EDITOR:
I am a public school teacher with 22 years of experience and a “teacherpreneur” whose work week is divided between teaching students and designing system-level solutions for our public education.
I have attended many APS board meetings last year and I continue to do so. Often, I hear APS stating that their numerous immigrant students cause their low effectiveness score. In a meeting I attended one of their board members claimed that if an immigrant child comes to the district in ninth grade, it would take this child six years to graduate. This board member believes that an immigrant student will need six years to do what a native student would do in four. As an educator, I believe that “one size fits all” model is not a solution.
On many occasions, when APS school leaders were asked why there are such huge disparities in the ratio of teachers of color to their students, they usually state that they can’t find teachers of color. As a teacher of color, I can tell you that other teachers of color that I am in contact with only want to work where they are cared about and respected. To me, it is disheartening when the failings of a system are blamed on the teachers and students. How can we expect either of them to thrive in a system that does not support them to do so unless it fits the status quo?
We need to assess if our fear is stopping us from making the changes that could be the answer to facilitating necessary and crucial improvements.
APS faces many challenges, and if the past failings are any indication, we need new board members willing to try new things. This is why I endorse Linda Cerva. What impresses me is that she believes that one of the most-important factors for the student achievement and raising graduation rates is to treasure our teachers and treat them with honor and respect. Not only is she open to change and willing to embrace forward thinking practices, she adds a great diversity to the APS board. She’s lucky number 7 in the ballot, so let’s vote her in!
Roya Brown