I certainly can appreciate your perspective. However, as an educator in the classroom, allow me to challenge your thinking, just a bit.

Are you positive that all teachers, and administrators, really want parental involvement? Depending on your answer, allow me to delve a bit further. It is very common, especially in low-performing schools, for teachers to rarely, if ever, make a telephone call to parents; let’s not even talk about a “home visit.” Furthermore, for the most part, parents are now contacting principals to voice their concerns regarding their child’s teacher. This process is occurring, principally, because administrators won’t require teachers to interact with parents (should that have to be a requirement?); thus, instead of administrators directing parents to contact the teacher, instead, the administrator is “straddling the fence,” by trying to placate parents and teachers. It’s a real mess.

I have specifically asked my principal, “When parents contact you regarding my service to their child, please direct them to me. Even, if they want to have a conference that involves the three of us (principal, parent, teacher), at least respect my professional judgement, the same as I would respect yours.” And you know what, my principal respects my decisions and my requests, and I’m the parent-teacher “queen” at my school. I love talking to parents!

Just a little food for thought!

Thanks for our insights as well.

Peace,
Hafeeza

Driver’s license to make it look real. When he went to court I told my son the tell the judge he wanted to take it to trial. My son said, DEVIL GRIFFIN starting talking loud and told him, “If you lose, I am going to give you JAIL Time!” My son is not like me so he excepted the payment plan that they gave him. When and how can we stop the pimping of the UNIFIED GOVERNMENT. This is why the Rich will continue getting RICH as long as they see POOR people.
HELLO —–Alozo Washington , Al Sharpton, and of course Jesse Jackson. Help us out because we have some problems that have been going on for years and will continue.

I am wearied with all these stories about fleeing from Wyandotte county because of someplace better with better educational systems. Ugh, you can read about problems in schools EVERYWHERE. Read about the problems Atlanta Schools are having at http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/atlanta-schools-pressured-to-407485.html.

And Wyandotte County is not a city anymore, it’s a town???Huh???. Are you serious???? Let’s understand the difference between a city and a town: “In the United States, an incorporated city is a legally defined government entity, with powers delegated by the state and county and created and approved by the voters of the city. It can provide local government services to its citizens. In most places in the U.S. a town, village, community, or neighborhood is simply an unincorporated community with no governmental powers.” That ain’t us baby, bureaucracy runs this place. We are more a city now than ever before.

With the Hollywood Casino coming, Cerner Corporation, Sara Lee expansion, and all the development in western Wyandotte County, come on now!!! And with all of this growth, I will agree that our educational system is lacking, but that can be fixed based on the climate of partnership between the educators in the schools and the educators in the home. Perhaps one of the reasons we have not fixed this problem is educational goals have not been linked to the short or long term objectives for the overall growth of Wyandotte County. I haven’t seen anything tying the two together. I do believe there is hope based on the State of the Government address by Mayor Reardon in his speech. Now we just need some accountability with the spoken word. Go check out the City’s Master Plan at http://www.wycokck.org/Dept.aspx?id=18788&banner=15284, and click on “2010” for the content of the Mayor’s address or “Presentation” for a bulleted summary of his address. Maybe what we need is a change in our government, and that can happen when we exercise our right to vote. We saw it happen in 2008, when Obama was elected president. If we don’t take the time to vote, PLEASE don’t take the time to complain.

Without a doubt, I agree we are our own worst enemy. But that is “us” period. Not because we’re black, but because by nature we are looking out for #1. It’s not just black people, it’s all people. As parents we have weakened our society. Our parents made us responsible because we couldn’t get away with anything. Shoot, I remember receiving correction at school and oh Lawd, don’t tell my mother please, cause it would start all over again. Then she would follow up the next day with the teacher to see if things went better than the day before. But because we’re grown and our lives are better now and because we can afford a few things; we have created lazy irresponsible children; we have spoiled them; bought them any and every thing they wanted (even when we couldn’t necessarily afford it), made them lazy by waiting on them hand and foot, allowed them to be disrespectful, and without accountability. I agree with Myron D, yes, they are a reflection of the parents, we have made them. No point in running from this. We are going to have face the beat of this drum and FIX THE PROBLEM.