Saving The School

Saving The School

James Baldwin once said, "The price one pays for pursuing any
profession or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side."
Going into my 9th year as a school board member, I'd say that adage is
spot on in regard to our standardized test obsessed educational
system. I've been through more than enough meetings where, under the
auspices of No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top, numbers were
anxiously scrutinized. Where do we stand in the pack? Did our
special ed or free and reduced lunch kids come through? Whew, we bit
the bullet this time.
In this nightmare world where the fates of children, teachers,
and even schools come to rest on scores, some schools, often those
serving poorer communities, are shut down or taken over. In Texas in
2009 Reagan High had been termed "academically unacceptable."
Principal Anabel Garza was given one year to turn things around or no
longer have a school to preside over. In other words bring up the
test scores or else.
This would be quite the challenge. Many of the better test
scorers had abandoned Reagan for academically acceptable schools. A
lot of kids came from impoverished families with their challenges.
Some had to work so their families could survive. For many students
English was a new and confusing second language. A number of girls
were pregnant or parenting.
This year is beautifully documented in Michael Brick's Saving
The School. Although it's real life, it's as suspenseful and riveting
as any created fiction. Brick follows the determined and unorthodox
principal, a teacher who opens her home to kids, an alumnus coach
wishing to restore his school to its former glory, and a number of
students through ups and downs and formidable challenges. He has
created a work that will enlighten all who care about education and
bring joy to lovers of underdog triumphing stories.
A couple of chapters are framed in ways that shape the pace
vividly. In one excerpts from a speech by Barack Obama are
interspersed with descriptions of the much less rosy reality of
Reagan. A basketball game against the number one rival takes on the
heart pounding suspense of the event by the scattering throughout of
cheers.
"Pull it down
Pull it down
Raiders get
That rebound."
Well,
Take a look!
Take a look!
Readers check out
This excellent book!
On a personal note, as much as I was pulling for the school I was
saddened that the requirement for salvation was bringing those numbers
up. Not only in this school, but in so many others, without this
pressure and the need to teach to the test, curricula could be
developed to meet student needs and inspire. Wouldn't that be so much
better?
A great big shout out goes out to all who fight for schools and kids
and their futures.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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