They have just seen the youngest of their children graduate from Montgomery County Public Schools, but don’t expect three active Albert Einstein High School mothers to go away.
Karin Chenoweth, Stephanie Jones and Alies Muskin have been heavily involved in their children’s education and the community since their oldest daughters entered kindergarten more than 20 years ago. They followed the issues, problems and perceptions that surrounded Woodlin Elementary School, Sligo Middle School and Einstein High School.
Each has a career background in social work or education, but the dedication to the school system came from a desire to make sure the community was a good place for the children and their neighbors.
‘‘We got involved because it was important for our kids, important for us and important for our communities,” Chenoweth said. ‘‘Whatever power we have was because we did not go in thinking we were going to make a difference for our kids only.”
Jones is a parent educator at a Parent Resource Center in Rockville, part of a program with the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County. Chenoweth is an education writer, works for the Achievement Alliance and recently published a book about the successes of schools with high poverty and high minority populations. Muskin is the chief operating officer of the Anxiety Disorder Association of America, based in Silver Spring.
The women provided input for the implementation of the consortium system in Montgomery County, renovations at Einstein, the reopening of Newport Mill Middle School, and helped with things like post-prom, the Taste of Einstein and holiday gift-wrapping, an annual fund-raiser at Westfield Wheaton.
Jones said the social aspect of being involved in things like the Parent Teacher Association was appealing at first.
‘‘It was a legitimate reason to go out at night without the kids,” she said. However, she said, since much work was given to the involved parents, she had fun.
‘‘I loved being in the classroom,” she said about the time she volunteered.
Even while their children were learning the ABC’s and basic math skills, the mothers were asking about what programs would be available at the high school level.
‘‘Part of it was anticipatory anxiety,” Chenoweth said, laughing. ‘‘I was worried about high school education ... and I was worried about holding the community together.”
Chenoweth said she remembered joining a committee that would help decide what academic focus Einstein would have before the county began its consortium system that allowed each school to develop a signature curriculum.
She said she was surprised to hear parents and educators debating choices that included computer repairs and secretarial work, rather than focusing on programs like the International Baccalaureate, a program that offers classes in a specific career area for high school students wishing to gain college credits.
She said while many parents and educators felt that MCPS would never grant Einstein the program, she wanted to try anyway.
‘‘Well, if we want IB, I will go get us IB,” Chenoweth said. The school implemented the program in 2002.
That type of dedication was noticed and appreciated by parents.
Kelly Giblin, the current PTSA president at Einstein, said the women created confidence in the schools.
‘‘I would have to say their main contribution was to force MCPS to dig deep into their data, to look beyond the surface successes [and] to make sure that every kid regardless of race or socioeconomic status has the opportunity to be successful,” she said.
Although a lot of the women’s work centered on bettering the school system, they also made an effort to show parents how they could get involved.
‘‘It’s really the parents that go through hard transitions,” Muskin said. ‘‘... [We tried] to help people understand that they can do the tiniest things and make a difference.”
Muskin said all the women were able to get others involved by keeping a forum of communication with parents and becoming involved with both large issues as well as the little things like collecting students’ lunch money.
While the women said they would not completely cut ties with the school system and Einstein, others say their influence was and still is welcome.
‘‘They have all offered suggestions of how to deal with major problems,” said Einstein Principal James Fernandez. ‘‘People listen to them in the MCPS community. They have been more than helpful.”
Fernandez was impressed when Muskin pointed out that a school improvement plan was focusing on one group of people instead of the school as a whole.
‘‘It caused us to pull out and look at it as an outsider ... and revise our plan,” he said.
Michelle Turner, the mother of several Einstein graduates, said the three women were a part of the core group of parents who were always involved with student activities.
‘‘I am certain that they will be missed because they did do so much, as did the other parents whose kids graduated, but they went above and beyond,” Turner said.
Jackie Ogg, another active parent at Einstein, said that the three women did a great deal to reorganize and structure the PTAs on all levels, heighten community and parent involvement, and bring important issues into focus.
‘‘It can be overwhelming when you’re thinking about how do you deal with MCPS. They made it user-friendly for other parents,” she said.
Most importantly, the women provided a network of people willing to fight for the children and the community, Ogg said.
‘‘They were our personal neighborhood ‘Charlie’s Angels,’” Ogg said. ‘‘You wouldn’t necessary agree with them, but they changed things and made it easier for other parents to step up and get involved.”
