A DPS Student's Open Letter Concerning the Sick-outs

[313WX]

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/arch...to-perspective

[Vic01]

here's the letter -

My name is Imani Harris and I am a student at Renaissance High School. I am a sophomore and have spent both of my high school years at Renaissance. Throughout my time at this school I have experienced good and bad things. As this year has gone by I have noticed many of the teacher sickouts, and protests. As I looked into them I have learned that I agree with everything these teachers stand for and I stand with them. Class sizes are too large, teaching conditions are horrible in some schools, and we barely have any resources. Things need to change, and we won't stop until they do.

Teachers who have participated in this sickout should not have their teaching certification taken away. First and foremost, there are already enough vacancies without you taking away 23 more teachers. The teachers are standing up for what they believe in, and are doing so peacefully. Trying to silence teachers by threatening to take away their jobs is childish and unfair to my education.

When you have lost these teachers, how will you replace them? Who wants to work in a school district where ceilings fall on student’s heads, and mushrooms grow in the hallways? I did not have an English teacher for the first four months of school, and last year I did not have a French teacher the whole first semester. With a history of all these vacancies, how will firing 23 teachers help your case at all.

I have a teacher named Zachary Sweet. He is one of the 23 teachers who may lose their job. Mr. Sweet is honestly the best teacher I've ever had. He is very dedicated to his job, he comes early in the morning to school to tutor, and stays after school for hours just to make sure that we understand. If there's anything we don't understand, he alters and tries again the next day.

Mr. Sweet is my Honors Algebra 2 and Honors Geometry teacher, but he also teaches a German 1 class. Where would you find a teacher that can teach all three of those classes effectively? When would you be able to find a teacher to do so? Would this teacher be here before the end of the school year, or will I just have to figure it out myself while DPS continues to pick on teachers who just want better for us?

Legislators, the Emergency Manager and others have said that teachers are hindering our education by doing these sickouts, but the reality is that none of you live in Detroit, and none of you have children who go to a DPS school. None of you have to come to school every day and share books [[if we even have books), or be in the middle of doing work and the lights cut off.

None of you have to worry about your safety everyday of your life, or walk past mushrooms growing in the hallway. None of you have to skip lunch every day because the food is moldy, and the milk is old. None of you experience what we experience, and until you have, you have no right to speak on anything happening in our district. Our teachers are doing what is best for us, and my education is not being hindered any more than it was when I went a whole Semester without a French/English teacher.

I was always taught to stand up for what I believe in, and never back down. We have come too far, and opened too many doors to stop now. Things finally have a chance to turn around, and not only for my school, but for all of the other DPS schools. We deserve better. DPS students are treated as dollar signs, and/or just a number on a slate. I'm sure that none of you even know what our schools look like, let alone what we look like. How can you all take away our teachers and tell us that's what's best for us, when you don't even know us. It's totally unfair to even threaten to do this, and scare off our teacher while also impairing my education. If you want to do what's best for us, make a change. Students support this cause just as much as teachers do. We deserve so much more, what the District is doing in DPS is criminal, and wrong.

-Sincerely,
Imani Harris,
Renaissance Sophomore
‪#‎dpsstudentfightsback‬

http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/arch...to-perspective

[RaumVogel]

How do politicians NOT pay attention to this?

[313WX]

How do politicians NOT pay attention to this?

Because it [[as in things like the humanitarian aspect or logic) get in the way of their agendas.

[Scottathew]

That's powerful testimony. Bravo Mr. Harris.

[coracle]

How do politicians NOT pay attention to this?

That is one very good letter Imani and I enjoyed reading it for its lucidity. As a politician spending my money I would first want to authenticate it. Make sure Zackary didn't have an input in writing it and that RaumVogel wasn't another of Zacker's pen names. But in the end of course it makes no difference to who has to pay for the mismanagement - me. Do all Michigan schools have the same problems?
"We deserve so much more" encapsulates the want and "more" is definitely better if it's in fact the real need to solve the problem - my guess is, it isn't.

[Hamtragedy]

As a Renaissance Alum, I would not question that the author wrote the letter on his/her own.

"What, you mean all tenth-graders in Detroit aren't stuck reading and writing at a third-grade level?"

But, as was already mentioned, none of the people making decisions about Detroit Public Schools have any children enrolled there, and most probably are stuck in the "third-grade reading" mentality.

[Lowell]

The one thing that could break this issue wide open would be the students rising in protest and they going on strike. I applaud the teachers for taking this stand. I know DPS teachers who have been bounced from crumbling school to crumbling school as state managers oversaw the implosion while state law allowed for-profit educational businesses to cherry pick their students. But the students, who are the customers and the real losers, need to drive this if any attention will be given. Hopefully this great letter is a start.

That happened in Soweto in 1976 and it changed and liberated a nation. Ask Nelson Mandela.

[DeLemur]

Good letter.

[downtownguy]

Brilliant!

[Wesley Mouch]

How do politicians NOT pay attention to this?

They are more interested in the spoils of the system than in reform. Reform requires disruption. Constituencies get upset.

Its clear that we're happier to live with a broken DPS than we are to accept alternative ideas on education.

Just a few minutes on this list will tell you that DPS just needs more money and flowers will bloom. Suggest that Charters are helping kids, and you'll be attacked.

Teachers are a very organized force -- and a strong force at the polls. Politicians cross them at their own risk.

Students don't vote.

[belleislerunner]

The problem is the media only shows one side in their biased analysis of the situation - Many city residents do not support the methods the teachers are employing. I'm one of them. There was nothing newsworthy about his letter. It was rather boring.

[Lowell]

...the students, who are the customers and the real losers, need to drive this if any attention will be given. Hopefully this great letter is a start.

That happened in Soweto in 1976 and it changed and liberated a nation. Ask Nelson Mandela.

It's beginning at Cass and Renaissance:

Administrators threatened to suspend anyone who participated in the protests, but the kids stood their ground and emptied the halls anyway.

They say did it to get the state's attention and support their teachers.

Students spilled onto the street as Communication and Media Arts high schoolers walked out, standing up for their teachers - and their education despite a five-day suspension handed down by principal Donya Odom.

"I got suspended for five days for an American right," said Tarik Jackson. "That's ridiculous."

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/loca...82368501-story

[Scottathew]

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. If I were walking out of school, I would expect to be punished. The kids aren't being denied their freedom to speak, they're being punished for walking out of class when they're supposed to be in it.

Now, as to the punishment, 5 days suspension? That's an f-ing ridiculous, shameful, head up your ass joke.

Give the kids detention, or at the absolute maximum, 1 day suspension for each incident. That way "speaking for your rights" isn't just code for "getting out of class".

[EastsideAl]

I applaud the involvement of DPS students in their own education and the terms on which it is administered. Giving lie to the narrative that they're all disinterested and dangerous morons who need to be controlled, and pushing back against the deplorable state "managers" who have taken a bad situation and somehow made it worse.

[Wesley Mouch]

I applaud the involvement of DPS students in their own education and the terms on which it is administered. Giving lie to the narrative that they're all disinterested and dangerous morons who need to be controlled, and pushing back against the deplorable state "managers" who have taken a bad situation and somehow made it worse.

I applaud the young person as well -- but recognize that this opinion is nonetheless immature and reflects that he's been well-instructed by teachers on not just how to think, but on what to think.

[Jimaz]

... he's been well-instructed by teachers on not just how to think, but on what to think.

You sound as though you have a lot of experience with that.