Change
I have been reminded by many that I need to write down the amazing experiences of the last 2 years. This morning I woke up feeling like I needed to write in a journal, but then I know I would forget what notebook I used. Then it hit me that I have a blog specifically for this purpose.
One day I am going to speak to large groups about my amazing God story. What an incredible story with so many themes and lessons. So how do I start? I guess with the beginning--
Almost 2 years ago I broke down in tears in my kitchen in utter despair over Barigit's educational opportunities here in Hammond, Louisiana. Here in Tangipahoa Parish we are still talking about the color of people's skin especially when it comes to education. At our neighborhood school she could not get it because they had filled the quota of white students and then were admitting minority students who lived further away than us. There were and still are many complicated issues with the school's admission policies-- but I will save that for a different story.
Our next choice was an accelerated magnet program that uses testing for admission. Barigit passed the test but I got a call that there was no room for her. Now this is a program that Hammond residents paid 7 mils for and there were several Hammond children that had passed the test and could not get in to the school.
These facts are important in setting the stage of what happened next. I made a call to all members of the School Board - this was the first time I had ever spoken with them. I also called the Mayor, the Chief Academic Officer (Melissa Stilley) and the NAACP. I wanted to know want was going on and why we were still talking about the color of people's skin in 2010.
What I learned is that I was not paying attention to what was going on in education and neither was my community. I learned that people of influence were: a) were checked out due to private schools or b)were not willing to butt heads with the #1 employer in the parish, the Tangipahoa Parish School System or c) people were benefiting economically from the status quo.
I wanted to learn all about the "Deseg" case -which should not be called a deseg case but the Joyce Marie Moore Case. Using the term "deseg case" benefits the defendents greatly because it misrepresents the facts. I could go on and on on this subject -- but you can find some facts on www.eyesnowwideopen.org. I am sure that in this entry-- you will find more from me on this matter.
I wanted to help wake up my community. I was mad and had a hard time understanding why everyone else wasn't mad too. I am sure during this phase of my life, many people hoped that they wouldn't run into me at the grocery store, at the coffee shop or at the mall. I tried to convince other people that they should be angry too.
I went to my Pastor and to get some biblical insight about education and some Christian perspective on my anger. He advised me to turn to anger into action and build an army. There are many examples in the bible of people who stand for what is right and change the world. God is very clear about how we are supposed to treat others.
My friends Joye and Joel Dicharry -- were great thru this time and we formed an organization called HOPE which stood for Hammond Organization of People for Education. Our goal was to raise money to start fighting some of the injustices that were happening in Hammond. Most of our schools in our beautiful city were failing and Hammond residents were paying the most in taxes and mileages. Together we came up with a plan to have booths, create mailing lists, and wake up the people.
I started going to school board meetings, started learning about education policies and most important, started speaking up at board meetings. I think my first public input item was over a tax that Hammond residents were paying on a school that had been closed for 2 years! Inconceivable!
What I learned was that the group that was supporting the superintendent and making policies for the school system needed to change. With only 2 board members voting in a way that made sense, a major overhaul of board members needed to happen. I could help change my board member but how could I do that for every district?? Again frustration.
I was told early on that I could not change things in Tangipahoa Parish and that if I wanted my daughter to get a good education, I needed to send her to private school. I was told that this is Louisiana politics "Welcome to Louisiana!" I thought about what change meant and that already the Lab school had to change parts of their admission policy because I was the 1st one to speak up. What I decided that many things were the way they are BECAUSE NO ONE EVER TRIED TO CHANGE IT. Tangipahoa citizens don't speak up for many reasons but I think the biggest one is due to the fact that if you ask too many questions in school you are a "trouble causer" and here that is a bad thing. You should not ask too many questions or cause trouble, you should just go along and accept things the way they are. Children and adults in Tangiphoa Parish have learned that lesson quite well.
I am not from here. I don't believe that I cannot change my world. I believe that I am an American and with that privilege comes the right to my VOICE! So what do I do now?
My friends Joye and Joel Dicharry -- were great thru this time and we formed an organization called HOPE which stood for Hammond Organization of People for Education. Our goal was to raise money to start fighting some of the injustices that were happening in Hammond. Most of our schools in our beautiful city were failing and Hammond residents were paying the most in taxes and mileages. Together we came up with a plan to have booths, create mailing lists, and wake up the people.
I started going to school board meetings, started learning about education policies and most important, started speaking up at board meetings. I think my first public input item was over a tax that Hammond residents were paying on a school that had been closed for 2 years! Inconceivable!
What I learned was that the group that was supporting the superintendent and making policies for the school system needed to change. With only 2 board members voting in a way that made sense, a major overhaul of board members needed to happen. I could help change my board member but how could I do that for every district?? Again frustration.
I was told early on that I could not change things in Tangipahoa Parish and that if I wanted my daughter to get a good education, I needed to send her to private school. I was told that this is Louisiana politics "Welcome to Louisiana!" I thought about what change meant and that already the Lab school had to change parts of their admission policy because I was the 1st one to speak up. What I decided that many things were the way they are BECAUSE NO ONE EVER TRIED TO CHANGE IT. Tangipahoa citizens don't speak up for many reasons but I think the biggest one is due to the fact that if you ask too many questions in school you are a "trouble causer" and here that is a bad thing. You should not ask too many questions or cause trouble, you should just go along and accept things the way they are. Children and adults in Tangiphoa Parish have learned that lesson quite well.
I am not from here. I don't believe that I cannot change my world. I believe that I am an American and with that privilege comes the right to my VOICE! So what do I do now?
During my initial research about education, I came across the concept of charter schools. I think a couple of people mentioned them and I started looking into the charter school movement that was going on in Louisiana. I called Lusher Charter School in New Orleans and JK Haynes in Baton Rouge and toured both.
What can I say about my visits to these two extremely different charter schools? I was moved. While the two schools were so different in funding, student populations, and facilities, the thing they had in common was: student were HAPPY and they were LEARNING. When I called the Mayor Foster and told him that charter schools are awesome and a great solution for Hammond, He said he "would support anyone that wanted to improve education in Hammond." So now I was frustrated, who was the leader that was going to get this going? What educator was going to dive in and lead the charge for Hammond and it's children? I called one of my educator friends and asked her who was going to do this-- her response "Lisa, It's you, you are going to do this!"
Panic set in-- I was not prepared, not an educator, I knew nothing about educational law, nothing about starting a school, nothing about the LA dept of Education. I do not even have a college degree. But something I knew: BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT. If this was going to happen, the old adage "If not me, the who?" was going to apply to this situation.
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