This past Friday, I attended a NYCORE monthly meeting, at NYU in NYC. There is a lot that I took away from this experience, one of which was how passionate so many educators in a room can truly be. the energy of the crowd and everyone's positivity was contagious. As newbies, Lisa, Christine and I had to be briefed during a pre-meeting at 530, during which core members and other "steady" members gave us an at-a-glance history of NYCORE and how it came about. This organization instantaneously grabbed my attention due to it's long history of committed core members and the types of events they organize. They also dedicate their time in designing curriculum that is aligned with standards, current events and tied into social justice. They work with many other organizations around NYC.
During the main meeting, a few speakers were invited in to talk about the Coalition for Public Education. Similar to NJ, NYC is experiencing a tremendous change and essentially dictatorship by having mayoral control. According to the representatives of this organization, this kind of control has done great damage in the public school system. What stuck out to me during the time these speakers were talking was that the also talked about "taxation without representation", which is something I heard at the ALI meeting in Newark. A representative of the Outreach program for parents spoke, and said something else that stood out in my mind that "parental involvement is almost non-existent because of the uncomfortable atmosphere" that exist in schools. These two things seem to be common themes between the Newark Public Schools and New York City, and although they have different people controlling them, they still have similar issues. So, a question raised in my mind, are the people in control REALLY that different? I don't believe so. White, male, middle age adults, who are hungry for power and control of money. Yep, seems about right to me; the equation for failure is in place at both cities. Doesn't anyone else see this? These men don't send their kids to public schools, they don't teach in those public schools, heck... they have probably never even visited those schools (maybe 1 or 2 for a picture). What do they know about us? About our kids?
As I was listening to these speakers, it made me angry that these issues go on in such large cities with with thousands of children's lives on the line. When is it going to be about the kids?
At the end of these speeches there were break out sessions, and I decided to attend the Underground Teachers group, which is fairly new and focused on supporting new teachers that went through an alternate certification track, such as teach for America. I felt a little lost during this meeting as I did not know the focus or the purpose of the conversation, but nonetheless, I came away from this meeting wanting to support new teachers as well. As a first year teacher (well not yet), I feel lucky to have all of the support around me, however, how does everyone else do it? I appreciate this break out session because it was new teachers caring for other new teachers, and recognized that having a support group and an outlet to come and express concerns was very important.
The meeting concluded by a debriefing session of what each break out group spoke about and what the next steps are. The break out group of Special Education reported they are publishing a guide for parents and students of disabilities, and I immediately wished I had attended that group instead, but I also knew I could come to the next meeting and contribute. The entire group broke out, but social justice had just started; some headed to wall street, some headed home to email others about occupying the board, and others went to happy hour to discuss further plans.
In closing, I appreciated this meeting a lot and hope to continue attending as much as I can, although time is limiting. I appreciated and took comfort in knowing that I am not alone in social justice and wanting to fight for a better education system. I also took comfort in knowing that the big apple just 20 min away from Newark is experiencing similar struggles. Although sad, this is also a reason to unite and fight together. I would really like it if NYCORE had a NJCORE because it would really make a different in feeling supported and in fighting for what is going on in NJ. I know this is a task far fetched at this point in my career, but maybe one day I will be a core member of NJCORE.
No comments:
Post a Comment