Thread by @juliaerin80

What school closure really does (if you're curious), a thread.

A few years ago, our comprehensive high school was closed. Parents protested, kids cried. The district closed it anyway.
thedenverchannel.com/news/montbello…

A few years ago, our comprehensive high school was closed. Parents protested, kids cried. The district closed it anyway.
thedenverchannel.com/news/montbello…

In its place, they opened up several smaller schools, of which mine is one.

The "myth" the community was sold was that smaller programs would build a more personalized learning environment for kids.

The reality is that the divide and conquer process fractured the soul of the community and it has never returned.

Fast forward to 2018. The schools are generally not succeeding. In some schools, eligibility for graduation hovers around 50%.

In other schools, teacher turnover is around 60-75%...every year.

The libraries have all been closed. There are no librarians...no culture of literacy.

Children generally do not like school, and there is very little love between the community and school administration.

Due to the small program size, there is little to no mobility within the master schedule, and tracking has become unavoidable.

Inevitably, the smaller schools have been placed in competition with one another, each one jockeying for the position of "least failing school" because the threat of another school closure is a silent menace hanging over everyone's heads... Every year.

So what now? The neighborhood is being gentrified...Nobody new to the neighborhood wants to put their child in a 30 year old building housing 3 "failing" schools, without a working HVAC, and without a library.

So talks begin about reunifying or bringing back the comprehensive high school....This is understandably troubling for those who have invested years in the "experimental" smaller schools with their unique missions.

There are rumors of a meeting held and votes to gather community consensus. Predictably, the community that has been intentionally divided, is not unified in what they want to see as a solution.

This indecisiveness as to what to do to solve the problem will be used as a rationale for whatever decision gets made in the end--with the only input from stakeholders being illusory.

Can you imagine how it must feel to have no real say over the educational "options" for your child?

Think of how many stakeholders were not present/represented. The community is 80% Latinx. The meeting about the fate of the schools was not widely announced or translated.

Think of all the people driving past schools in the "rough" part of town to send their kids to newer, nicer schools in neighborhoods without "reputations"....just blocks away.

Think of all the self - interested people who would never sacrifice their baby, but care very little for the fate of somebody else's baby down the street.

This is the sad state we find ourselves in after all these decades focused on making sure capitalism, competition, patriarchy, and white supremacy are maintained.

We are much worse off than we ever have been, and as a result, the fight for the minds and literal bodies of our Black and brown children across the nation is unending.

School choice is only a solution if you live somewhere with quality options. By now everybody should know this is a reality for precious few.

Pay attention. Go into the schools people silently ignore. See what they are dealing with. Share resources. Care. Do better.

Cries for justice fall on deaf ears if there aren't feet on pavement doing the messy work of promoting change with concrete actions.

If you love our kids as you say you do, you will not keep turning a blind eye to those living right beside you, yet living so differently.

When schools are closed, it causes a wound in a community that sometimes never heals. Only love, dedication, action, and commitment to a better future for ALL kids will change that.

Demand better from superintendents. They shouldn't be able to fail, move states, and fail again. Nor should they hold autocratic life-long terms, kept in position by who they know politically and socially.

Support teachers. This work is hard, and unforgiving. I personally know the cost for some Black and brown educators is their very life...too many of my colleagues have died early due to the physical effects of stress working in this environment.

Empower kids. Lift up their voices--especially when they are critical, not just when they conveniently echo the voices of the adults around them. Dissent can be a good thing. They should be critical of the system that often traumatizes and disenfranchises them.

This is a cautionary tale, but also a drama being played out in every major city in America. It is intentional, and it isn't getting better. More love and less self- interest is the only solution. If we truly want change, we would do well to remember that.

Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty, ask the hard questions, publicly, demand proof that proposed changes work for kids--also ask the children.

unroll here please