Creating Change through College Partnerships
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VIOREL FLORESCU/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSProfessor Mark Naison and Fordham University student Angel Melendez in front of Roosevelt campus. Melendez |
Hooray for Angel Melendez and kudos to his Professor, Mark Naison!
A spectacular article in yesterday's NY Daily News about a novel idea from them makes so much sense it's a wonder why anyone is stalling on implementing it all across NYC, and the nation.
The fact that a simple enough, grassroots solution to education inequities was sponsored by a Fordham University student Angel Melendez, in a course taught by a Professor of African American History makes the case even stronger. Within that class on Affirmative Action, students were obviously taught by Professor Naison to recognize the history of American racism, oppression, poverty and civil/human rights, and were astute enough to look critically at how those societal issues affect today's reality for underserved kids of color in NYC. The Fordham student and his course mates have proposed that their university adopt the six failing public high schools bundled under one school building that's located right across the street.
“We looked at the numbers, and how many minorities schools (like Fordham) actually accept, and we realized it’s definitely not kids that go to schools like Roosevelt,” said Melendez. “We decided as a class to create a proposal that would encourage Fordham to accept 50 students (from Roosevelt) and open up its resources.”
Back in July 2007, I was the newly elected Parents Association (PA) president of my son's (grades 6 - 12) secondary school called the Henry Street School for International Studies on Manhattan's Lower East Side. As a mom of a senior in the class of '08, I had two motivations for taking this thankless post:
(1) to ensure that the first high school class to graduate (from a Gates Foundation / Asia Society sponsored, failed experiment in new, small urban schools) would have a grand ceremony for those who had learned enough to walk across a regal stage-- highly celebrated for beating the odds and earning their NY State Regents Diplomas;
(2) to encourage the middle schoolers earning their eight grade diplomas and embarking on high school to have something wonderful to strive towards in four years. The PA thought about the possibility of the 8th graders having their graduation in the school's auditorium (with a big party afterwards,) and those who wanted to-- could get tickets to the high school ceremony so that they could actually witness the grand occasion that awaited them.
That summer, I set about asking the local colleges for their auditorium space for the high school graduation, and what I learned was an eye opener.
- Dumb assumption that our local colleges would have some small interest in supporting the graduates and families of a Title 1 high poverty school. Nothing could have been further than the truth. The college(s) administrators were totally disconnected from the community and looked at me like I had two-heads for suggesting that they should care about plans for poor kids graduating from a new, nearby high school.
- Colleges are businesses, and using their space is costly. Outrageously so. The litany of expenses beyond the actual seating space included a costs for security personnel, lighting, janitorial services, union fees, etc, etc., etc.
- Quickly erased was the notion of having the graduation in a small space in any of NYU's numerous buildings, even though the high school touted having a "partnership" with the prestigious University. (Hosting white student teachers, and a plethora of Psych majors doing a 3-year long research study on "Adolescent Identity of Low Income Students of Color" was the extent of the partnership). No doubt the high school got a monetary benefit to allow our kids to become human subjects, but for parents and students there was no value to be had. For us, the claim of an affiliation with NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development was all bogus rhetoric that was put into marketing brochures so the Asia Society could get more private contracts from public schools, and NYU could use stories and photos of our "disadvantaged, at-risk," Black/Brown kids for their fund-raising benefits.
- Also learned that the large City University campuses with schools like CCNY, Hunter or Baruch College all had almost-as-expensive rental fees as NYU did, but they'd also been booked three and four years in advance, so no dates at the end of June were available for a graduation by a new school like ours (whose novice administrators weren't experienced enough to plan ahead).
- The Borough of Manhattan's Community College, just a short bus ride away from the high school, seemed possible but our principle stalled on signing the papers for two months and we lost out on the space. She would not commit to the $2,500 rental cost for less than 40 graduates (the senior class started out as a cohort of 78 promising ninth graders… which says a lot about the school's failure over four years).
The experience of not being able to do something special at a college for our graduates made me angry, but I put it aside to work on other more tangible injustices. Seeing the article about the Angel's proposal makes me want to act on his idea.
Colleges and universities, be they public or private, get tax benefits from the city, state and federal government. In the case of public institutions, our tax dollars are supporting their real estate and in turn, they should be mandated to support the local public schools in their communities by allowing a little of that space (and their resources) to be available to the community.
It's insane that NYC public school students are starved of space; co-located and crowded into a shared building intended to house only one school years ago, but now housing up to seven schools, with hallways split between some of them and gyms and offices turned into classroom space. Unless a unique program has been crafted by an individual school (who is fortunate enough to have an aggressive principal, guidance counselor, or PTA president) our children have no access to the public colleges in this city.
Only it shouldn't be that way.
Our public school teachers and administrators are stretched too thin as it is. . . all the while that every NYC college already resides in a school district.
Because of their government funding, they should be made responsible for reaching out to the middle and high schools to develop a partnering plan. Put out an RFP or a Needs Assessment. Design a course and make the college students figure out how best to create the collaborations. Not every school will respond-- but those that do should be offered a free program that might include use of a certain section in the library, computer lab, specific time for use of the gym and/or playing fields, as well as art, music, technology and dance centers staffed by student instructors. Parents should be involved in fund-raising for the programs to keep them alive, and also provide them with a means of getting a GED, or learning about re-entry as students themselves.
College students could be paid for their time through work-study so the university isn't out too much money for adopting the local students and their schools. And of course, academic tutoring should be provided by the college students as well, either to earn credit or money. No one should be expected to work for free.
Those of you who work at colleges and universities will no doubt think me naive and cite a lack of funding for this kind of collaboration, but still, I think it's a worthy idea to discuss.
Urban colleges have to step up and become responsible for creating pathways to educational change in this nation--- and they can help a lot by reaching out to future students in their districts so they can actualize their human potential. Rural colleges that get our state and federal tax dollars should also made to host summer programs for our urban kids by giving them an opportunity away from these mean streets to further their learning. Some of these programs exist but not for our kids because tuition is in excess of $7,000 for just few weeks of residential and recreational programming. With no scholarships, that automatically means that none of our children are ever the beneficiaries and the achievement divides just keep on growing.
But if there's a will to create real partnerships with the colleges, there's also a way.
Please send in your comments and ideas-- (and if young Mr. Melendez or Professor Naison read this posting, please get in touch!)
Like our Sister Muba always says, in unity there is strength.
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