School Closures Reflect Lack of Parental Involvement

Here in Sacramento, as in most other cities across the country, school closures are threatening our communities. The economy, the lack of students, and low test scores, all play major roles in public schools closing in our urban, low-income, minority neighborhoods.

When both my kids were of school age and learning well at our local school, Everett Elementary, the boom was lowered. We were notified that the school was going to close. I immediately began organizing the community, meeting with neighbors and community leaders to develop a plan of action against the closing. We met almost daily to research how this could be happening and what actions we could take to reverse the decision. We organized petition drives, spoke before neighborhood groups, and marched in picket lines before each of the school district board members' homes.

We learned that the closure had been planned long before we had knowledge and several factors had been put in place to guarantee it's demise. Maintenance on the building had been deferred for years. It was too late to make repairs or renovations economically feasible. The district had redesigned the school boundaries, thus decreasing the number of children enrolled at the school. The district could then make the argument that the school no longer served its community and that the projected number of kids available for enrollment was insufficient to support the school in the future. It closed.

Several things happened that we never imagined. As a result of the closing, a large part of our sense of attachment to our neighborhood disappeared. Our kids were bussed out of our neighborhood, according to the space available in other schools. We didn't know what our kids were doing in school, because we stopped attending school meetings, where we now felt uncomfortable or left out. Our kids didn't know each other. They no longer played together or even talked to each other. It was like someone had taken the heart out of the neighborhood.

Because of our struggle, my family and community learned valuable lessons about working within the system to effect change. If you are on the outside looking in, complaining and criticizing, you can't do squat. You have to be willing to stand up for your convictions and work from the inside. You have to pick your battles and go in with realistic expectations so you can experience a realistic sense of accomplishment. And we need to teach our children that you take small successes and build on them or you can take losses and disappointments and regroup with new strategies.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of being involved in your child's school and their education. Being knowledgeable is a large act of involvement. Knowledge is power and knowledge is power.

In the words of the great African American tennis pro, Arthur Ashe, " Start where you are, Use what you have, and Do what you can". But do something!