• Jasmine Basrai - pac_chair@mppfa.org

• Shilpa Viswanathan - pac_member1@mppfa.org

• Pritika Gupta - pac_member2@mppfa.org

• Jyothi Gurram - pac_member3@mppfa.org

• Sushil Goel - pac_member4@mppfa.org

• Emily Liu - pac_member5@mppfa.org

The purpose of this committee is to advocate for and support parents and students in addressing complaints and concerns related to equitable treatment and access to education at Mission San Jose High School. 

The goal of MPPFA PAC is to encourage and foster communication between students, teachers, administrators and community members (parents/family members) to achieve the best possible learning experience for students and to ensure a safe and equitable learning environment at Mission San Jose High School. Our goal is to act as a liaison between students/families and to resolve issues with escalation. 

MPPFA PAC aims to empower MSJHS families by providing: 

• resources and advocacy for students/parents to assist them in addressing unresolved issues related to their child’s educational experience at MSJHS

• tools and peer support for families engaged in the complaint process with school or district authorities (providing transparency and assistance)

• a forum for engaging all families and voice their needs or concerns, and challenges

• Advocacy to streamline and simplify the complaint process with FUSD

PAC members commit to the following code of conduct:

1. All information discussed in committee meetings will be kept confidential

2. Issues raised in the committee will be discussed without inserting personal beliefs, biases, or agendas. Rather, the committee will discuss the best possible strategies for de-escalation, communication, and resolution.

3. Committee members do not represent legal counsel and will limit their advice  to match their role on this committee.

4. Committee members will work in pairs to address queries received from students/parents.

5. Committee members shall excuse themselves from any situation where there is a conflict of interest or personal history that impacts the work of the committee.

If you would like PAC to assist you further, please fill out the PAC simple inquiry form. A PAC Committee member will reach out to you typically within a few days to outline next steps. The following form is also required in order for PAC to be involved in supporting you: 

MPPFA PAC Parent Agreement (English) | MPPFA PAC Parent Agreement (Chinese) | MPPFA PAC Parent Agreement (Spanish)

Parent Perspectives

TLDR:  Share your experience as an MSJ Parent

Mission San Jose has a certain reputation.  Stressful, challenging, achievement-oriented and a few other adjectives come to mind.   Until we actually put our kids through it there is no way to really know what it is like.  No two experiences are identical and it depends on the child and also the parent on how they react to these experiences and learn from them.   We’d like to showcase some experiences  for present and future Mission parents to see the Mission experience through a fellow parent’s lens and get some fresh perspectives other than what they hear and experience on a daily basis.  

While any parent can choose to write this, we believe  a parent who has put one or more kid(s) through four years of this school is best suited to write this essay.  Things can seem like they are falling apart when in school but the same experience can be viewed in a different light when it is behind you.

Submissions should have an author and graduation year of kids.   It is highly encouraged that you discuss the content with your kids and even write it together if possible.   

There is no requirement to stick to a format but a few questions that keep coming up from parents that you could choose to answer in your essay.   

1. What were some of the challenges you encountered during your time at MSJH, and how did you approach solving them?

2. In what ways do you feel MSJH prepared you for life beyond high school?

3. What did you find valuable in your experience ?

4. What are your thoughts on the general culture at MSJH? Did you find yourself embracing it, resisting it, or trying to create your own path within it?

5. Some interesting incidents and anecdotes that stay in your mind from their time at MSJH

6. Having met individuals from other schools in California and around the country, how do you and your family view your MSJH experience in comparison? What stands out about your high school journey?

Things to avoid

• Avoid mentioning specific names when discussing experiences

• Be discreet about sharing personal information.  Share it to the extent you are comfortable with and discuss it with whoever is involved.  Avoid sharing third-party personal information. 

• Avoid using this as a medium to lash out about negative experiences, rather use it as a forum to inform others of potential pitfalls.

• Avoid hearsay.

Parent Perspectives

These articles are parents' perspectives and experiences on MSJ.

Articles:

Corinna Fong

Anand Sridharan