EDUCATION IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS.

PREFACE: I’m not in charge of much of anything anymore, but I like the blog’s name, so I’m keeping it, and I am, indeed, a Wahoo for life!  I am in the last month of a self-imposed gag order following my 24 vote loss for re-election to a 3^rd term as Mayor, and am itching to comment (as a private citizen/resident) on local community issues. But, we’re not there yet. There are other things to comment on. Things like a favorite subject: education.

The last few weeks have been filled with graduations: college, high school, middle school to high school, elementary to middle, pre-school to kindergarten. Kindergarten – a German word and idea meaning, literally, children’s garden, is a concept born in late 1700 Germany as an educational approach for pre-school children of working families. Starting as a program of playing, singing, drawing and social interaction, the traditional concept has, through time, transitioned into a much more rigorous form of preparing children for the ‘system demands’ that begin in 1^st grade. I learned a new term while serving my community: kindergarten ready. I am not a trained educator, but even I understand this word. And it has little to do with a garden.

In our current world, children must come to 1^st grade with certain basic skills. Some districts are fortunate to have families and support systems such that a vast majority of their children can hit 1^st grade in stride and begin a successful educational journey. Some do not. My home district found itself in this latter category a few years back as the local demographics changed. The district found itself with a substantial number of students from non-traditional home situations – single parent homes, children cared for by grandparents, aunts and uncles, big sisters/brothers, and court-appointed guardians. Stability was absent as kids were shuffled from place to place, school to school, nightmare to nightmare. For some, English was not their base language. For others, illegal drug activity was a part of their every-day environments. Basic traits as diligence, curiosity, self-discipline, hygiene were not priorities at home.

Schools are ‘graded’ and classified on the basis of arbitrary testing schemes devised in the state’s education department bureaucracy, and students’ performance on these tools are advertised and create perceptions of school systems in their communities. When children enter a system unprepared it, naturally, takes extraordinary effort by those educators to get these children to an acceptable testing level. If I remember the number correctly, I was advised that less than 20% of the children entering my home district’s kindergarten were ready, while neighboring districts were experiencing 80-90%. Imagine the effect this difference has on the reported school scores! It would look to the uninformed like the system educating the kids that were not ready to start on arrival was a ‘failing system’ when, actually, the student by student success was amazing. It is pretty simple: It takes half a glass of water to fill a glass already half full whereas it takes a whole glass to get an empty glass to the same level!

So, what has my home district done to address the situation it found itself in? A number of innovations and programs a little out of the box. It created and operates a pre-school at the high school facility as one ingredient of the recipe to make sure kids become kindergarten ready.  It works with faith-based groups to facilitate ‘Whiz Kids’ groups where local church volunteers work with elementary students weekly on reading, homework, story-telling and general knowledge. It partners with local municipal governments to place school resource (police) officers in every school and to operate an after school middle school program. It has involved itself in other non-traditional programs to address the need.

My point is this: educating our children is everybody’s business – our collective future depends on it. Support your local schools. Do not believe what you hear or take as gospel what the press reports – look deeper. Get involved and make a difference. Turn challenges into successes.

Case in point – a 2011 graduate of my alma mater recently obtained her undergraduate degree from a major state university with 4 - count them - 4 academic majors. She was awarded a Fullbright scholarship to pursue her masters in England. She is African-American. Her mother was a single parent who made a living and supported the family as an exotic dancer, and her father was not around and in prison. Non-traditional family + perhaps difficult childhood + Erlanger-Elsmere Independent public education = unqualified success. Fight on you Juggernauts, fight! Carry on to victory…

Congratulations to the Class of 2015!