Dads urged to take kids to school on 1st day

Fathers have again been asked to walk the walk, both figuratively and literally, as their youngsters get ready to return to school.

Every year at back-to-school time, David Fattah gears up for the national Million Father March, in which fathers across the country take their children to school on the first day. They're urged to continue to engage in their kids' school lives, join the home and school association, and sign a pledge of nonviolence.

Fattah, who coordinates the Philly-based effort and co-founded the social group House of Umoja - and is Rep. Chaka Fattah's father - sent a clear message yesterday: "When men step up, children grow up," he said.

Founded six years ago by the Chicago-based Black Star Project, the march also serves as a call on fathers to participate year-round in their kids' academic lives.

Besides Philadelphia, 409 other cities across the country are expected to participate.

The event begins locally with a prayer rally at 7 p.m. Sunday at Vine Memorial Baptist Church, 58th Street near Girard Avenue, West Philadelphia, where parents and their kids will hear about the back-to-school effort on Tuesday, the first day of classes in the city's public schools.

Those interested can visit www.HouseofUmoja.org, or call 215-473-5893.

Fattah said that he wants fathers to show up with their children on time for school and pick up copies of their child's roster and a calendar of events.

He also hopes that participants will sign the Imani pact, a pledge created by the House of Umoja that helped end gang wars in the city during the 1970s, he said.

For kids without fathers living in the home, Fattah encourages uncles, brothers and other men to do their part. Otherwise, he said, the men of the House of Umoja will march with them.

"If they need a man, we're stepping up," he said.

James Scott, the school district's director for family and faith-based initiatives, said that students improve once a parent becomes involved.

"When parents show interest, students perform off the charts," he said.

The district has partnered with Fattah for the last four years.

Fattah emphasized the importance of his group's effort, especially in light of the persistent achievement gap between black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian counterparts.

"The gap between black students and white students still exists," he said. "We're tired of gaps. We want to step up to eradicate truancy and all barriers."

He quickly added that the event doesn't focus any one group of people.

"This is a broad coalition," he said. "It's up to all of us as fathers to get our children to do their best."