Guest Commentary by Marvin “Doc” Cheatham (Pres of Baltimore NAACP)
Baltimore City Public School System
By Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, Sr.
Recent violent occurrences in our Baltimore City Public School system should finally be the wake-up call for all of us to get actively involved in the education of OUR children.
The Family and Community Engagement Policy of the Baltimore City Public School System, approved May 25, 2004, needs to be scraped. Some of the language can be retained, but this document is merely words and not a plan to really engage parents, residents, community organizations, faith based institutions and businesses.
The Baltimore City Public School System’s Office of Parent Involvement and School, Family, Community Connections is failing in its objective to promote ongoing community engagement activities in our schools. Outside agencies and individuals are not participating at truly beneficial and successful levels, in helping our schools achieve greater success. We must be careful in engaging some of these non-profits that are only involved to receive funding for their experimental project that show no real benefit for our children. Communities, contrary to the schools allegations, are not being encouraged at the level we must have them to become increasingly more involved and committed to the shred responsibility of improving our schools.
I totally concur with the schools’ statement that we can make the difference in the lives of students by spending quality time helping them to grow into successful adults. But we need thousands of citizens helping us help our children.
Yes, we can serve as tutors and mentors and yes there are other community engagement opportunities that we must pursue, e.g., businesses and community organizations can offer services and support to the school to benefit student achievement programs, participation in school assemblies, school beautification projects, voter registration and education, and other student enrichment activities.
Schools have welcomed community agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals to provide valued input as the BCPSS collectively strives to foster greater achievement for children, but much more and better has to be done. The BCPSS has failed in this regard.
The BCPSS must also welcome the assistance of the various educational advocate organizations that they seemingly have closed the doors to.
It is noteworthy and exciting that Dr. Larry Young and Radio One, Inc., through WOLB 1010 am, 92Q FM, Spirit 1400 AM and 95.9 FM, that a stakeholders town hall meeting will be held to address the plethora of issues and problems facing our school system. The entire community must be encourage to attend this meeting and the BCPSS, the Mayor and City Council must help to advertise this meeting.
The Mayor is correct that the BCPSS must place more funding into security, just as the Mayor and the Baltimore City Council must also place more money in this upcoming year’s 2009 Budget for Education. We cannot and must not criminalize our students due to our failures to properly address the problems and shortcomings related to their education.
It is an untruth to consistently tell us that the Mayor and the City Council really care about Education yet the Budget for Baltimore City has not reflected a true commitment to Education for over 20 years. At least 20 percent of the city’s budget should go to Education and we should be aiming for class sizes of 20, no more. After school recreation must be directly tied to education. We are not addressing the needs of our students due to so few after school recreational activities and locations.
The School Board needs to be replaced at the earliest opportunity, Our schools are failing, our children are dropping-out of school, money is being lost and misspent, we have the oldest schools in the entire state that still have lead in them, our graduation rates are deplorable, we are closing schools yet over 400 children are purported not able to get in kindergarten because there are no classes for them, but this Board of School Commissioners are closing schools. There’s something seriously wrong with this picture and it starts with a failed Board of School Commissioners.
Parents, yes parents, are at the very center of the significant amount of our children’s failures. We must actively involve those parents that we can and we must have replacement strategies in place to address the absence of parents for whatever the reason(s) for the absence.
A few things that we can and must do:
1. Identify the schools and their locations through a map.
2. Create an overlay map that shows the community organizations related to the areas of each school and recruit these community groups and leaders to adopt as many schools as possible.
3. Create another overlay map that reflects the faith based institutions related to the areas of each school and recruit these faith based leaders to adopt as many schools as possible.
4. Create another overlay map that reflects the business in the community related to the areas of each school and recruit these proprietors to adopt as many schools as possible.
We need long term sustainable action and involvement.
The schools are already broken down into districts. District school meetings need to be held to enable the principals to meet their community support staff. Yes, we agree, in most part, with CEO Alonso’s concept of giving the principals the funding, training and resources to effectively run each school. The BCPSS, through each school, can then effectively put to use that which each parent, citizen, community organization, faith based institution and business has to offer.
A massive media campaign must take place on inundate the city of Baltimore with this information.
We must reach out to retired educators and our local fraternities and sororities to become tutors. Tutor centers should be create in designated areas so that all children can have access to tutors that assist them. There is presently a significant group of male organizations and individuals that must be engaged to help us help ourselves.
We must activate the entire community, including youth and young adults, in developing and implementing the plan and have the funding made available through Thornton, an increase in services by the BCPSS, and an increase in funding to the schools by the Mayor and the City Council. More money madam Mayor! 20% of the budget at least.
Finally, we must do all that we can to significantly engage the entire community starting with the parents.
Be Concerned, Get Involved & Stay Committed.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
This is a wonderful piece as it articulates positive steps required to uplift the education of our children and brighten our collective future.
Thus, foremost, I thank you for your efforts to better our people and planet.
I believe, too, that it is critical for us to find the best ways to reach and teach our children. Working with communities, schools and parents, UniTee Design actively promotes, engages and maintains youth involvement that produces positive educational outcomes.
My calling is to also inspire pride, power and purpose in today’s young generation by increasing awareness and knowledge of their, and our, brilliant African American culture and history.
In supporting UDI’s mission and products — UniTee designer tee-shirts and Unitee Bands — you are helping to deliver more important educational initiatives to more children more often.
The urgency to revive the power of our people in unity to achieve higher levels of academic and professional successes for our youth is obvious. Thus, we welcome collaborations towards a common cause and for a greater good.
One in “UniTee” and all the blessed . . .