I wrote this while I was at work yesterday. Obviously, it will go through a revision process. However, I wanted to share with those of you who come in here to see what I’m rambling about. It is, for now, UNTITLED!
I remember the hope I had in July and the anticipation that began in August. I try to forget the months before when all the plans for my life changed. I remember wondering how or where I would live. I remember the depression that came with realizing that I would now be a college graduate with no job. During that time I met a woman who plugged the Albany City School District like a Fortune 500 company. She rattled out benefits and incentives like the free to low costing Health Benefits and the tuition reimbursement option. She opened a path for me to follow and helped answer many of the questions I had regarding what would happen in my future. All I knew was that I was now pursuing a job that I was overqualified for that was a means to an end. I remember the hope I had in July and the anticpation that began in August.
All the teachers and staff gathered in an auditorium while the superintendent was formally introduced. He was a little man with big words that moved me. His plan of action for the District of Albany was well thought out. It required a lot of alterations of a teacher’s role, but it appeared to be a great start. In Albany, there appears to be little parental involvement. The majority of the students are minorities and living at or below the level of poverty. Their state test grades are far below satisfactory standards. The schools consistently receive failing report cards. The drop out rates and graduation rates are phenomenally above the natural average. There have been threats that the state will soon take over the schools here. There is a dire need for change. Micheal Johnson seemed to have the solution. I had the faith of a child. I believed I was part of a new wave of doers that would turn Albany’s failing school system around. I believed in Mr. Johnson’s ideas. They seemed radical but necessary. He was about action and involvement. So was I.
One of the things he said he would do was visit the schools daily. I didn’t see him on the first day of school, but he was here on the second. That was when this school and it’s administrators were on their P’s and Q’s. I was excited. I couldn’t stop praising this man:
“Well, Mr. Johnson said that we should go into the students homes. Then they will know that we care. He also created a Readers to Leaders program with incentives for the students. And then he said that all students should receive an equally fair chance.” All the veteran teachers weren’t in the mood to hear about Johnson and all that he had to say. They had heard the same song sung out of the mouths of the last four or five superintendents. I was new to the game and they knew that superintendents often talk “big shit” (or that’s what many of my West Indian comrades call it). Turns out that they were partially right.
After seeing Johnson on the second day of school, I did not see him again. All I know is that many teachers have told me that this is the worst year that they have ever experienced. I know that Johnson didn’t totally live up to his end of the bargain, but for teachers and (especially) administrators to act as though the superintendent is at fault for a school that is in a state of utter confusion, is absolutely ridiculous. Education is about accountability. Not just from the superintendent, but all the way down to the janitors. The fact that students can walk in and out of this building without any ramifications or that students that deserve to be punished for the threats that they pose to teachers, students, as well as themselves are always accommodated is no reflection of a superintendent not doing his job, but it is a reflection of administrators not doing theirs. The fact that administrators allow students to walk in and out of this building without any ramifications or that students that deserve to be punished for posing threats to everyone, including them selves are always accommodated is a reflection of a superintendent not doing his job (but then again, you can’t fire everyone).
There is absolutely no reason for this school to be in the shape that it is in. It is an absolute travesty of education. When students are willing to to be in In School suspension (yes, in school. Imagine the ludicrousness of that) or detention rather than going to class, someone ought to know that change is necessary. When students seek solace in the main office and the offices of the assistant principals when they cannot get their way in the classroom, someone ought to know that change is necessary. When students are rewarded with parties for taking a mandatory statewide examination and told that any 8th grader can attend even if they’ve been suspended or thrown out of class, someone ought to know that change is necessary.
And teachers are not off the hook in this situation. The fact that teacher’s frustrations sometimes keep them from teaching students the necessary knowledge they need to survive or that teachers allow students to move on to the next grade dumb as a doorknob to frustrating faiths and bleek futures only confirms that some do this job simply for the money and benefits. Many just want the same schedules as their children. Many want to see their children grow to be successful in this society. Most of them sincerely love this job. Some do what they can believing this it’s really a waste of time. Teachers too, need to be accountable. This school is promoting and perpetuating failure. In a place in which the economic classes are so painfully obvious, where the rich live comfortably and the poor bask in ignorance, how can we afford to be partially educating the hope for the future?
