Public Schools, Companies and People

I have been calling on a lot of public schools lately and I have discovered a few things that I feel I must share. When you call a school that has money, you notice that they neither care for your company nor do they feel the need to assist you in providing a contact to provide any services. When you call a school that does not have money, an interesting phenomenon occurs. Once you identify yourself as a company, you are immediately told in these exact words, “We are a Title 1 school”. Since my kids go to private school, I had no idea what that truly meant so I asked “What does that mean?”. The person whom I asked the question sounded shocked that I did not know but in a “matter of fact” kind of way she answered. “It means our school is poor”.  She implied her parents cannot afford whatever I am selling.

Her answer reminded me of a time when I volunteered at a Group 1 home for mentally challenged adults. I took them to a movie theater.  One of my adults said to the ticket booth attendant, “One ticket for a retarded person, please”. He paid for the ticket like any other patron and headed toward the movie theater. Do you think the attendant cared?

My reaction in both situations is the same, “What difference does it make?”

I own a company trying to reach out to working parents. I am prepared to help the schools by offering free giveaways, coupons or sponsorship for any of their events. Do I sell something? Yes, but I would say my product was not made for the wealthy. I would say that my target is really to help the average working parent trying to do their best for their children and employers. I can actually save people money. Yes, I do believe that statement with all my heart.

Back to my Title 1 story – Before I could hold my thoughts in, they came out of my mouth. “Oh (pause), why should I care? I think we need each other”, I said. I started telling her about my company and how I could maybe help increase PTA participation with a giveaway. I could tell she was smiling on the other end and a contact number was quickly provided.

I called the next school without knowing their financial status. The pattern continued. The funny thing about life is that one minute you can be rich and then just as quickly you can become poor. It rarely flows the other way. So be careful not to let financial status dictate the way you treat people, schools or companies.  In the end, schools need companies and companies need schools.

In reference to my movie theater experience, a close friend of mine had an Uncle die this past year. He lived a long life despite his mental handicap and associated physical limitations. He was a loving, caring person and she never started out any sentence referring to him as “mentally challenged”. He was just her Uncle. Title 1 schools are just schools to me and like all schools they need help from companies. I really don’t care about their financial status.

Side note – The movie I saw that night was My Blue Heaven. I will never forget it since I watched it twice. I hated it the first time. The second time I took my new friends and their laughter made it so much better. They were just people. I really don’t care nor will I ever care about their mental status.

In Memory of a Loving Uncle

Louis Nowak

1955-2012