I know! Let’s put on a show!
I’m reading this article in the T-P this morning and I got the image of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in my head. Except in my scenario, they’re saying, “I know! Let’s open a school!”
Now, I’m not about to defend the New Orleans public school system as it was in the days before Katrina. Nononononono. And I am absolutely thrilled so many people and organizations are stepping up to provide the new alternatives. ANYthing is better than what we had — and a decent public education is the absolute cornerstone of the city’s recovery. So I’m not being critical of anyone. Really.
…but I’m wondering how many of these shiny new recovery schools are going to be in operation 2-3 years from now. How many parents and teachers will get so fed up with trying to deal with the various mandates and rules and paperwork that they’ll eventually just walk away? How many parents are going to show up to sign up their kids and be all enthusiastic about volunteering and helping, then never show up at another school event ever?
Far from being pessimistic, I’m just trying to be a realist. We have our hands more than full as it is and, frankly, this city is hard on children right now — harder in many ways than it used to be. Before, mom and dad went to work and the kid went to a (usually failing) public school. Now, in addition to work, there’s the other-dimensionness of daily life in Orleans Parish. The kid is in a newly-reconstituted school that’s in many ways better, but likely more reliant on parental involvement and the parents are simply too damn busy. More damn busy than before. And the parks and recreational facilities are so often still in sorry disrepair, so what about after-school care?
…so good luck to all the shiny new schools. My kids are no longer school age, so my house isn’t directly involved anymore. But I’m thinking about doing a little school volunteer work on my own from time to time. Can anyone use a long-haired veteran of the day-to-day journalistic wars? Maybe so — if only to show up with some extra rolls of toilet paper from time to time.
Related posts:
I’ve been wondering the same things. It seems like not all of these schools will truly be able to “compete” in the new education market. I’d hate to see more energy going to recruitment than actual education.
The “new” education model, of course, is to make schools multipurpose facilities that serve as ocmmunity centers and foci of neighborhood life. I wonder if there might be a way that the start-up charter schools could pool information about volunteers… or at least share best practices about managing parent volunteers.
Unless that was you there I urge you to take part in the discussions at this community. It is very popular, especially with the college scene.
http://community.livejournal.com/neworleans
My belief is that to get real transparency in our government and planning process we need to get the young folks involved and up to speed on the new paradigms. Teaching only civics in school and not smart growth concepts is like teaching our kids to count to ten without teaching them arithmatic, algebra and calculus.
Help us get those concepts out there! Create an account a live journal and help build a community. An educated community.
Thanks,
Dimensioness is a word?
Laurie
Craig — You can easily teach or tutor in English, reading and/or writing. So many children come out of school not being able to read or speak properly, yet these are integral skills to living and working. Those schools need intelligent folk like you!
Liz
My son is working for a contractor that is cleaning out several schools in NOLA. He says that the equipment and books he is throwing out now were ancient compared to what he had just a few years ago.