"Hot Lunch" and Cold Policy: How Context Gets Lost in the Flurry

Mayor de Blasio and School Chancellor Farina decided to keep NYC Public schools open today, even after dooming weather forecasts. By this morning, the entire city was covered in snow. Most of NYC had an opportunity to stay home. Except students. And their teachers. And whoever was supposed to get those two groups to school today.

Whoops. 

So, about two weeks ago, I wrote about the parental sacrifice involved in snow day decisions. I'm actually not going to take back any of my words, because I believe in what I said. This post isn't to restate or qualify my previous words. It's to provide context. 

Here's the context of our reality:

• de Blasio (and Farina) are jumping into an tense political climate. We forget that our last dictator mayor was a hardcore Republican who could feign "get-downness" because he has that NYC moxie. He wasn't the typical Republican, because he later stripped himself of the label. You know, because he wanted another term in office of reasons. He was a spy of sorts. He was able to blend in with liberals who advocated for gun control and gay marriage. He was also able to blend in with conservatives who advocate for Stop-and-Frisk, without making it an explicit "racial" issue. Now THAT, my friends, takes finesse. 
• Bloomberg wasn't exactly so sensitive to the realities of diverse New Yorkers. During the blizzard of 2010, Bloomberg encouraged NYC to see a Broadway show or get a bite to eat. He forgot that most folks ain't tryna "defy gravity" and shell out the $150 tickets to see Wicked. 
• de Blasio is married to Chirlane, a writer and poet of the Combahee River Collective. The CRC was a Black Feminist Writers' group that used their understanding of intersectional identity to bring awareness and advocacy to the Forgotten among us. His relationship with her is complicated and delicate. 
• There are 1 million students in the NYC School District. That makes it the largest school district in the country. It is also an extremely diverse district, which makes it a worthwhile case study for examining almost any issue in education.

Whew. Okay. Let's go. 

To Teachers

I really don't care that I had to be at work today. We're being paid to go. We'll be alright. Honestly, today was a good day in our class. We had a chance to do the things that we rarely get to do. It was team building and current events. If today felt like "babysitting", please exit stage right. I don't have professional respect for you. Did our class move on to the next lesson? No. Did we take the math test we were supposed to today? No. But we DID write letters (persuasive ones, too!) to Chancellor Farina sharing our opinions about school today. And no one copied anyone else. Our class represented the entire spectrum of opinions. And guess what? Today tied so neatly into our current unit on reviews, for which we'll need a strong foundation in fact and opinion. Check out more of our work at @weSee2CHydeBK on Twitter. You'll be surprised. 

I thank you, colleagues for your presence today. I thank you for getting Here when you had somewhere over There to be. I thank you for finding a way to get to school today. Especially for those teachers who are also parents, I thank you for being exactly what a Teacher is-- a superhero. 

To Parents

I thank you for your sacrifice. I don't have many words but "thank you". Thank you for letting us borrow your kids, for texting us kind words, for being thoughtful and valued members of our community. We thank you for making your own decisions. You are our students' First Teachers. You are their most important teachers. I can't really say much beyond that. There are too many people demonizing and trivializing what you have done. I won't be another voice in that chorus.

To Chancellor Farina and Mayor de Blasio

 While it is true that many students needed two meals today, we also worry about the safety of our students and about the loss of an instructional day. Of the approximately 75 students in second grade, only 30 were present in our school today. We also learned that less than half of our students were present school-wide. Across the city, there was an attendance rate of 44% today. That means that more students were home than at school. We understand that you are trying to remind us of the socioeconomic factors at play here. And truthfully, it's refreshing to hear someone acknowledge the pink elephant in the room. 

 

I'm not "colorblind". I'm also not "status-blind". New York City is a Tale of Two Cities, as de Blasio noted during his campaign. We are sons and daughters of janitors and of lawyers. We are the children of bus drivers and software designers. It is true, many students in NYC are poor. When we flirted with the idea of doing away with student Metrocards, our conscience guided us to make the right decision. We realized that taking away a resource was inhumane and created a "cost" for an education that was promised to be "free". 

It is offensive to Teachers (and to other stakeholders including students and families) to tout "a hot meal" as the primary reason for the opening of schools. We work hard, ALL YEAR, and still endure hurtful words and assumptions about our professional priorities. But then again, as teaching is a largely woman-dominated field, I never really expected you all to respect the very real intellectual work it takes to teach a class of diverse learners. We create unit plans, we differentiate instruction to reach the entire class, we build meaningful relationships with community partners and families, and we make children smile. We're not perfect, but we are serious and committed to our passion. 

