What A Waste

I spend a lot of my day in meetings with people who talk a lot on "planning" and "collaboration" and "fostering relationships". Honestly, a 3 hour meeting could shrink to 15 minutes if people cut to the chase. It's an incredible waste of time and energy.

A week ago, I was called into a "mandatory emergency" meeting. These are the ones that waste the most time, and are the most unnecessary. How does one create a "mandatory emergency" meeting? Well, someone from above (Board of  Ed., Superintendent's Office, State Dept. of Ed., etc.) makes a decision, usually misinformed and lacking in judgment and foresight. Someone below them feels the need to tell us, so the decide to give us the information in the most inconvenient and inefficient way possible.

This latest "crisis" was over the proposed school closure list. For context, Oakland has 101 schools for around 38000 students. Other comparable districts have 60-70 schools for the same amount of students. I figure the superintendent got a budget spreadsheet, said "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" at the impending deficit, and decided to shut some schools down to save a few dollars. Makes sense.

However, the way the district is going about this is, like I said above, misinformed and lacking in judgment and foresight. This was evident in this "mandatory emergency" meeting. The process to shut down schools (or "retire" them, as is the new language) is based on a formula that even NASA engineers would have trouble deciphering. It factors in projected enrollment, number of students living in the school's surrounding neighborhood, and the overall cost to operate the school. Sounds logical, but leave it up to the district to find a way to fuck up a logical process. Here are some things that came up in the meeting that have led me to this conclusion:

1. Trying to follow the decision process on paper couldn't be any more difficult. Reading instructions to build a kit airplane is simple compared to this. I got a 30 page document filled with arrows, colored boxes, and symbols (*, ^, #) denoting exceptions to the already complex process.
2. None of the schools that are on the closure list are in West Oakland. Why? We're going to spend money on a special STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) area, so they're exempt from this process. I've been to many of these schools, and they are vastly under performing, and probably deserve to be closed anyways. We've already tried the "it's not working, let's change the name and focus of the school and hope something happens" route. 
3. Most of the schools on the list are in impoverished areas in North and East Oakland. The only school that is on the list that doesn't fit this description is in a nice area of North Oakland, with plenty of involved parents (and most importantly, money). If I could, I'd run to a betting book in Vegas and put my salary on that school staying open strictly on the political pressure those parents will put on the policy makers. Note: that school won't be closing. Shoulda went to Vegas. 
4. Overall school test scores were not a determining factor. Most of the schools on the bottom of the list are "neighborhood" schools, but their test scores are atrocious. Some of the schools on the list? Excellent scores. 
5. Some of the schools on the closure list just went major renovations. One school just had a $750,000 overhaul of their playground areas, and now it's closing.

During this meeting, I had to laugh to keep from crying. Just earlier in the year, we were talking about making the schools a hub for the community, with health centers, parenting classes, mental health counseling, and gardens for healthy eating. Now, we're talking about closing the very places that families look to for support. In all this, the district is trying to take emotion out of the decision making process. If you look at the budget figures, you'll see that we need to close this school, point blank. Families don't hear that...they hear that their child is going to a new school across town in a neighborhood they might not feel comfortable. Tell that to the well to do parents in the Oakland Hills. My child is going to a school with black and brown kids? I'm going to call my council member and let them know how I feel about this! 

What sucks about this? We've spent too much time, energy, and money on this process, and nobody I've talked to trust this process. People will complain, go to meetings, write their board members, and the pressure will make people cave. We might close a school, maybe two, but the problem will remain. And we will have wasted our time. 

I'm so tired of this place wasting my time. You could have just sent me a fucking e-mail with this mess. 

Reality

You're 6 years old and in the 1st grade. You go to school every day and are expected to learn. You go to school to learn how to make friends and develop skills.

There's a problem though. You can't read very well. You don't know your numbers. You can barely write your name, let alone hold a pencil correctly. Reading is impossible; if you don't know your letters, how are you expected to put them together to form words? You don't get breakfast in the morning, because your mother doesn't have the time or energy to cook for you. Your only meal of the day is the free lunch you get, and that barely gets you through the day. She's consumed in her own mess: she is raising 3 kids by herself, and dad just got arrested on a felony charge, so he won't be around for a LONG time. She also has her own issues; depressed, using alcohol and partying at night to suppress her own pain.

She didn't even care to send you to kindergarten or even a free Head Start pre-school. You're 6, and already so far behind.

You get to school late every day. The teacher is already at her wits end; "You're supposed to be here on time young man!" You nod your head, not even understanding what that means. I'm here, aren't I? Mom said you need to teach me, so what does it matter if I'm late?

Every task is a challenge. Paying attention in class is impossible; this is your first experience in school, and everyone else can write their name and knows their ABC's and 123's. You haven't learned the simple skill of sitting still or standing in a line. The smallest stimuli, the quietest whisper from someone has you turned around looking for what happened. When you do that, every adult is on your case. YOUNG MAN! TURN AROUND, ARMS FOLDED! WALK IN A STRAIGHT LINE!


Given all these, you're going to act out in class. You are going to get frustrated, so when someone says something you don't like, you will swing and kick. You will flip over a desk and scream. You will tell a teacher to "shut up" and that you "don't like her old ass". When Mom get's called, you know her routine: she'll wag her finger, tell you to "act better", not show you what that means, then go right back to the bottle. When the teachers have no idea how to help, the young man gets sent to...me.

I might be the boy's last hope for success, to learn, grow, and eventually move away from his dysfunctional life and live that American Dream we all seek. And he's only 6.