This morning the AFT released “Building Minds, Minding Buildings,” a report that looks at the condition of urban schools through the country as well as the effects that schools in disrepair have on learning. The report starts off by relaying that the Bush Department of Education commissioned a study on the “health and learning impacts of environmentally unhealthy public school buildings on students and teachers.” The study was shelved by the Department of Education.
Along with a press release for the study and other information from the study including recommendations the AFT is asking for the report to be a basis for a discussion on environmental conditions in schools. Visit the page the AFT has set up for the report stop by the AFT’s blog post about the report at their blog. There are several great blog posts so far including one from TeacherKen this morning.
1 Comment:
1 phyllis c. murray
· Dec 8, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Inside Education: A View From the Front-Line
By Phyllis C. Murray
“First, education for all Americans, white and Negro, has always been inadequate. The richest nation on earth has never allocated enough of its abundant resources to build sufficient schools, to compensate adequately its teachers, and to surround them with the prestige their work justifies. We squander funds on highways and the frenetic pursuit of recreation, on the over-abundance of overkill armaments, but we pauperize education.” Martin Luther King 1964
Therefore fifty years after the Brown v. the Board of Education, one should not be surprised to learn that the New York public schools are still virtually segregated. Housing is also segregated. This is done through economics. Minorities aka the poor, rest at the bottom of the economic ladder. The poor attend schools together in the poorer neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are known for their failing schools, high crime rates, and inadequate services. Teachers in these inner city schools are always struggling to get the necessities for their schools. When lobbying in Albany does not help, many teachers are forced to take out-of-pocket monies to create the proper classroom environments. But despite their efforts, the schools become as poor as the neighborhood they serve.
The impoverished schools are placed on the bottom of a list for repairs, for renovation, and for restoration. Crumbling ceilings, walls, floors, become the daily realities of students and teachers. Mice, roaches, and et al. are a part of the setting for lessons unrelated to science. And both students and teachers become caught in the crossfire on the streets and in the schools as crime unabated makes daily inroads wherever it can. These areas are virtually red-lined. Nothing good comes in; anything good, leaves…which includes some of our gifted and talented students and teachers. Few politicians or city government officials visit these schools. Benign neglect becomes the mantra of these legislators who formerly ran on a platform shouting “education for all” prior to their election.
Surely “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”said Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. It is evident that we cannot build a strong foundation for this Nation on a foundation of misery for any one of its citizens. There is more work to be done! Brown vs the Board of Education was merely a beginning. We must press on!!
Phyllis C. Murray, UFT Chapter Leader
District 8 Region 2