I worry that the students who are home, who also need meals, have not eaten today, too. We should also be clear that there are indeed some students who have eaten at home. We should think about that. Let's think about a solution. 

During the summer, students can receive free meals at their local public school building. Summer Meals in NYC have fed many kids (including the students of our Concord Youth Programs AND their counselors). It is a great program because it is local. Some of my students travel very far to reach school in East New York. Especially in the context of the Charter School Movement, "zoned" schools are pretty much a thing of the past. We don't really have neighborhood schools as we used to.  If the point of today remaining a school day was to feed children, I believe we should have allowed students to eat at their local schools, not the schools they attend. That would have been a safer option. We care that students eat. We know that some students receive two meals at school for free. This is real.

Let's also remember that places like Best Buy and Macy's are open because labor is exploited and this is a country built on capitalism.  I wouldn't ever try to build a school on the organizational logic of a company that has its employees work 24+ hour shifts on Black Friday. Of course Macy's is open. But it was also open on Black Friday, weekends, holidays, Yom Kippur... Schools are not businesses. I thought we learned that with Cathleen Black.

I'm grateful to have a mayor and chancellor who are sensitive enough to recognize that schools serve more than one function. But we need to be careful about phrasing and context.  I just think there's something unethical about the reality in which we've asked our students and their families to live. We are asking students to jump through icy hoops. This is what the young folks call "doing the most". 

To our Kids

Most people will tell you that your only job is to go to school. And they're right. But not totally.

Your job is to think. Wherever that is. Your job is to learn, to question, to critique, to wonder, to design, to explore, to propose, to hypothesize, and to dream. You can do that in school. You can do that at home. You can do that in the laundromat while mom gets the last load in the dryer, or on the train on the way to visit your grandparents. You told me that "the baby cries too much". Can you write a story about what her cries sound like? Does it sound like a roaring lion or like a shrieking eagle? Is it a big sound? Can you describe it with seven words?  I dare you to draw what her cries sound like on paper. What colors would you use? What paper would you use?

The world belongs to you. We are counting on you to make better sense of this world than we did. I'm sorry that we didn't leave it to you in a better condition. 

Today was hard. Our class usually has 24 students, but today we only had 12. Some of our students had to leave early. Wherever you are today, I hope that you know that you are special. You are loved. You are incredible. 

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't learn if you don't go to school. That's not all the way true. When you bring in your favorite toy, share a funny joke you learned from your dad, or draw a picture of what the world would be like without gravity, you are using your brain.  Our ancestors learned in shacks, in fields, in churches, AND in classrooms. Anyone who tells you that school is the only place to learn something is someone who doesn't understand the Power of the Mind. 

We missed the students who didn't come in today. We miss you whenever you're absent.  But we also learned something new about the students who came in. And don't worry, we'll make sure that you can catch up the next time we meet. That's our job. I hope you hear me saying that you deserve an education. It is your right and our privilege. You deserve the best schools, the best teachers, the best lunch. But this world is more than what it seems. We haven't done our job right if you are unable to think outside the walls of our school building.

It's hard to see a solution with all this snow. Visibility is low. Perhaps tomorrow we will see more than we did today. 

#LostInTranslation

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I truly don't believe we get life-changing messages from God or Mother Willow from a booming Morgan Freeman voice. Messages are about listening. You must be in the right place, at the right time, with an open heart to see what the World is trying to do with you.
I was in the right place at the right time.

I'm typing this as I'm waiting to meet with my tutoring student. He lives near a McDonalds. I usually sit here with a cup of coffee and get on my computer to do work. I keep my headphones in my ear so that people don't bother me. But I'm listening.

Two older women with WatchTower booklets sat at my immediate right. They kept throwing the ULTIMATE side-eyes to the table of high schoolers nearby. They were offended by the teens' language, offended by their volume, offended by their presence.

Eventually, one of the women went over to speak to them. Her friend had coached her.
"Someone needs to say something. Go over there and tell them", her friend said.

"You all need to learn some respect. You keep sitting over here and saying vile things and it is bothering my ears. Would you speak like that to your mother? Or your grandmother?"

The students looked up at her, laughing.

"Hi. Hi. Hi lady. Hello. How are you. Would you like some of  my lollipop? It's grape flavored". She gestured the lollipop forward, smiling sweetly with a purple grin and purple teeth. It was really a grape lollipop.

"I don't want no lollipop. I want you to understand what you look like. You think it's okay to be sitting here and talking and carrying on like that?", the older woman questioned.

"Hi mom. Hi."

Eventually, "Mom" walked away. As she returned to her table, her friend egged her on.

