Parents Talk Q&A: Meet the Cleveland Heights Parents Council

Meet the new members of the Cleveland Heights Parents Council. Each week the council will answer a question on parenthood posed to them by readers or another member of council. This week's question is . Join the conversation by logging in and posting a comment below the article, or contact Michelle.Simakis@patch.com if you'd like to join the group. We'd love to hear from you. 

Mariya Ali: I am a mother of two girls — 13 and 6 years old.  Both of my children have attended Cleveland Heights-University Heights schools since kindergarten, so I have been involved in PTA for many years.  

In addition to taking care of a family, I work full time in a research lab, trying to unlock the mysteries of science. Because my schedule is usually pretty crazy between husband, kids, school, work and extracurricular activities, I tend to spend my spare time reading or watching movies.

Katura Simmons: I am the mother of four children (ages 16, 14, 12 and 10) who all attend schools in the CH-UH School District. I am active in school PTAs and their extracurricular activities.

I work fulltime as the office manager at Manfredi Special Services, a small tote cleaning company outside of downtown Cleveland. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family and writing short stories. I have lived in Cleveland Heights for most of my life, so this is home to me!