The Second Line Blog

The Positivity of the Black Male Teacher Experience

Encouraging. Empowering. Inspiring. These are just a few characteristics of many Black male teachers within the country’s school systems and the gifts that they offer children in their classrooms. Black male teachers are low in number, as the majority of the teaching population is female and white; however, the presence of Black male teachers is beneficial for students of color and white students alike.  The scope of the Black male teacher is often limited to providing discipline, but Stanford University researcher, Travis Bristol shared, “…districts must ensure that black male teachers are not concentrated in the worst-performing schools…[and] think of more expansive roles for [them] to serve besides policing the hallways and the front of the building…”

To read more, visit: The Value of Black Male Teachers

Inspired to Inspire Youth

Le’Kedra Robertson is a trailblazer and force in the city of New Orleans. She dedicates her time and attention to the city’s youth through her summer program, MIC Amped!, which is held at the Milne Inspiration Center. Robertson’s program positions students to learn about arts, culture, positivity, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and global connections and leadership.  Robertson shared, “I have always really wanted to introduce young people to the dream that my family had for me, of being able to be self-sufficient, being a solid leader, owning my voice of who I was as a young woman. I wanted to give that back to kids in New Orleans.”  The camp continues to thrive and 75 students are expected to be in attendance this summer.

To learn more about Le’Kedra Roberton and MIC Amped!, please visit: Central City resident teaches entrepreneurship, value of giving back   http://bit.ly/1WwTvDR

5 Questions Every Black Parent Needs to Ask Their Child’s Teacher and School

I spent nearly five years at a nonprofit focused on getting students in and through college. Many of the students who entered our program were not on track to graduate high school and required working closely with counselors, parents and principals to ensure they would graduate high school and hopefully continue on to college.

Our goal was not only to ensure students graduate, but also to equip parents with the skill set to continue helping their children in our absence. Like me, many of the children I’ve worked with over the years have parents that have never attended college or did not graduate. Advocating for your kid can be tough when you’re insecure because of your level of education, in addition to coming from a culture of distrust due to an unequal education system.

So here are some questions we encouraged parents to ask teachers and schools to help our students succeed. Keep in mind these are a general set of questions that work regardless of the age and grade. It is also for any governance model of school, meaning it works across traditional public schools, charters schools and private schools. I know the education systems need to improve but I also believe parents should have a full toolkit. Add this to it.

 

  1. What’s my child’s reading level? This is a critical question because many parents think that school grades correspond with reading levels. They often times do not.

    Personally, I go a bit harder on reading because so many of our kids can’t read. Many are multiple years behind reading level yet are getting A’s and B’s in the subject. So asking this question is important. Apply this question to math as well. Know your child’s status, go beyond the letter grade.

  2. Can we set up a regular time to check-in? This question does something special to everyone involved. For the parent, it empowers you and sets implicit deadlines around student performance. For the teacher, it signifies to them they have an active partner in working with your child. For the child, he or she may act a bit differently knowing pops will be having a conversation with Ms. Johnson on Friday.

    I would suggest pushing to meet with counselors/principals as well at about a 1:3 ratio (i.e. if you meet with a teacher monthly, try to meet with the principal quarterly). If the teacher refuses to meet with you, then I’d strongly suggest a conversation with the principal ASAP.

  3. What do you see in my child? First off, your kid is a human deserving of love and respect. How can someone truly love and respect your child if they know nothing about your baby? How can someone truly serve your child from a place of love if he or she doesn’t see his or her potential?

    This question opens up a conversation about your child’s humanity. It ensures we start from a place of picturing the best for our children that are often seen as much older and dangerous in the eyes of the world—boys and our girls.

  4. What’s the goal for this month (or section, quarter, market period, etc.)? This question was critical when I was advocating for students on behalf of their parents.

    One, for many teachers I teamed up with, they were juiced that someone saw and respected the complexity of their work enough to attempt to speak the language. Two, it allowed them to expound on the hopes and goals they have for their students. What it does for you as a parent is allow you to internalize the goals and discuss them at home.

  5. What is your discipline policy? The numbers are clear that Black boys and girls get suspended at crazy rates. It’s! Crazy! Son! However, broaching the conversation early and often is important so kids acting like kids doesn’t become a liability.