"That's right, they need to understand. A child is to be seen, and not heard."

That's when I realized what was happening. I was getting a Message.

We are in a dangerous world. The kids we love and serve are silenced in EVERY sphere of their world. They're told to sit "like a leader" in school and to behave and be present. To only take an active role during Youth Sunday at church, but not on any other Sunday. We tell them that political involvement is important, but ignore their very unique ways of resisting and living into activism when they fight against school closings. We wonder why we groom so many adults to become complacent, and we have lost the origin of the problem. It's us. We do not have many spaces where intergenerational work takes place. And because we don't have many spaces in our world that facilitate relationships between youth and elders, both groups are likely to have opinions of the other, grounded in  anecdotal experiences. This is why every word we say to young people matters. We color their lens.

Honestly, the children were out of order. I'm not the person to paint with a broad brush. There's space for shared blame here, but I don't think I'm really looking to place blame. The older women had a point. But so did the children. They just weren't able to articulate it. I keep replaying the child calling her "mom" and asking if she wanted a lollipop. She was asking for recognition. But she was also embarrassed. She was stuck between finding something respectful to say to an elder and remaining cool among her friends. Both of those spaces are important. I'm not saying these kids were warranted in their behavior. I'm not even saying that what they did was right. But I'm not silly enough to think that what a child says is what a child means. 

Had this woman taken the time to ask questions rather than give mandates, she would have found that these students were recording a video. Do it for the Vine.

If I had the resources, or the time, I would do an extensive research project on youth identity forming on Vine. If you've ever had the time, I encourage you to scroll through a few Vines. If you don't have the app, Youtube Search "Best Vines". You will find something amazing. You'll find great videos, and many from young people of color. Silly videos, ridiculous videos, witty videos... Many of them are pretty thoughtful. And the videos go viral. Easily.

We don't have many art programs in urban schools. We have a lot of math, a lot of reading, a lot of test prep. But art is not an every day activity for most urban students. In fact, they're so rare, that in many schools, subjects like visual art, drama, music, dance, or physical education are referred to as "specials". Let that language marinate.

Urban youth make Vines and Instagram videos as  a form of resistance and creativity. They come together to form identity. It is a release of often-stifled energy. These students are taking the mundane and making meaning, and doing so in a way that most adults can't ask them to do. They do so in a way that can't be measured by Common Core. They do so in a way that will never be recognized or appreciated. We say we want them to develop an opinion, to form a plan, to have a vision, but only when we ask them to write a paper or submit a project.  But because most adults are turned off by their "language" and performance of identity, the artistic genius is missed. We need to be teaching young people how to be Players on this World's Stage. So we have to meet them where they are.

But this isn't really a post on Vines. It's about our relationship with young people.

I wonder what would have happened if that older woman sat down with them and asked them what they were up to. Or if she offered to buy them an apple pie. Or if she smiled at them. How might they have responded to her (very reasonable) request of asking them to consider her feelings in using "the language".

The saddest thing about the whole interaction is that these women congratulated one another after the interaction. They were proud of themselves. They though they had really changed the world in saying something. They actually hadn't. They had really just played their role in perpetuating and reaffirming the reality that young people try to resist in their creativity on Vine and in other spaces. They had become a hashtag. #OldLadiesBeLike #YouGonChillOrNah

I'm worried about what we think of young people. In my own experience, I've seen second graders moderate discussions, solve problems, and advocate for fairness. I never taught them that. Our job as teachers (and adults) is not to tell young people what to think. We would only be replacing ourselves, and I don't think we're all that special anyway. Our job is to encourage them to see the world, think about why it is the way it is, and evaluate its status. Then they will change it for the better.

Do it for the vine.

What Snow Days Could Teach Us About Parent Sacrifice

Last Tuesday night, in anticipation of a winter storm, the NYCDOE tweeted that schools would be open Wednesday.  Families were encouraged to "use their judgement" in making the decision to take their children to school. Pause. Since WHEN did we value parental judgement? Since when did we trust our families? It's quite convenient to shift onus and responsibility on parents when we are unable to reach a decision. But that's a post for another day...

Tuesday afternoon I worried about Wednesday. It had threatened to snow something terrible in the NYC Metro area. Part of me was excited because it meant that I could take the day to organize all my various Shea butter products. Part of me was worried that we'd have to come to school, that the notice would come late, and that the day of school in spite of dangerous cold and unplowed streets would teach me something I was unready to know about who goes to my school and what their lives were like.

Guess what happened? Hint-- my butters are still disorganized.

