In September, Tamar Zohar-Shemesh took on the position of Jewish coordinator of the Parents Community of the WASNS primary school. The Arab coordinator is Nadwa Jaber, who is a teacher in the school and who led much of the Parents Community activities the previous year. The two are working closely with Neama Abo Delu, the school principal, and Nir Sharon, co-director of the educational institutions.
“We are still learning to work together.” says Tamar, “We are figuring out how to share responsibility and where to lean on one another.”
Tamar, who lives in the village, has three daughters in the educational system: in the nursery, Bustan-kindergarten and primary school. “I enjoy the opportunity to be part of their educational systems, to be in their environment,” she says. In addition to coordinating the Parents Community, she teaches forest classes for kids in the village as well as lecturing on interpersonal communications for adults.
The new Parents Community year kicked off in several ways. The first was the yearly olive-picking festival, one of several school-wide events the Parents Community helps sponsor. This year, the sixth-grade classes took responsibility for planning and setting up the stations. Then the parents came to help, both in the picking and the stations. Though it was a reversal of duties, both parents and children enjoyed themselves and the event was a great success.
The second is a series of lecture/dialogue sessions on the subject “How to be a parent in a binational setting.” The first meeting took place in the middle of November. That session was introductory, to get to know one another and, through dialogue, to begin to approach the subject through personal stories and issues. The following meetings will include lectures followed by dialogue sessions. The final session, in February, will then help the parents take the insights they gain and apply them to acting within the community.
Led by two facilitators from the School for Peace, the initial session led the parents into a discussion that felt deep and meaningful, and also, as they left the meeting, necessary. The topic is one that is relevant to everyone; one that nearly everyone is struggling with at the moment. The participation was high and the feeling, says Tamar, was very positive. She is hopeful more may join in future sessions.
Another series the coordinators have planned is a lecture series on issues related to parenthood – sex education, internet safety and kids’ social situations.
“I’m learning how to work with parents,” says Tamar. We are all busy with work and families, and I am slowly feeling my way into drawing them into this endeavor that demands their attention in addition to the school system. I hope to ultimately create a community of parents that exists in its own right, not only as an adjunct to the school.”
In addition to the regular holiday events – the winter “Holiday of Lights,” “Spring Holidays,” “Peace Day,” etc., she is hoping to add a Parents Community picnic in the spring in the forest outside the school grounds. This could become a tradition to help make the Parents’ Community a strong, ongoing group.
Other projects may come from parents’ ideas or other projects that have already been suggested. These include hosting in the various communities and parent-child projects within the school.
Looking forward to a multi-year plan, Tamar would like to bring parents together and ask them what they, themselves would like to see take place in the framework of the Parents Community. “I’ll ask them for their dream projects and we can brainstorm from there,” she says. “Then we will figure out, together, how to make them a reality.”
