Much has been said about the price tag for the newly built Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus, west of downtown Los Angeles, which will open next month to receive its first class of students. Surely the cost is outrageous in the current environment of fiscal constraint. We certainly can question a public funding system that is able to support such construction while laying off teachers, increasing classroom size and shortening the academic year. Here at Hillsides we are forced to “barter” with local school districts that cannot pay the approved tuition for the students we serve at Hillsides Education Center because of lack of funding.
However, in spite of our concerns, we must not lose sight of the statement that this new complex makes to the students and community it serves. For too long these are the same students that labored to learn in what some would call a most basic, if not, primitive environment. Certainly these students deserve a decent and well-equipped place in which to be educated. Certainly there is never enough that we can do to provide all children with the educational opportunity they need to be successful.
If only we were able to provide such facilities to all student…If only all teachers were well compensated...If only we took seriously the public rhetoric valuing our children as a precious resource...If only…
No comments:
Post a Comment