    Implicit bias can send your baby down a tough road that many of our babies don’t recover from. So listen to the policy. Ask questions about the policy. Make yourself available to the teacher and ask the teacher to be available to you because here’s the deal, sometimes, teachers are quick on the draw as they are trying to hold a space not just for your child but for every child in the class. Sometimes your child gets targeted unfairly for a variety of reasons. Sometimes your child may just be off the hook in the moment.

    All of these things may be true, I don’t know and am not claiming to know. However, what I do know is that when a parent and a teacher are working as a team, things can be mitigated much better. There are conversations about what is happening and why.

When there is a relationship, you’re shooting the teacher a text when your son had a rough weekend for reason X. When there is a relationship, the teacher is letting you know when your child has been acting out of character. It’s a way to create harmony when things are rocky and for most people, there will be rocky times.

When I was working with my students, I got a host of text messages and emails from teachers and parents about these things, and we were able to work with them at a level 2 rather than a level 10. Relationships matter.

This isn’t a political piece. What I’m not here for is to discuss charter versus traditional public. I’m not here to discuss testing. I’m here as an advocate that rolled up those sleeves and helped teachers, kids and their families get the education and support they needed.

An original version of this post appeared on One Oakland United.

Seats’ Taken

In New Orleans, parents of school-aged children apply to schools through OneApp or the common application. Gone are the days where students attend school based solely on zip code or their home address.  This is positive in theory, because it helps students from disadvantaged neighborhoods have access to schools that they would not have accessed due to their living arrangement. However, there are hold-out schools who appear more interested in letting certain students in and keeping certain “other” students squarely out.

At Lusher, Audubon and Lake Forest, things are different.  There are no common applications that give all students an equal chance at the lottery system. Instead, there are parent meetings, portfolios to be turned in during business hours, and seats that are held for the children of parents who work at Tulane.  The result is that the aforementioned schools do not reflect the diversity of race, religion, socioeconomics or thought that should be represented in a city as rich in culture as New Orleans. According to parent Benita Butler, whose child was admitted to Lusher Academy after the lengthy process, “That process is a way of eliminating a lot of people. There’s a larger segment of individuals who are not like me. But their children deserve the same opportunity as mine.”

To read more, please visit:  How 3 top New Orleans public schools keep students out

The Lusher Teachers Union Defeat: Do as I Say and Not as I Do

According to a Lusher Charter School parent, a teacher took the microwave she bought out of the teacher’s lounge because no one who was for unions was going to have the luxury of using her microwave. Parents heard from pro-union teachers that they have received threats by phone, mail and email because they wanted to form a union. The letter sent to Lusher Charter School parents from its PTSA, proclaimed to want to ensure that all teachers’ voices are heard but opposed the United Teachers of Lusher from forming.The PTSA placed signs around the neighborhood displaying its opposition. The tension, animosity and elitism shown by Lusher’s administration adds on to the problem that the school is perceived by most citizens of New Orleans as not playing fair. Many believe schools such as Lusher make up their own rules by serving handpicked students in a city full of children in poverty.

To see the letter visit: PTSABoardLettertoLusherBoard-2

These problems aren’t isolated. School districts around our nation have had their fair share of walkouts, strikes and labor disputes, but for some parents at Lusher Charter School, the way this panned out at their children’s school was disheartening.

When I spoke with Lusher parents, I found that many are confused about the stance taken by the school’s PTSA. Parents believe the administration is influencing the PTSA. They believe the PTSA, which is supposed to be a voice for parents, teachers and students, is only the administration’s puppet and not a true voice for these groups.

“I feel disenfranchised and my confidence in the PTSA and administration is diminished,” said one Lusher parent. “I feel things were hidden and the whole truth wasn’t presented to parents to decide what path to take.”

Some parents I talked to said that every teacher already had a voice when presented with the opportunity whether to join a union. Parents spoke of scare tactics used by the administration and the PTSA which the administration seemingly won over by using a campaign laced with emotions. One parent spoke of a teacher who said she needed her job because teachers in support of the union expected to get fired. More parents spoke of the situation escalating so fast with the PTSA opposing the union that in their minds, things just weren’t right. Parents who were typically informed about fundraisers and other events weren’t invited to the meetings about whether teacher were going to unionize. Parents were also afraid to speak out because they had more children to go through the system.

