First and foremost, I thank GOD for giving me the strength to do all we have done. I put this in his hands from day one and give him all the glory. We have prayed for what was best for our school and tonight we got it.
So, some know and some do not, but I will say it anyway..... WE DID IT!!! Thank you to all the parents who let the district know this was never what they wanted. We will continue moving forward with making REAL changes at our school!
Now.... After everyone had left, and they were all doing their interviews... WE were cleaning up our signs and papers and we noticed they left behind all their trash. So, we picked it up for them. Just so happens, we came across some of their paperwork and notes. The following are words from THEIR OWN MOUTHS, written by ????, spoken by them. OH, OH, OH... We have the papers that were passed down and placed on the podium, with highlights, by the gentleman who was given the option to speak, who then refused and sat back down. It's the LETTER INCLUDED WITH EVERY PETITION PACKET... From Desert Trails Parent Union... It sounds like no big deal, right?
First thing that caught my eye... This highlighted excerpt, quoted directly as written on the paper...
"Whether you join the Desert Trails Parent Union or not our commitment to you is that these big decisions, of whether to accept what we can achieve within the District or to go outside the District will be made by a vote of parents signing this petition."
Huh? So what they're saying is... our commitment to you is that the decisions will be made by a vote of the petition signers? I think that's what it says. Remember, I quoted word for word, punctation for punctuation. So if you read this as is, does it make a whole lot of sense? That was under the Petition #2 explanation.
Ok next.. "If we have signed agreements that will give our children the school they deserve then we will submit Petition #1. If not we will be forced to submit Petition #2 to create the community charter school." Sooooo.... if we can bully the District into giving into our demands, then we won't have to do it legitimately?? Forced? If Petition #2 was their backup, why did they submit it first? How are we to know that is what the PARENTS really wanted, if it was supposedly their backup??!! Their paperwork says they would be forced to submit Petition #2. What was the criteria for the ignoring Petition #1 all together?
And why keep saying community school? So the parents who adamantly do not want a charter don't hear the word charter? They said they were using the CHARTER LAW to get the Community School they want, but don't want a charter?!?! Huh? They say they don't want to bring in outsiders, so they brought in outsiders to keep other outsiders away... HUH? So moving on to the next thing...
"Our school should be about our kid's needs not adult needs..." So a lawsuit to get what they want is about our kids needs??? Really? Wow. Why can't they accept that the parents don't want this and work with us with to make real change at our school. The change they keep insisting they want, but show nothing to suggest, is already in place. Why not work WITH the school to advance it even further. How much more of their families' time will they sacrifice to pursue an expensive lawsuit to take more money and leave us with less resources than we already have???!!!
Ok, going to flip it for a second and give a testimonial from a parent I talked to. A parent whose husband attended the Parent Union meetings. She explained to me how she went about making changes in her child's education. When she realized her son's needs were not being met, she turned in all her volunteer paperwork submitted and got approved. She went and had her fingerprints taken, had her application approved and then SAT IN HER KIDS CLASS! She wanted changes and she made them happen by observing in her child's class and taking the proper steps to assure her child's needs were met and now they are. This is a mother who doesn't speak any english. She has a table set up near her kitchen so her children can work and ask questions and read... whatever they need of her, as well as a desk upstairs for working with them. She knows we need changes, she's made some herself, but doesn't believe "starting over" is the answer. She wants what we want... ALL OF THE PARENTS to have a voice and come together to work WITH our Principal, Teachers and Staff. This is how we make REAL changes, by doing what we have to, FOR OUR KIDS, not taking more and more from them.
I haven't even touched on the pages and pages of script that were spoken (last night now). And you know what... I want sleep. I'm thankful the parents were heard. Thank you all for your support and help! We feel blessed to have had so much support in all of this and hope we continue working together for the better of our children.
PS. We made ice cream in Mr. Carlson's class yesterday for my baby's birthday!! And got to watch kids present their Apps to the class! It was so much fun! Adrian and Zinia are going to be so happy! This birthday will mean even more to him now!! Thank you all. I apologize for any misspells I didn't catch... almost 2am... tired. Night.
No comments:
Post a Comment