They have fax machines and they are furious. They have a hotline and they know who to call. They have a computer bulletin boardand they know how to push the right buttons.
They are the parent lobby in Fairfax County, and they havemobilized with speed and precision since School SuperintendentRobert R. Spillane presented his budget plan three weeks ago with$42 million in recommended cuts in jobs and programs next year.
Facing the prospect of changes in some of their favoriteprograms - from special education to gifted and talented classes,from boys' gymnastics to swim and diving teams - thousands ofparents have organized a determined campaign to save what they sayis crucial to the quality of their children's education.
'We feel cheated,' said Robert Lepley, a parent coordinator ofthe swim team at Herndon High School and a leader in the parentprotest. 'I have a weird feeling about government. When they saythey are going to do something, they will do it, unless there isenough screaming and hollering.'
There has been plenty of both this month.
The campaign to save high school swimming and diving teamsalready has claimed some success.
After parents of many of the county's 1,300 swim team memberslaunched a blizzard of mailings and phone calls to School Boardmembers, who then peppered school staff members with 30 minutes ofquestions at a meeting last week, the superintendent backed down.
'I've changed my mind,' Spillane said. 'I'm putting it in thebudget. So let's go on. Let's stop this. We can do this all night. . . . I didn't want to cut a penny of that $42 million. Let'sremember that. Let's not put everyone on the defensive here aboutwhy this {cut} and why not some other. It's back in the budget asfar as I'm concerned. Now we'll find the $300,000 someplace else.'
That didn't stop the rally staged by parents of swimmers onSaturday at the regional meet at Oak-Marr Recreation Center inOakton, where about 800 swimmers paraded while chanting slogans suchas 'Save our sport.'
Although the decision to reinstate swimming and diving teams isin the hands of the School Board, some officials say what happenedThursday night is an example of the power of Fairfax parents. Manyof the parents in Fairfax, known for the quality of its schools, areprofessionals, government workers, college-educated, savvy,politically connected and fiercely protective of their children.
'They are really well organized,' said School Board memberKristen J. Amundson (Mount Vernon), who led a parent campaign to getconstruction of an elementary school on the county's bond referendumlast year, before she was appointed to the board. 'This is a verypolitical town. I think parents in Fairfax are a very sophisticatedgroup of people . . . . There are lots and lots of people who workfor the government . . . . They know how things work.'
Like any sophisticated campaign, the swim-dive effort startedwith a strategy session - a Saturday afternoon meeting of fourfathers in the living room of Fred Hintenach, who has two childrenwho swim.
The men barely knew each other, but by late afternoon they hadcompiled a list of parents to call and mobilize as well as a memolisting alternatives to cutting the program, such as instituting afee for all sports participants or an across-the-board trim of allteams.
'It got serious very quickly in order to figure how we could beeffective in a quick window,' said Hintenach, a manager with theU.S. Postal Service.
Within a week, the men had assembled 500 parents for a meetingin W.T. Woodson High School's cafeteria, where they started aletter-writing campaign, a hot line, bumper stickers and placards,and planned Saturday's rally.
As the Fairfax School Board prepares for three nights ofscheduled public hearings next week, other parents are pounding thepavement to rally support.
Parents of children identified as gifted and talented, a lobbyknown for its strength, have mounted a letter-writing campaign.Susan Provyn, president of the 900-member Fairfax County Associationfor the Gifted, said the lobby group started about 20 years ago whenthe program for such children was in danger of cancellation. Sincethen, the group of parents has been like an army waiting in thewings to fight whenever there is the slightest rumor about gettingrid of programs for gifted children.
'We're always on the defensive,' Provyn said. 'The programs arenot popular with most people. Just think of 133,000 students andonly 20,000 are participating in GT. There is a myth {that} thesekids, because they are smart, can make it' without special programs.
A month before Spillane released his plan to eliminate positionsof itinerate teachers who teach gifted and talented students infourth through the sixth grades, the group heard rumors and sent out'alerts' to its 600 members. Provyn, a former headhunter forfinancial executives, said she knew that the messages had to besimple to be effective.
The one-page letter in bullet format with talking points 'wasdesigned for busy people,' Provyn said. 'GT BUDGET ALERT ELEMENTARYSCHOOL-BASED PROGRAM IS THREATENED . . . . WILL THE CENTERS BENEXT???'
The 14 elementary and eight intermediate centers, which acceptonly students who score at 140 or above on I.Q. tests, were not onthe list of planned cuts, but Provyn said she knew that to pique theinterest of parents she had to let them know that if one thingfalls, all could fall.
'We wanted to get people's attention,' Provyn said. 'We reallyfelt like when you start whittling away at one piece of the program,you're in trouble.'
As Provyn worked, parents of children in special education alsolit up phone lines of School Board members to let them know theywould fight if the 'most vulnerable' children in the system wereaffected.
School Board members received letters from parents of musicstudents urging that the board not cut stringed instrumentinstruction for fourth-graders.
A panel of the County Council of PTAs recently emerged from aseries of meetings with a recommendation to raise taxes to saveprograms. The council has now set up a computer bulletin board bywhich PTA members can stay informed of the latest news by usingtheir home or office computers. They also can leave electronicmessages for other PTA members.
'It's a very fast way of getting information to people,' saidMarlene Blum, president of the PTA council. 'If you have thetechnology at home, you don't have to get somebody to send it in themail. If you need the name of a legislator or supervisor, you canget it from the system. You can just type in request and maybe evenget talking points.'
The swim and dive parents started a parent hot line withrecorded up-to-the-minute briefings.
'I'd like to inform parents . . . about a crisis that is aboutto take away high school swimming and diving from the area . . . .It is vital our families act to preserve swimming and diving. Timeis short. We have two weeks to flood them with letters,' a recordedvoice said on the hot line this week. 'Letters should be from theheart, expressing your displeasure.'
Like all good lobbyists, the parents also are savvy in workingthe media. A recent news release about Saturday's rally at theregional swim meet was sent by fax to reporters and editors, and itmade sure the reader knew interviews would be offered withorganizers and team members.
'There will be preferred camera positions available,' therelease said.
