A new leader in Alabama education has emerged from the staff of Hilldale Baptist Church, Birmingham. Minister of children Marie Harbison recently accepted the presidential position of the Alabama Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
Twenty-five years of experience in volunteering and working with children within and without church qualify Harbison for a two-year stead as the state PTA president. Harbison’s work in the Jefferson County school system encompasses countless volunteer activities coupled with salaried positions including employment as a health room aide and as a substitute teacher.
“In today’s society, so many adults are just too busy for children. God has given me a particular burden and love to work with and for children,” Harbison noted.
Harbison’s labor of love began in her church where she has served as Vacation Bible School director, coordinator of children’s Sunday School and children’s ministry worship leader. She was called to join the staff more than four years ago as minister of children.
The labor continued within the public school arena as she became actively involved with the Pinson Elementary, Rudd Middle and Pinson Valley High schools’ PTAs, serving as president for two of the associations and filling every committee chair available. Harbison also served on the Community Advisory Committee of Jefferson County Schools, the Jefferson County Textbook Committee and several other councils and committees across the state.
When Harbison began volunteering as an assistant room mother 20 years ago at Pinson Elementary School, she immediately felt a calling to broaden her ministry opportunities.
“I thought I would serve as an aide and let the other moms do the school thing because I was working so hard at church,” Harbison admitted. “I realized that my ministry was confined within the walls of the church — all of my friends were Christians and I only ministered to church people.”
Harbison’s volunteer efforts afford her opportunities to reach out to a secular world. Although she stressed that she would never seek to oppress a person’s religious or political views, Harbison noted that some circumstances befit her sharing the gospel with others.
“I have found many opportunities to share and to minister to people in my secular work that I would never have if I were only a minister to the church,” she said.
Both posts pose challenges for the mother of four, but the greatest challenge she faces in both environments stems from the children’s homes. Harbison reported that a lack of parental involvement is a problem within the church as well as in schools. “Most children have not received appropriate discipline from home,” she said.
With that challenge before her, Harbison aims for the state PTA to boost parental involvement in the education process. Noting the importance of the issue, Harbison said, “I realize that all parents can’t volunteer [in their children’s schools], but they should at least stay in contact with the child’s teacher and understand the expectations the teacher has for their child.”
During her two-year term, Harbison also plans to focus on making parents aware of important education and children’s issues.
“Alabama’s children are some of the poorest cared for in the nation,” Harbison noted. “We want to make people aware of the amount of children born to children, the abuse, the health care issues — if we are not aware of it, we won’t combat it.”
As an advocacy organization for children, PTA seeks to influence the development and progress of programs and policies that affect children’s welfare. Additionally, PTA chapters seek to better the education of parents as they face parenting challenges. The state PTA has a vast array of resources and guidance opportunities available to parents and children.
Harbison noted that bettering parenting skills is essential in the quest to improve the quality of schools. “Parents need to be more involved in teaching the Word at home,” she remarked.
Harbison pointed to Deuteronomy 6:7 as an instructional guide to raising godly children: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Harbison believes a primary purpose of the church and the home is to instill within their children principles and values the Bible teaches.
Admitting that her two positions, minister of children and state PTA president, hold unique challenges, Harbison said that the two are complementary.
“PTA is a secular organization, but I can be a witness. I pray that in everything I do the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ will be seen through me in my community service and in my church. My prayer is that children will see they are loved and cared for,” she said.
Share with others: