Skip to main content

Julie Kicks Ass

(and because I'm used to third graders, I'm waiting for someone to say "Ooooooh, she said ass... I'm telling...")

Julie took me up on the writing to the district superintendent, excuse me, state administrator. Here's her letter. Feel free to join her in writing.

"And, when the going gets tough, we must have the courage and stamina to stay the course."
Dear Ms. S------,
It has come to my attention that OUSD is contemplating closing East Oakland Community High School due to low test scores. While I do not have direct experience in that school, I know friends and community members who will be drastically affected by this decision. Children at this school will not continue their education -- many will drop out and never be seen or heard from again, except through the police department. These kids feel, for the first time, like school is within their grasp. As if someone cares about them, and their education. The school has only been open for two and a half years, and is serving kids who have not had the opportunities that students in wealthier districts have. It would be nearly inconceivable that they could catch up, to passing status, in such short time. But the concept behind the school is offering these kids hope -- not failing them. I know the district does not exactly have an abundance of cash laying around to "experiment" with alternative school styles. But you yourself said, on your website (as quoted above), that when the going gets tough, it takes courage and stamina to stay the course. It takes commitment. It takes sacrifice. No one is denying that. But I implore you to give this school a chance -- to stay the course and give it the time it needs to work with these kids. Closing EOCHS may save some cash -- but it will NOT get the district closer to its goal of educating the children of Oakland.

Julie might know a little something about difficult kids/families/situations also...

Also, the Oakland Tribune has an interesting - and sad - series of articles profiling one young man who was one of the almost 150 homicide victims last year. This is Part One.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Loss

  (I have been putting off finishing this blog post for months. You'll see why)  Today, I was cleaning a bookshelf and I found the journal from one of my third-grade students, who I call Fred in my book , in 2001. I still had it because he didn't come to the last day of school to get his stuff this year and I guess it got put in a pile and somehow I've kept it with me.  He didn't come to the last day of school, probably because his family was a mess: dad in prison, mom in an abusive relationship, all the kids (understandably) acting out violently. Fred was expelled from our school in second grade for hitting a teacher. Then he was expelled from the other school, I don't know why, at the end of second grade. He came back on the condition from the administration that he be in my class because I had him as a student in first grade and he listened to me and worked well with me.  We had a really good relationship, although Fred was definitely not easy to have in class....
Post a Comment
Read more

A New Prison, Part Two

  Second very long part of the prison visit report.   After we got all the paperwork filled out and went through the metal detector, we got visitation slips with the name of the inmate, and made our way over to the other building for visitation. This is not maximum security so thankfully you can just sit next to the inmates, and not be separated by glass or have to use a telephone to talk.    First, you get a gate unlocked and go into a holding pen that is of course in direct sunlight (or rain if it's that season) and surrounded by fences topped with razor wire. You wait there until the gate at the other end is unlocked. This holding pen was a little bigger and less claustrophobic than the other prison (I do not have any claustrophobia and I came very close to a panic attack once at the other place) and they opened the other gate more quickly. Then you walk, again in blazing sunlight (or rain) to the visitation building. This one was less of a walk than the other pri...
Post a Comment
Read more

A New Prison, Part 1

My former student, friend, and co-author was moved to a new prison during COVID. We (myself, Mitali, and his Abuela) have visited a couple of times via the video visit functionality they set up, but we've also been trying to visit in person, ever since in-person visits were allowed again. After four of them being canceled (sometimes we were told why, sometimes not), we finally got a visit. I was super nervous about this visit. (I felt better when Mitali mentioned that she was also, because she is an inherently positive and optimistic person!) I am not proud of this, but there was a large part of me that was hoping that the visit would be canceled, just like the previous four were. I felt a little better when someone I know messaged me privately to tell me that they had had very good experiences visiting a family member in that prison. But I still didn't sleep well at all that night, worrying about the guards, the many things that could go wrong, and the projected 111-degree hea...
Post a Comment
Read more