For the third straight year, the Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC) made good use of a summer weekend, holding their annual "Organizing Retreat" on August 1 and 2.

The retreat, at the Murray Grove Conference Center in Lanoka Harbor, provided an opportunity for SEOC staff organizers and parent leaders to share information about the victories they had won and the difficulties they had encountered over the previous year. Time also was spent planning for the upcoming year.

SEOC’s Director, Dennis Brunn, summed up the special mission of the organization in his welcome to participants: "Our organization is totally dedicated – day in and day out – to bringing together parents and families of children in the public schools, particularly in the low-income or Abbott districts, as a united, informed, powerful and independent force for change. Too many times parents become involved in school district-sponsored committees that hold their tongues when what is needed is a real push for change from the grassroots."

Forty members representing all four SEOC chapters attended the retreat. SEOC has been active in Asbury Park, Jersey City and Newark for some time and has recently started a chapter in Paterson. SEOC is an Organizing Partner of the New Jersey Education Organizing Collaborative (NJEOC), which focuses on Jersey City, Newark and Paterson, and is a member of Our Children/Our Schools (OC/OS).

In addition to strategy and planning sessions, the SEOC retreat also featured training workshops on recruiting and retaining members, public speaking, effective leadership, conflict resolution and dealing with the delaying tactics of education decision-makers. Richard Gray from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, an education organizing consultant to SEOC, presented a case study of successful grassroots education organizing in the Bronx that utilized group action, research and media.

The assembled group also spent time planning for the rally and press conference on September 22 at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. The event, which is being organized by OC/OS and NJEOC, will be held in conjunction with legal proceedings at the NJ Supreme Court that morning in the latest round of Abbott litigation. (For more information about the September 22 event, please click here.)

In addition to bringing parent leaders into the statewide school funding campaign through daily organizing at the local level, SEOC chapters typically identify a local need for change and mobilize parents throughout the district for group actions, ultimately leading to negotiations with local education officials.

For example, SEOC’s Jersey City chapter, known as Parents and Communities United For Education (PCUE), has made inroads with its "Healthy Schools" campaign, garnering significant press attention around the issue of lead in school drinking water. As a result of relentless pressure from organized parents over six months last winter and spring, Jersey City Public Schools has finally tested the water in all local schools and will soon announce corrective measures. Other SEOC chapters are winning the battle for change in school discipline policies, school safety in the form of additional crossing guards, and other pressing concerns identified by parents.

The work of SEOC is also central to the NJEOC campaign taking shape now for the coming year. That work will focus on improving the parent-teacher relationship and ensuring that parents and teachers work together for the benefit of students and the learning environment.

Though SEOC is a fairly young organization (formed in 2004 and incorporated in 2005), its roots go back to community organizing initiatives begun well over a decade ago. Organizing efforts undertaken in six New Jersey cities by the Community Building Support Initiative (CBSI), a program of the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey, brought to light both the need and desire for a statewide parent organizing effort focused on improving public education.

SEOC’s website describes the general climate in 2001 that led to the organization’s formation: "The recent Abbott v Burke NJ Supreme Court decisions mandated very promising reforms for our schools, and parents and community leaders wanted to build the foundation for a grassroots constituency to press for their full implementation."

Years later, not only have the Abbott remedies not been fully implemented, but the new school funding formula threatens the Abbott designation. SEOC members are working to protect the gains of Abbott, to hold local school districts accountable for implementing effective programs, and to grow as an organizing force around the state. For more information, visit the SEOC website at www.seocnj.org.

Prepared: September 4, 2008