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‘UNPRECEDENTED’

Though the United States education system is flawed, there is still a future for young and dedicated minds. The real world outside of school is terrifying enough; the schools today aren’t doing enough to prepare students for what lies outside classroom doors.
America’s overall science and math education trails behind other countries. Here in Louisiana, especially in St. John the Baptist Parish, we have math and science classes without teachers for reasons only known by administration (no communication).
In 2016, new civil rights data released showed that African American students and Latino students were being shortchanged in their access to high-level math and science courses, and in St. John, our certified teachers are taken out of the classrooms for Central Office mentoring positions, leaving students without a teacher (no communication).
Students with disabilities and English learners are also caught in this trap of disproportionate teacher assignments.
In 1954, the Supreme Court declared that public education is “a right which must be made available to All on Equal terms.” That landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education stood for the proposition that the federal government would no longer allow states and municipalities to deny equal educational opportunity to a historically oppressed racial minority. Ruling unanimously, the justices overturned the noxious concept that “separate” education could ever be “equal.” Yet today, over 60 years later, our schools remain separate and unequal.
Separate will always be unequal. But just how unequal is the education we offer our students of color today. Too many times we hear they don’t care. It’s the responsibility of each school to contact parents. It’s a federal law.
On April 30, 2022, there is an election in which we (parents, voters, taxpayers) are asked to pass another bond without communication as to why it is needed and why are our facilities so far from being reopened (no communication). We need more TRANSPARENCY in this parish. Things must change to get better. I have always said we did not create this problem and without strong communication, I will not be pushing for another bond to pass.

CJBatiste/Citizen Jean