Dates

• Creation: 1980 - 1997

Extent

8 Linear feet (Total Boxes: 8)

Language of Materials

English

Inventory

The collection is contained within eight boxes. Box #1(1989-1997) contains a series of folders with documents connected to the Parents United’s DC Superior Court lawsuit against Mayor Marion S. Barry seeking accountability and enforcement of the D.C. Fire Code in D.C. Public Schools. Documents include a district-wide facilities assessment report on the condition of DC Public School buildings, a fire safety report, documented accounts of fire safety code violations, copies of newspaper stories, copies of court orders and emergency motions, press releases, and sales brochures for flame retardant products and services. Box #2 (1987-1997) contains Parents United handbooks, editorials, meeting notes, member rosters, correspondence, funding and annual budget paperwork, two oversized copies of the Washington City Paper newspaper, gala programs, press release packets and donor lists. Box #3 contains (1983-1991) documents concerning the Parents United’s organization history, steering committee files, board meeting notes, DC Congress of Parents and Teachers directory, correspondence, report cards on DC Public Schools’ services, resources, and security, and approximately 20 folders regarding budget hearings and budget analysis. Box #4 (1980-1992 ) contains approximately three dozen folders with contents pertaining to Parents United board meeting minutes, steering committee notes, fundraising initiatives, newspaper clippings and copies of newspaper stories highlighting Parents United’s work, correspondence, mailing lists, grant proposals, public school funding budget hearings, and Parents United testimony statements given before the district council’s Education Committee. Box #5 (1988-1997) contains Parents United member and volunteer contact rosters, mailing lists, newsletters, sheets of carbon transfer paper, and approximately two dozen folders related to public school funding including budget testimonies and yearly budget proposals. Box #6 (1987-1996) contains several folders related to school nurses, medical coverage for school athletic events, student injury reports, and a copy of a Parents United civil lawsuit requesting the school district’s compliance with the 1987 Nurse Assignment Act. Approximately two dozen additional folders in the box contain documents related to fundraising organized by the foundation the funds were solicited from. Box #7 (1985-1997) The majority of this box contains files focused on fire code violations within the DC Public Schools including fire inspection reports from several schools, newspaper clippings, letters from attorneys representing Parents United, a facilities fire compliance comprehensive plan, and DC Superior Court paperwork for the civil action lawsuit by Parents United against Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly for violations of the DC fire prevention code and other safety hazards found present in the public schools. Additional documents include Parents United Steering Committee files, testimony statements made before the DC Council and Congress, policy proposals, and a bound compilation of community responses gathered by the NBC local news’ viewer hotline in response to delayed school openings. Box #8 (1986-1996) contains a large binder of fire inspection reports for individual DC public school sites used as part of the Parents United vs. Mayor Barry civil lawsuit. Additional items include correspondence, general school campus condition reports, two folders on school athletics including gym and field safety, a folder with correspondence and copies of news stories praising the work done by Parents United, a directory of school partner contacts, board meeting notes, student grant applications for the Children's Defense Fund, correspondence from Parents Untied to various foundations and benefactors seeking funding.