Chesak/Martin PTA Looks to Recruit Men to Their Ranks

Paul LaFleur is the heart of the Chesak/Martin PTA’s Dad’s Club.

“It’s just me so far,” he said, laughing. “It’s more of a committee of one trying to organize events for dads and their kids.”

LaFleur became the chairman of the Dad's Club last year when PTA President Dana Wiley started an initiative to involve men in the school organization.

The Chesak/Martin Dad's Club started in August 2010. LaFleur heard that the PTA was looking for someone to chair the club, which would help boost fathers involvement in their children’s’ lives and school.

“I’m not sure if I was chosen out of many or if I was the only one” who applied, LaFleur said.

Right now, he is one of just a few fathers who attend PTA meetings. He thinks people believe the stereotype that the PTA is just for moms, so many men don't attend.

“I think it’s a stigma the PTA has,” he said.

It's a stigma men like LaFleur are trying to break.

National initiative

The National PTA has put more emphasis on getting male involvement over the last 12 years, said James Martinez, PTA spokesman. The PTA organized in 1897 as the Congress of Mothers. There was also a Congress of Colored Mothers and Teachers. The two organizations combined during the Civil Rights era to send a message against segregation, he said. That's when the PTA people know today formed, he said.

“It originally started as a predominately women because women didn’t work, women didn’t vote, women handled family business,” Martinez said. “There was a culture change even up to the 1990s and 2000s, when family structures started changing.”

“The family structure is not the same as 100 years ago or even 50 years ago,” he said, adding there are many more stay-at-home dads today than ever.

In the late 1990s, the PTA conducted a survey asking men why they were not involved in the organization.

“The (response) we got back is ‘we were never asked to be involved,’” Martinez said. “We started encouraging our PTAs to organize initiatives to ask” men to get involved.

National PTA then created a program — called Men Organized to Raise Engagement — to get men involved, he said. A few of the programs established included Real Men Cook and Watchdogs.

Overall, male membership has increased about 10 percent since the MORE program started, Martinez said. A few years ago, National PTA elected its first male president so there are men in leadership positions in the organization, he said.

Chesak/Martin Dad's Club Positive Influence

LaFleur has learned a lot from his involvement in the PTA and through his year as chairman of the Dad’s Club.

“It’s given me a better understanding of moms,” he said. “Moms are definitely more organized, much more than dads are. They are motivated to be part of their kids’ lives. I really ... admire it. I try to be part of my kids’ lives as much as possible.”

The father of first-graders, LaFleur wants to provide opportunities for dads to share in kids’ lives, too. Research shows that dads who are more involved have kids who do better in school, according to the National PTA’s website.

One statistic shows students in middle and high school were 88 percent more likely to participate in extracurricular activities if fathers were highly involved at school, the website states.

A Dad’s Club is “not a very common thing” in this area, LaFleur said. But there are clubs throughout the country, he said. “Some are very much more active than others. Some have their website with tons of activities and get-togethers. I was really impressed.”

While membership to the Dad’s Club hasn’t taken off, LaFleur has been seeing the same men and their children or grandchildren attend the events he's planned.

Last year, he organized the Pumpkin Carving with Dad. The idea came from things he liked to do with his own dad as a child.

This year’s event drew lots of men and their children. This week, he’s organizing the second annual Chili Cook Off. He didn’t get much a response last year but this year he has 10 entries so far.

He’d like to see the club get off the ground with its activities and that will help recruit members.

The Chili Cook Off will be held Friday.