After reading a letter from Tom Davis ("Letter: Graduation rates improved for SouthCoast cities," Jan. 30), I write to offer another point of view.
Everyone here at GiftsToGive is supporting City on a Hill Charter Public School opening in New Bedford. We feel that they deserve a chance for two reasons. One is that they inherently understand that most urban middle school students are simply not ready for high school, and most importantly, because New Bedford children deserve a chance.
At GiftsToGive, we spend our days building a more caring community by connecting thousands of local children to giving and service. We're also mentoring in middle school and have a wonderful early literacy initiative in New Bedford kindergartens. Our entire organization is powered by adult volunteers and we interact with over a thousand students every month. In our work we see two kinds of children: those who are privileged and those living in poverty. They have one thing in common: They're clueless! Privileged kids have no idea how lucky they are and under-privileged kids have no idea of the choices they have. We see middle school students from the suburbs who assume they're going to college and then we see middle school kids in our South End neighborhood who cannot read and dread going on to high school where they expect to fail. This is no exaggeration — we see it every day. The disparity is astounding!
I was disappointed in Tom Davis' letter. It read for me that because City on a Hill has terrible four-year graduation rates it is somehow not worthy. Nowhere is it stated that the majority of students starting the ninth grade are so far behind where they should be that it is unrealistic to think they can "catch up" in four years. The criticism of City on a Hill's graduation rates offered by Mr. Davis missed the point. It is my understanding that City on a Hill's program does not have a goal of a four-year graduation rate, because the time it takes to graduate from high school is not a true measure of preparation for what comes after graduation.
City on a Hill's promise to young people and their families is not that they will graduate from high school in a certain amount of time. Their promise is that their students will graduate with the academic, social and study skills they will need to be successful in college and/or the workforce. For many of their students, earning those skills takes five or sometimes even six years. Students earn their high school credits at the pace that is appropriate to their entering skills and individual learning needs. When City on a Hill graduates become breadwinners for their families, or engineers, or public servants or teachers, no one will ever ask how long they spent in high school. City on a Hill's five-year graduation rate is 80.9 percent and their dropout rate is 1.7 percent.
Improvement is never easy, and it requires the cooperation of all of us. We all have to work together, raise one another up and be committed to the improvement of all of New Bedford's schools in order for our young people to succeed. Our friend Dan McCarthy likes to say that a rising tide lifts all boats. The solution to all of this is us!
We invite others to join with us and support City on a Hill when it opens in New Bedford in August.
14 comments:
Yeah-um-I'm done with Gifts to Give. Yep, call me an uncaring NBPS teacher. You can't strengthen our PUBLIC high school at the same time you promote City on a Hill.
Mr. Davis, following your line of thinking, why then don't we give kids and teachers at our public high school the same amount of time -five to six years- to achieve their goal?
I'm glad he put this in writing. He may be doing a good job with gifts to give but he certainly doesn't know anything about education or standards.
Another rich man who thinks failing charter schools are the answer to complex societal problems.
Sounds like a double standard to me.
I concur. If you look at NBHS graduation rate of students who take an extra semester or even a year, we would not be experiencing the Pia Durkin downfall. I won't be donating to Gifts to Give anymore. Call me uncaring, but I will donate my time and money to a charity that makes sense
It is ridiculous that James Stevens is trying to justify the need for a school like City on a Hill...we do not need another charter school in this city - especially one with the kind of record City on a Hill has. If I were a parent looking for a school for my high school student - City on a Hill would not even be an option.
"City on a Hill?" Could they have come up with a worse school name than this? I don't think so! Who are these people? How ridiculous. . . . .only in NB!
So I'm confused, you "spend your days building a more caring community by connecting thousands of local children to giving and service" and you talk about mentoring in New Bedford Middle Schools and setting up a literacy initiative in New Bedford Kindergartens? And yet scores continue to go down, schools are not improving, if anything they are declining, all with your abundance of help. Sorry, but in my opinion, go ahead and help City on a Hill, because if your help is as effective as it has been in New Bedford Public Schools, that school doesn't stand a chance. Good Luck
Another charter school that NBPS will be helping to fund, all in an effort to "improve" education for the students of New Bedford. Meanwhile, the rest of the public schools lose more money for the students they serve, and City on a Hill will probably lose their charter in a few years like Global Learning will! This is the solution?!!!
I'm also done with them after that expose....
Your right on point their help hasn't made a difference.more rich people thinking they make a difference just write some checks to those poor families that would make a difference .....
When Is the super going to start hiring minorities that mimic the population of students stop hiring middle class women and men. Or upper ..how about some poor teachers also that the children can relate to.we need more minorities.and all principals should speak Spanish.mandatory..
We definitely need minority teachers and administrators.
All principals should speak a second language,that needs to become a non negotiable part of being hired in New Bedford.
These are two things that are necessary to drive our district forward.
Also the supertindent should also be bilingual in a community like New Bedford.
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