“They begin saying things like it wants to be the same and they are trying to change the good system that we have for personal gains,” said one parent. “It was obvious to us that our and the students’ voice have been manipulated.”

 
I want to make several things clear. I am not for or against teachers unions. I am solely for the voice of families as it relates to education. The  parents who lent me their voices and opinions are concerned that the PTSA has been diluted by outside pressure from the school’s administration. Some parents wonder if the A in PTSA stands for administration instead of association.

Mommy, why don’t any of my teachers look like me?

As student of color populations continue to grow, there are simply not enough teachers of color available to accommodate these increasing numbers. In fact, the numbers of Black teachers have declined from the beginning of 2000 until 2012.  Travis Bristol, a former public school teacher who now conducts research at Stanford’s Center for Opportunity Policy in Education asked, “Why should we care that the demographic makeup of America’s teaching force does not mirror the racial/ethnic diversity of our students? Shouldn’t the quality of the teacher matter more than the teacher’s race in improving learning outcomes?”  Of course it matters for students to see brilliance reflected in teachers that look like them, because it will help to build their confidence in academic and emotional matters.  The bottom line is we need more teachers of color to guide our children to greatness.

To learn more, please visit:  ‘Added Value’ Why Increasing the Number of Latino and Black Public School Teachers Matters

What’s Right About the NOLA Return Bill?

In recent weeks, there have been many articles and a lot of conversation about the return bill for New Orleans schools.  Perhaps it is time to look at what the bill actually brings to the table for students and the community.  Two areas to be highlighted are equity and performance.  The bill continues to strengthen equity for NOLA students, such as weighted student funding. Neerav Kingsland, former CEO of New Schools for New Orleans shared, “I think NOLA’s greatest innovations have been in equity.” In terms of performance, the bill will protect the autonomy of charter schools, not allowing the local school board to overpower the operations of any of the charters in its jurisdiction.

 

To read more, please visit: NOLA Return Bill: Is it Good?

Return to Local Control Means Parents Must Be Heard

Senate Bill 432 has passed. Orleans Parish Schools are being returned to local control. Education officials announced thirteen members of a committee that will steer the process. It includes a mix of charter school heads, education advocates, and nonprofit leaders.

It is a distinguished committee whose members have extensive backgrounds and experience in education. However I have some important questions for members of the committee. Who will ensure that the parents’ narrative is clearly heard and addressed? Who will insist that top education officials embrace parent involvement and not throw it around as the cliché it has become? Who will see that families’ concerns are taken into consideration and are the top priorities of the transfer? Because without families’ participation and input none of this will work.

Many of these committee members were around before Katrina and they have firsthand knowledge of what the system was like then. Have they learned valuable lessons since then? Do they see this as an opportunity to make children’s school years more efficient, knowledgeable and memorable? Do they intend to make the educational process for families better? Is this the freedom they have been looking for from a bureaucratic district full of red tape? Will they see this as an epic opportunity to change the lives of New Orleans children forever by enacting groundbreaking, family oriented and student friendly rules and guidelines that could be the new face of education in America for the 21st century?

I know many people are watching New Orleans around the country and I’m not interested in our children’s education being viewed as an experiment for education. I’m interested in comprehensive change. I like school choice and I enjoy that charter schools give teachers the opportunity to use and their abilities and talents, but I’m not looking for a charter management organization whose CEO will try to impose his or her will in dictatorial form on a group of schools. I also need an agency in the Orleans Parish School Board that will be fair, unbiased and clear when it comes to the governance surrounding these schools. The old school board was in disarray when it came to business and paperwork. The public needs to have clear access and transparency when it comes to matters of records and bookkeeping.

The citizenry does want schools back under local control but we won’t accept anything less than a total transformation of the day-to-day operation of New Orleans education system. The committee is slated to have a plan in place by September 1 with the panel meeting until all schools have transferred to OPSB. This is due to happen in July of 2018 with the possibility of a yearlong delay. Rest assured that the citizens of New Orleans are watching these events. I fully expect this committee to seek the thoughts of the community. We are not hard to find.