After years in the military, Otha Thornton had gotten used to taking orders. But in 2005, he got an unusual command: Lead the PTA.
Thornton was stationed at Fort Meade, Md. In uniform, he attended his first PTA meeting at Meade Senior High, a school of 2,000 students where his daughter was newly enrolled. Only seven parents showed up.
One of the parents was the fort’s commander, also in uniform. He asked Thornton, “What are we going to do about this?” Thornton took the hint and enlisted as vice president.
Now, the Georgia native and Smyrna resident is in line to become the National PTA’s next president, its first black male leader. Thornton rose quickly through the PTA ranks by applying the same strategic problem-solving techniques used in his decorated military career.
“It’s a natural fit,” said Gen. Barrye Price, who supervised Thornton. “He is a phenomenal communicator. He has an infectious spirit that just makes you like him immediately.”
Thornton, 44, is the oldest of seven children and grew up in a working-class family in Elberton in northeast Georgia. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1989 and immediately joined the Army. Since, he has lived all over the world with his wife, Caryn, a Spelman graduate, and their two children. He worked in the White House communications agency and earned a Bronze Star Medal for service in Iraq.
Now retired from the military, Thornton is focusing on his role as the PTA’s president-elect. At the national level, the group focuses on federal education policy and programs, and advocating for children nationwide. He will shadow the current president, Betsy Landers, until officially starting his two-year term in 2013.
Thornton will bring a different point of view to the mostly white, middle-class, female-led organization, and he will reflect the changing demographics of America’s public schools. After all, he’s seen how students are educated all over the world. He was able to achieve profound success despite his upbringing in a single-parent home, something he credits to education.
“I’ve been in urban, rural, suburban, military school systems,” he said. “I look at it like this: You’re giving children an opportunity whether they are from Bankhead to Buckhead, to live their dreams and accomplish their potential. It fulfills me that I am serving children of this nation.”
When speaking across the country, Thornton refers to Meade Senior High as evidence of what organized parents can accomplish. When he joined the school’s PTA, he built agendas to focus the meetings. He made sure the agendas went out to parents via email and letter, and that parents were notified of meetings by phone.
In Thornton’s first year, membership jumped from 25 to 200 parents. By the end of the second year, when he became president, the group had 400 members. Meade launched a “No Parent Left Behind” initiative, asking each guardian for 10 hours of volunteer time. By year’s end, the school documented 10,000 hours.
The school’s academics improved, too. In 2004, Meade didn’t hit annual academic achievement goals, Thornton said. In 2010, the school was named one of “Americas Best High Schools,” by Newsweek. Its black students earned the highest public school SAT score averages in Maryland, he said.
Rhoda Spence, president of the Atlanta Council of PTAs, said Thornton is humble and accessible, known for sending out weekly updates to keep members informed.
“He’s always down to earth,” she said. “He’s accessible to all levels of PTA, from local units to the parents.”
After his success at Meade, Thornton was drafted to join the National PTA, where he has served in several roles. Now set to lead one of the nation’s most recognizable organizations, Thornton said he plans to build leadership, focus on advocacy and increase membership.
“We will make sure we reach out to all communities to represent all children in order for them to reach their dreams and potential,” he said. “Because education is that vehicle.”
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