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In the old days, parents mostly relied on crumpled-up flyers deep in their children’s backpacks for essential school-related information. But then, in 2003, the Department of Education created a new position: Parent Coordinator.

Parent coordinators were expected to hold meetings, organize open school nights and serve as the primary contact person for families.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum first surveyed the DOE’s parent coordinators five years ago and last month released, “Is Anybody Listening? A Follow-Up Survey of New York City Department of Education Parent Coordinators.” According to the survey, parent coordinators have become more difficult to reach and even less likely to return phone calls.
“The fact that the parent coordinator position – five years after the Department of Education created it and my office first surveyed it – is increasingly ineffective is just mind boggling,” Gotbaum said. “Despite several reports from my office that found that many parent coordinators are basically unreachable, the DOE has done nothing to improve the responsiveness of parent coordinators.”

The Public Advocate’s office surveyed 100 parent coordinators in all and did not reveal the purpose of their call. Queens fared better than other boroughs. Although 17 out of 20 (85 percent) of Queens parent coordinators surveyed were unreachable after 5 p.m., of the 14 messages left, 12 were returned. Some calls did not go to voicemail and in some cases voicemail boxes were full.

“There are some very involved [parent coordinators] and then there’s the opposite, but for the most part I think they really try and do their best,” Community Education Council 24 Administrative Assistant Patricia Safina said. “Most go above and beyond.”

Parent coordinators make approximately $38,000 a year. They also receive a cell phone and $500 to cover expenses. There are roughly 1,200 parent coordinators citywide.