ASCHOOL COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT OF THE ALBIA ...

as something of a stabilizing element.
Seldom, if ever, have they led
10
community change efforts.
Until recently they haVB not had to worry very
much about their survival as organizations.
Donald Willowar says that a school's public relations are also
affected by feelings of vUlnerability. 1
Teachers often place high value
on the support of their colleagues and the principal in encounters with
students or parents. Pupil control becomes all-important. Considering
the schools' internal emphasis on management and pupil control, it appears
that rewards are elicited by teacher persistence and stability, not by
creativity and change. Giv~the present school milieu and the apparent
failure of most schools to fulfill parent and student expectations, it is
little wonder that communities have desired to become involved in the
schools.
Writing about school and community relations, Mario Fantini says:
Participation by the clients of the city public schools--the
parents and community residents; in other cases, the students
themselves--represent the emergence of two important publics that
separately or together wield an enormous amount of energy. This
energy can combine with that of the professional to bring about
needed fundamental reform of our urban schoolS • • • for basic
changes are not likely without the support of parents, community
residents, and students. 2
IOonald J. Willower, "Educational Policy and SChools as
Organizations," The Educational Forum (January, 1971). gp. 209-21?, c~ted
by Betty Deshler and John L. Erlich, "Citizen Involvement: EvolutIon In
the Revolution,1I Phi Delta Kappan (November, 1972), p , 174.
rio D. Fantini, "Participation, Decentralization, and
Community Control," National Elementary principal (April, 1969), p. 25,
cited by Betty Dreshler and JohnL. Erlich, "Citizen Involvement:
Evolution in the Revolution," Phi Delta Kappan (November, 1972), p, 174.