Lake Oswego parents create specialty PTA
Parents of students in the TAG program are invited to join the new association, which has its first meeting tonight
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
MAYA BLACKMUN
LAKE OSWEGO -- Ally Sinclair, a Lake Oswego mom, said some children need more opportunities to challenge their intellect and hang out with like-minded peers.
So she and her husband started a playgroup for talented and gifted elementary school children last year that recently included a presentation by a physicist on black holes. She recalled Kevin Le's reaction:
"Oh, I get quarks," said the 8-year-old second-grader. "Tell us what's next."
Now the Sinclairs and other parents of children in the TAG program are inviting other families -- along with educators and community members -- to join them in a parent-teacher association to collaborate on how best to raise, teach and encourage such children.
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Michael Roberts, marketing manager for the National PTA in Chicago, said he could find no other similar group in its database of specialty parent-teacher associations. Such PTAs are organized around an educational need or community rather than a school. Another PTA formed last fall in Lake Oswego that serves families with children in special education.
"This could be the first with this focus," Roberts said of the Lake Oswego TAG-PTA.