Students here are on a sure path to destruction. Our school district only acts as a holding cell during their transition. How can we even begin to point fingers? But administrators and teachers are people too. Just like anyone else, we feel. There’s been many a time that I wanted to slap a kid or curse them out. There’s been many a time that I felt okay about the possible prospects of having to fight an ignorant irate parent. Working in the inner city is a true test of humility. I can say that with a clear conscience. But education extends outside of the school. As a matter of fact, it is outside of the schools that students are to learn about the necessity of education. It is in the homes that students are to learn about respect for adults and for peers. It is in the homes that students should learn the proper ways to carry themselves outside. It is parents who should be teaching their children about ethics and morality. Parents especially need to be held accountable.
This is not a babysitting agency, neither is it a reform school. Teachers are here to educate the students, not discipline them. Parents that allow their children to constantly come to school to torment teachers only reflect negatively on themselves and the jobs that they are doing of parenting. No one gives a parent the benefit of the doubt when their child is an absolute terror (except for times when siblings were former students and exhibited phenomenally pleasant behavior). No one believes that the parent may actually teach the child the difference between right and wrong or even about the necessity of respecting elders. All of this is simply a reflection of a school district that has historically been lackadaisical in the education of its students. This new wave of students comes from parents that were educated here. It is not a surprise that there is hardly any parental involvement. They were never involved as students themselves. All they have done is live up the expectations that people had of them. They’ve just proved someone right. They have confirmed all the negative things predicted for them and now these same teachers cannot help but think the same thing about their offspring. But it’s not too late for a parent to make a positive change. And if they don’t want to help foster that change then the school system needs to distribute appropriate ramifications.
If a child is suspended make it mandatory that parents come in and speak with administrators before even being readmitted (Imagine, we’ve had students sitting in class knowing that they were suspended unbeknownst to us) to school. If a parent is inconvenienced then hopefully they will begin to demand change. Why should the school spare uncooperative parents when they obviously don’t care about educators or even about their children’s futures? A child will live up to the negative expectations if that is all they know. If teachers believe that these kids aren’t capable of making it, then they won’t try as hard whether they want to or not. Sometimes we place too much trust in theories of destiny. Despite the obviousness of the situation, I still close my eyes to talks of failure being inevitable. But I am rapidly declining in my willingness to care about those who may potentially be lost.
The world around me was collapsing. My eyes were beginning to open. Reality struck and despair set in. They say that administrators are often teachers that were failures. I have no way of knowing whether or not this is true. Sometimes I think that they were simply teachers that realized that they had no power to create positive futures for their students in their present positions. Maybe they yearned to see change and longed to be heard. But somewhere along the line, some began to lose sight of why they decided to become an administrator. I truly believe that I would be an amazing administrator. Not because I am a good educator, but because I am a great teacher. I love education, but above all, I believe in the necessity for people of minority backgrounds to pursue education as a means of economic upliftment. I don’t believe in rising without my people. And as my mom used to say to me about getting an education: “By hook or by crook”. I still don’t know what that really means, but I take it that it means that it will happen by any means necessary. I believe in accountability and I realize the necessity for people (especially minorities) to pursue education. Not many of us are born with platinum pacifiers for our mouths, so we need to find a way to obtain wealth. The only way that I can see is through education. 1 in a million make it in the entertainment business and even less make it as athletes. So the reality simply shows that all other successful minorities make it because of education.
Mr. Michael Johnson resigned yesterday. His resignation letter is rumored to be one line long. At this moment, it is not certain whether he made this decision on his own or with coaxing. However, he did it. If he made the decision on his own, I applaud him (I am also saddened by his decision to be pushed out instead of fighting for a district that needs him. However, there is but so much bull you can take before you decide that somewhere else will welcome you with open arms and be grateful that you have accepted them as they are). He could have gone out in a blaze of fire but maybe he realized that he hadn’t been accountable for all his promises. Maybe his resignation was him owning up to the fact that he could not/did not create any positive change for this district.
So another one bites the dust at the hands of a tragic Albany City School District. Perhaps many others in positions of power who have held on to their jobs as the district has gotten worse should take heed and do us the same service(?) by admitting that they too haven’t held up their parts of the bargain. Good intentions aren’t enough to change a destroyed district. What everyone needs to do is be accountable for the lives we help mold. If we all do our parts then when someone slacks off, someone else can catch it before it’s too late. ZERO TOLERANCE shouldn’t be a phrase here, it should be a motto.
Even in shambles, there is hope for this district. There is hope in knowing that the original foundation is built on solid rock and in understanding the mistakes we have made, we can recreate something even better.
