Don’t You Love Politician’s Empty promises? What About the Kids?
April 13th 2010 07:29
Don’t you love politician’s empty promises? This comes to mind as I remember how Antonio Villaraigosa went crazy on the issue of education in Los Angeles. Mr. Villaraigosa was going to take over the public schools of Los Angeles and save the people. LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) is the second largest school district (in term of students) in the nation. LAUSD spans Los Angeles and unincorporated areas; it serves 707,627 students and employees 45,473 teachers. According to the May 17, 2007 Los Angeles Times, “Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa abandoned efforts to gain direct legal authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, greater control over LAUSD cleared the Legislature in August 2007. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger praised Mayor Villaraigosa for "bold leadership."
Where is the bold leadership today? Los Angeles has abandonment of a hot issue, education. Amazing how this story has died form neglect. The subject has not been mentioned in the news for months. With current teacher layoffs and budget cuts, don’t the students of the Los Angeles Unified School District need support from a politician when it is not election time?
Based on the recent news reports students have been protesting new educational legistration, budget cuts and school closures. According to the SunSentinal.com, roughly 1,129 students from Cooper City High School in Florida staged a walk out of class today to protest two bills (SB 6/ HB 7189) that tie teacher salary to student performance. Dozens of students at Hannibal High School in Oswego County New York taped their mouths shut for the day last week staging a silent after-school protest. Possible budget cuts could shutdown Hannibal High School’s sports teams, bands, choruses and art classes. According to the March 22, 2010 issue of the Los Angeles Times, Green Dot Public Schools, a leader in charter schools, shut down a campus because of low enrollment, financial pressures and subpar performance. The students are speaking out all over the United States although there is a kind student that does not have a voice to speak out.
This student’s named is Miguel. He was a student in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He came from a large family of seven siblings each one from a different father. His mother was mentally challenged and his grandfather was a racist. Miguel was half African-American and half Caucasian. He needed an education to break the cycle of poverty and neglect. How could a Miguel acquire an education with the current system?
Mr. Valliagoasa said now he has brought light to the issue of education, therefore, he would not pursue gaining control over the school district. Ok, so what is the mayor going to do? Miguel is exposed to light but has no solution for his educational woes. Our society does not need another young man wandering the streets in lost hope. What happens to young people who do not receive an education and do not have a safe home? They end up on the streets looking for love and commitment in all the wrong places. The gang problem is one of the platform issues the mayor has attacked. Could there be a correlation between the gangs, families for the unwanted, unloved and alone, and the lack of a systematic, innovative, educational system? Young people without education, skills or family support end up on the streets.
Mayor Valliagoasa in his quest to save education abandoned education-he washed his hands. As the Miguels of Los Angeles wander the street the “bold leadership” of Los Angeles turned its back. All the press on educational issues and budgets is not just talk it is life. Look around your neighborhood for Miguel he needs the bold leadership of your community.
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