This was such an interesting experience for me as I have never been to a school board meeting before. This was definitely a crazy experience. I was surprised and excited to see how many people were there to "fight the system" for their children's and students' educations. We all want our nation's youth to have the best education possible, but this is defined in very different ways by whoever you might ask so I was interested to hear what was going to be discussed and debated on. Education is such a pressing issue that needs to be discussed especially in Chicago. Schools in Chicago are struggling greatly, there is not enough money or resources and the resources are not distributed equitably. Students are not learning under ideal circumstances, and that is obviously frustrating to not only the teachers and parents, but also the students. I was surprised to see how many students were in attendance to support their teachers who were speaking out on their behalf. Tensions were high as we walked in amongst protestors and waited in a long line just to register to get in line again only to be seated in a back up room watching the meeting from a tv screen. The sheer amount of people taking part was incredible to see. What struck me was the response we got as students at the board meeting. Many people asked what school we were affiliated with, and when we told them we were art education graduate students I feel like we got some strange reactions. Most people decided to stop talking to us at that point and turned back around. I thought this was strange, and I would assume this is because they didn't think we had much stake in what was taking place.
We were finally seated in the room to watch the meeting which started with the pledge and speaking of the success of the JROTC's campaign to end youth homelessness. The student noted that 15,000 students in CPS are homeless, which is a devastating number. I recalled a news story I read about a woman being arrested recently as she sent her son to public school and was homeless. She was said to have stolen money and education. Such a terrible story, I wonder how this is handled in Chicago.
After this the viva project was addressed, and the speaker stated that policy was failing at the classroom level and it was directly hurting the youth. We need to move beyond politics and integrate student, teacher and community voices in education. teacher's voices must be heard.
The president of the board then spoke and said this was all in the best interest of the students. Interesting to hear as many of the participants and speakers felt that the best interests were of the board.
Following that many spoke about the acheivement gap, the educational apartheid, unfair conditions, and the failing systems. These speakers were met with much praise and applause. Interestingly all of them went over time and ignored the director of the meeting who told them their time was up. They didn't follow the rules of the "democratic" meeting. They also spoke out of turn and allowed others to speak when they had not signed up.
Following that speakers were addressing the extended school day. They want an increase in instruction time by 30% for what they say will be for art, music, and individual help. They were met with booing and not given any respect.
To me this was surprising. I don't understand how people expect respect from all parties when they don't respect anyone else whether it is the board or other speakers. There are ways to deal with problems that don't involve pushing people out of their speaking turns and booing others. I know they are all passionate and have their hearts in the right place, but I would have liked to see more respect on all levels for this "democratic" board meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment