become more proficient with English is her fourth priority – improve literacy.

“Our goal for the next two years is to help teachers talk to parents about what they can do at home to increase their (child’s reading) success,” she said.

The Wisconsin PTA, Lewno said, operates a program that distributes thousands of donated books annually.

“The idea is whoever owns that book will want to read that book.”

Fifth is addressing the environmental and health issues in the school population. That includes educating all about the potential harmful effects of being in a building with poor air quality or being exposed to herbicides on school grounds.

Last but not least on her list is to improve the outreach of the PTA in middle and high schools. The stereotype, she said, is the PTA is most active in elementary schools.

“We need to encourage our middle school and high school parents to find” ways to get involved.

A complementary combination
Lewno, who grew up “on a good old-fashioned farm” in South Dakota, knew from her childhood she would be a teacher. Her first goal was to be a high school English teacher and librarian. She did both early on.

But she changed her focus when, after her husband was transferred to Illinois, she was asked to teach English at a local community college where many Vietnamese families lived.
“I was hooked,” she said. She then earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with the focus on the English as a second language program.

When her husband was transferred to Racine to work for Case IH, she again found a diverse community in southeastern Wisconsin where more than 50 languages are spoken. Nearly 1,000 children are in the pre-K through 12th grade ESL division.
Lewno first became active in the PTA when her youngest son -- now 21 and attending Drake University -- started school. Over the years, she has held various offices in the Wisconsin PTA.
Lewno said over the decades the PTA, the oldest and largest children’s advocacy group, has been a leader on children’s issues that include safety education, distribution of the polio vaccine, combatting school violence, educating the public about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and education reform. Now, she said, the focus is more on the involvement of parents as equal partners in education.

“I am fortunate to work in a district that values the partnership” between the community, parents and the district, she said.

Lewno believes being aligned with both teachers’ groups and parents’ groups gives her a broader view.

“We may each have a different perspective or a different way of looking at it, but our goals are very similar,” she said.

And that goal is to make sure every kid gets a great education.
For more information, visit the Wisconsin PTA Web site at:
www.wisconsinpta.org.

Posted October 4, 2001