Press Advisory
***For immediate release***
Thursday, December 11, 6:30pm
100 Bennett St. Lynn
LYNN PARENTS DEMAND MORE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, STAND UP TO UNDERFUNDING & UNDER-REPRESENTATION
Contact: Lissy Romanow – (508) 259-1001
Photo opportunities: Community speak-out & press conference, School Committee meeting
On Thursday, December 11, a large group of concerned parents and community residents from across the City of Lynn will confront the School Committee to demand the restoration of the community school at Ford Elementary School. The community school at Ford has, like other community schools, strived to meet the basic physical, mental, and emotional needs of students and their families to close the “achievement gap” between low-income students and their wealthier counterparts. The families who depended on Ford’s after-school programs, comprehensive tutoring, and adult education classes were not consulted or informed in the process of cancelling the various programs and services suddenly absent in the wake of principal Dr. Claire Crane’s recent retirement.
A movement toward community schools is gaining momentum throughout the U.S.: New York City recently announced its decision to make a third of New York City Public Schools community schools, and the Boston Alliance for Educational Justice has begun a campaign to transition all Boston Public Schools into community schools.
The parents and residents planning to speak out Thursday night (organized by Lynn Parents Organizing For A Better Education, a project of the grassroots organization Neighbor to Neighbor) at the City’s final School Committee meeting of the year have a clear message: take our schools a step forward into the 21st century—not a step back. Demanding inclusion in decision-making and the full restoration of the community school, Ford parents—many of whom are Latino—are standing up to under-representation in City government which has only grown more stark since the closing of a polling location in the Highlands neighborhood (where the Ford School is located) and the re-drawing of precinct lines, leading some residents to accuse the City of gerrymandering.
The primary barrier to restoring the community school at Ford, Lynn administrators have said, is funding. Due to Mayor Judith Kennedy’s public claims earlier this year that refugees from Central America were straining the City budget, there is an erroneous perception that immigrants are the cause of cuts to departments throughout the City. Research by the Reclaim Our Schools coalition (of which LPOBE is part) in Lynn indicates that revenue in Lynn is on par with other gateway cities—but information released this week by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates that Lynn Public Schools were the most underfunded in the state of Massachusetts last year, at 91% of the state required minimum for net school spending. The $16 million dollars which the City owed to its schools not only would have covered the 400 refugees who became students in Lynn last year—it also could have provided Extended Day programming to roughly 10,000 students, or Summer Learning for 11,100 students (see 2-page document attached). As it is, the City now faces a penalty from the state, threatening to take even more resources away from Lynn’s low-income students and students of color who, as a result, continue to sit on the wrong side of the “achievement gap.”
Given that community schools depend more on federal grants and partnerships with non-profits than City funding, community schools are well within the City’s reach—particularly if it funds the schools at 100% of the legal minimum. Districts with similar demographics have fully funded their schools and implemented the community school model, through partnerships with community-based organizations and educational institutions, and through federal and state grants which fund additional time for learning.
Ford Elementary School’s students are 29% English Language Learners, and 93% are low-income. Research indicates that poverty creates certain conditions for students that make it more difficult to learn (housing instability, financial stressors, exposure to violence, less outside academic activities like trips to the library or zoo, lack of mental/physical health care access, higher rates of domestic violence, etc.).
***For immediate release***
Thursday, December 11, 6:30pm
100 Bennett St. Lynn
LYNN PARENTS DEMAND MORE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, STAND UP TO UNDERFUNDING & UNDER-REPRESENTATION
Contact: Lissy Romanow – (508) 259-1001
Photo opportunities: Community speak-out & press conference, School Committee meeting
On Thursday, December 11, a large group of concerned parents and community residents from across the City of Lynn will confront the School Committee to demand the restoration of the community school at Ford Elementary School. The community school at Ford has, like other community schools, strived to meet the basic physical, mental, and emotional needs of students and their families to close the “achievement gap” between low-income students and their wealthier counterparts. The families who depended on Ford’s after-school programs, comprehensive tutoring, and adult education classes were not consulted or informed in the process of cancelling the various programs and services suddenly absent in the wake of principal Dr. Claire Crane’s recent retirement.
A movement toward community schools is gaining momentum throughout the U.S.: New York City recently announced its decision to make a third of New York City Public Schools community schools, and the Boston Alliance for Educational Justice has begun a campaign to transition all Boston Public Schools into community schools.
The parents and residents planning to speak out Thursday night (organized by Lynn Parents Organizing For A Better Education, a project of the grassroots organization Neighbor to Neighbor) at the City’s final School Committee meeting of the year have a clear message: take our schools a step forward into the 21st century—not a step back. Demanding inclusion in decision-making and the full restoration of the community school, Ford parents—many of whom are Latino—are standing up to under-representation in City government which has only grown more stark since the closing of a polling location in the Highlands neighborhood (where the Ford School is located) and the re-drawing of precinct lines, leading some residents to accuse the City of gerrymandering.
The primary barrier to restoring the community school at Ford, Lynn administrators have said, is funding. Due to Mayor Judith Kennedy’s public claims earlier this year that refugees from Central America were straining the City budget, there is an erroneous perception that immigrants are the cause of cuts to departments throughout the City. Research by the Reclaim Our Schools coalition (of which LPOBE is part) in Lynn indicates that revenue in Lynn is on par with other gateway cities—but information released this week by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates that Lynn Public Schools were the most underfunded in the state of Massachusetts last year, at 91% of the state required minimum for net school spending. The $16 million dollars which the City owed to its schools not only would have covered the 400 refugees who became students in Lynn last year—it also could have provided Extended Day programming to roughly 10,000 students, or Summer Learning for 11,100 students (see 2-page document attached). As it is, the City now faces a penalty from the state, threatening to take even more resources away from Lynn’s low-income students and students of color who, as a result, continue to sit on the wrong side of the “achievement gap.”
Given that community schools depend more on federal grants and partnerships with non-profits than City funding, community schools are well within the City’s reach—particularly if it funds the schools at 100% of the legal minimum. Districts with similar demographics have fully funded their schools and implemented the community school model, through partnerships with community-based organizations and educational institutions, and through federal and state grants which fund additional time for learning.
Ford Elementary School’s students are 29% English Language Learners, and 93% are low-income. Research indicates that poverty creates certain conditions for students that make it more difficult to learn (housing instability, financial stressors, exposure to violence, less outside academic activities like trips to the library or zoo, lack of mental/physical health care access, higher rates of domestic violence, etc.).
What a great article! Thanks for putting this here, Mr. Stanley.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow all of your community's ins and outs, but you clearly are keeping track of something here!