A flavor of everything

"A flavor of everything," as I have decided to title this post, resembles what my experience in the California Capitol has been so far. Since the last time I posted on the blog, I have been doing a little bit of everything: I have conducted online research on some key provisions of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (focusing on parental involvement and teacher quality); I have visited a community in the Central Valley to witness some of inequalities prevalent in poor, rural communities; I have been present at a private meeting with a key Senator in California; and last but not least, I had the very interesting experience of seating at a Senate Education Committee hearing. Indeed, I have been fortunate enough to get a wide variety of experiences in my first week at work. Since I could go on and on talking about each of them, I will focus on the most rewarding ones.

On Wednesday both the Senate and Assembly Committees on Education had separate hearings on proposed bills by members of both Houses. Since my supervisors thought the Senate would be more interesting for me to attend, I sat through their meeting for nearly four hours. It was a really good experience as 40-45 different bills were briefly discussed during that time. I had never witnessed something like that in person (I had seen it on television, but always changed the channel as I usually lost my interest after a few minutes of watching). While the author of the bills were going up to the podium to testify on their proposed bill, mention recent amendments and clarify any questions for the Senate committee members, I was busy glancing through a +100 page printed catalog that had included detailed information about each bill. Each included background information, the pros and cons based on research the staff's committee had done, and which organizations (i.e CA Teacher Association, CA Board of Education, etc.) or which individuals (i.e. State Superintendent) were in support or against the bill. I was fascinated by the action that was going on because although all the issues were relevant to education, they all varied.

For example, there was one that stands out in my mind by the Senator (or maybe Assemblyman) of Oakland. His bill asked that the Oakland Unified School District receive full local control of its schools. According to some of the comments the legislator made, the State had taken over the district's sovereignty four or five years ago after having gone bankrupt. Since the district had improved both financially and academically, parents, educators, and administrators felt that it was time for the OUSD to have local control again. Many community organizations, teachers, parents, and students went up to testify (say their name and affiliation to the district) to show their support for the bill. It was great to see so many people come to the Capitol to express their concerns and show support for something that they are deeply in favor or. Of course, I won't know which of the 40-45 bills that were discussed while I was there have a chance of becoming laws. However, I do know that that experience opened my eyes and allowed me to realize there are many other issues in the education system that need to be resolved (more than the usual concerns with teacher quality, academic achievement, high school dropout rates... issues such as harassment, safe and clean facilities, etc.).

Finally, one of my other experiences from last week that stood out in my mind was a visit to a rural community in the Central Valley. I attended a meeting organized by parents who have expressed concerns with the water at the local elementary school. The water has been tested by a lab and it has been confirmed that it is contaminated and unsafe for the children to be drinking out of the drinking fountains. The school district has failed to make any improvements and keep ignoring the legitimate concerns brought up by the parents. Since most of these parents are working class (mainly farm workers), have less than a high school education and are Spanish monolinguals, the school district is disregarding their request to do something about the contaminated water. It was empowering for me to see a group of parents coming together to address this issue that is negatively affecting their children. As I mentioned in one of the last paragraphs, I often think (and many others do too) on the big issues: achievement gap, dropout rates, inner-city violence, English learners, etc. However, I (as well as many, many others) forget about the needs and struggles of poor, rural areas. I even forgot (didn't even think it was an issue) that contaminated water would be an issue in a public school in California, United States. I would imagine problems like those are present in third-world developing countries, but not in ours in the 21st century!!

In sum, my eyes are beginning to realize there are many, many, many other issues in our education system that need major help. It's really frustrating, disheartening, upsetting (fill in the blank) to know there is one problem after another, but how many solutions can we find for each of them? I'm trying to remain optimistic, but my mind immediately turns to other problems this great state of ours (and in fact, our nation too) is currently facing in the prison and healthcare systems, as probably in other areas too.

For anyone who might have read down to here, please forgive me if I seemed pessimistic or frustrated at times, but I'm faced with a reality that I'm not very satisfied with and hope many others who want to create change aren't satisfied either.