It started from breakfast. Usually, I dread breakfast duty. As much of a "wooh a chance to experience a Communion of mind and bread with my students" teacher I am, I actually look forward to the sacred moments of quietness before they arrive. Sue me.

I passed the auditorium, one of the two places students go if they arrive early. 4 kids in the whole school. Cool. Maybe today will be a "Trick-The-Kids-Into-Cleaning-The-Classroom" day. Wooh! Jobs for everyone! Staple these! Organize these! Sweep! Wipe! Arrange! Amen!

Then I went into the cafeteria. At least 50 kids. I wondered, and naively so, why the kids were rolling so deep here.

Duh. Free breakfast.

It threw me off. It made me remember the urgency of the necessary city, state, and federal benefits for those who live at or below the poverty line. And let's be clear... That line ain't drawn too accurately. I digress.

What I Learned...

1. The kids who showed up were also the same kids who regularly ate breakfast, nearly all of whom do so for free.

2. The kids who showed up had something to lose by staying home. A day off of school means time lost. And the kids who showed up and braved the conditions represented a group of parents who fear that lost time. (Carefully worded. Please note, I tried a MILLION combinations of words and phrases and nothing was neat enough to say this--> Ain't nobody tryna say that the kids who stayed home had triflin parents. That was another kind of sacrifice.)

I was scared to write this post at first because I didn't want it to appear like some chick who's never understood the meaning of "hunger" to sit at her MacBook and gripe about how blessed, helpless, and special SHE is. That's not what this is about.

This post was actually written to remind me of what's at stake. Who needs us. Who we teach. Who we serve. This is not a joke. This is also not just a reminder for teachers.

If you listen to many local news stations, have Facebook account, follow the Ed Reform movement, or if you just have a pulse, you've heard a popular refrain, "Parents in the hood don't have their priorities straight. They have their kids wearing Jordans but ain't never took their kids to the museum". That may be true, but it's not an accurate reading. I won't repeat myself. Just read.

It is expensive to be poor. There is a financial AND a spiritual cost of poverty. The 90's taught us "more money, more problems".  I would also say "less money, more problems". Find a babysitter because you work irregular hours, hire the neighbor's kid to tutor because those hours don't allow you to help with homework, find someone to take the kids to school..... It adds up.

Some of you are sitting and singing "if you can't feed the baby, then don't have the baby". Mama-say-mama-sah-mama-koosah to that, I suppose. But that's really not what's at stake. And that's not really what's most important here.

Until we have comprehensive affordable health coverage, until our schools hire just as many guidance counselors as security guards, until our parents and families are supported by fairly paying jobs, it will ALWAYS be expensive to be poor.

I'm worried about our painting of Parents and Families as either wholly competent or wholly triflin. Parents are human. Humans don't really do well in categories or boxes. Sometimes people do great things. Sometimes people do sucky things. Most times, people shuffle through life and go through the motions. I kind of want to say that I blame Tyler Perry for his influence on American understanding of character development. News flash-- You will not always know if someone is the "good guy" or "bad guy" based on his smile or his theme music. 

There are MANY different types of parents and families--

1. There are families who send their children to school to brave cold weather and dangerous ice because there is a promise of two meals.

2. There are families who send their children to school to brave cold weather and dangerous ice because they don't have any where else to take their children.

3. There are families who send their children to school to brave cold weather and dangerous ice because they're able to do so, and in doing so, they are relatively unstirred.

But what about the kids we didn't see? What about the kids who stayed home with their parents, who made the sacrifice of a sick day/personal day/day of pay? 

Parents make sacrifices. Parents use their best judgement. Families weigh the costs and make the call. There will always be someone who finds fault in the sacrifices you choose. It takes a resilient parent to continue to do his or her personal best, whatever that may be, while facing assumptions of character and priority. For teachers of Black and Brown children, the presence of ANY child in the middle of a snowstorm or below-zero weather says that formal education is a value. That teachers are being trusted, held accountable, and challenged.  It is our job to deliver. 

In the shadow of the Education Reform movement, it is tempting to be distracted by data for the sake of political agendas. I'm not so sure it is anyone's goal to widen the achievement gap. But our focus has to be clearer. Before test prep, it is our job to make a lesson relevant, engaging, exciting, and thoughtful. We are preparing students to become citizens. We are building leaders. We are training our replacements. That's a lot of pressure, but that's what it is. Children have braved cold weather for whatever they thought we had to offer. It's our ethical responsibility to deliver. 

It takes a village to raise a child. Any great teacher can tell you that.  Parents, teachers, voters, policy-writers, all of us. We all have a responsibility to clear the snow. Those who travel behind us and beside us need a safe path. 

Shared sacrifice. Are we ready for it?