John McDonogh High School: Not so Great Expectations : NOLA Indymedia

John McDonogh High School Students: Not So Great Expectations

One might be tempted to view the well-spoken students of Fyre Youth Squad as prescient, at their press conference held October 9th, at John McDonogh Public High School. (http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/library-113/116046251628690.xml&coll=1).

The following week there were several, violent incidents between students and guards, and one between a student and an NOPD officer.

Students, at that press conference, highlighted the difficulties they are facing in receiving a quality education, due to a lack of textbooks at John McDonogh, the deteriorating physical structure of the building themselves, too few teachers and too many security guards.

Their description of their school as containing a "prison atmosphere", containing 30 security guards and metal detectors, in a sense, reflects the not-so-great expectations that adults possess of the students at this public high school.

Teenagers, as we know, are more than willing to live up, or down to as the case may be, to the expectations of adults around them.

What kind of message is the State of Louisiana sending to its young, African American students at John McDonogh, when the numbers of security guards surpasses that of teachers?

That we already expect that you will attempt to violate schools rules, and the law, so we will have in place a state apparatus, ie., security guards and metal detectors, to prevent what we believe to be your natural predilections.

The presence of that many security guards, particularly when they outnumber teachers overall, sends a clear message to students as to what the Recovery School District, and the State of Louisiana, expects of students there.

This does not bode well for this high school.

Robin Jarvis, superintendent of the State Recovery School District, in the weeks since the press conference by Fyre, is zooming around to meetings with students, parents, teachers, principals, and state officials, reassuring everyone that the problems will be dealt with.

But no proposals, to my knowledge, have been put forth to reduce the numbers of security guards, and increase the numbers of teachers and counselors, one of the demands of the students at the Fyre press conference.

One of the concerns expressed by students at that press conference, is the poor training that security guards have had in dealing with young people. This has led to an escalation in tensions, and many, near altercations.

Couple the poor training with the sheer numbers of guards, and it is trouble waiting to happen.

Need I remind everyone that teenagers see through the B.S. of adults. They know when they are being disrespected, and they are profoundly being disrespected with the purposeful creation, by the state, of this "prison atmosphere" in their school.

A parental summit was held on Monday, October 16th, sponsored by All Congregations Together. Principal Donald Jackson tried to play the issue, as one in which students are disrespecting school staff "in ways that you wouldn't believe" (http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-2/116106471519130.xml&coll=1).

But it is difficult to believe how state and local officials would see as tenable a situation in which security guards outnumber teachers on the staff. Couple this with lack of text books, not enough teachers, inadequate preparation for LEAP tests, the physical deterioration of the school, students potentially being exposed to environmental risks such as asbestos, and these children are witnessing the profound disrespect of their needs on a daily basis.

People turn to violence when they feel helpless and backed into a corner, and teenagers are no exception.

Governor Blanco and the State of Louisiana have no excuses for this situation. The state has millions of dollars in surplus, and we as citizens must demand that the state apply the needed monies to correct the deplorable situation at John McDonogh High School, and fully fund those needs, and reopen and fully fund other public schools as well.

Let me tell you when there is no trouble cutting checks: when the State-created agency, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), needed a Public Relations Consultant to get its message out to the citizens of this state for the Road Home Program, they hired ICF International to the tune of $87 million dollars (http://www.icfi.com/newsroom/road-home-2006.asp).

Recently it was revealed that the LRA has given out, so far, just $18 millions dollars to citizens in recovery funds. Citizens are complaining about bureacratic delays, but I bet there was no delay in cutting the check for this over-priced consultant group, ICF International.

I'll bet there will be no delay in cutting the check for $200 million for Entergy, money coming from the LRA that should go to the people, at a time when the Entergy parent company is raking in billions of dollars in profits.

The citizens of Louisiana are being profoundly disrespected with priorities such as the above mentioned, and it may not be long before citizens start throwing a few punches themselves, if recovery money continues to trickle down to the people, while those well-placed corporations receive their multi-million dollar checks.

John McDonogh students, including those recently arrested, deserve our support and solidarity. Until the state takes responsibility for setting up such an untenable situation in the first place, students will continue to feel desperate and act out their anger and frustrations.

And as long as the state continues to prioritize its spending to benefit private corporations at the tax payer's expense, we as a people are not much better off than these frustrated and angry high school students.

What kind of police measures would it take to keep us quiet?

From the Press Conference Release on Monday, October 9th, 2005, from the Fyre Youth Squad:

Brianna O'Neal
What we want:

Immediately: A timeline and plan from the Recovery School District for all of the following improvements:

>>Computers
>>More teachers
>>More Office staff
>>Working Water fountains
>>More counselors and school social workers
>>A set of books for every class
>>School Data System up and running
>>Hot Food
>>First aid kits and supplies for the School Nurse
>>Full time school nurse
>>Better trained and respectful security guards
>>Respect in general from all school staff members
>>Quality Education with maximum class size set at 30 and the average class size at 20
>>Better pay and working conditions for teachers
>>Kitchen supplies
>>No suspensions for being tardy
>>bathroom breaks
>>Lockers
>>Longer time to get to our classes
>>After school activities
>>Correct class schedules
>>Equal access to gym in all RSD schools
>>Reinstate RTA contract to provide busses with tokens/passes for RSD students

A couple of Suggested solutions:

>>Train and hire students to help with the rebuilding of the schools and neighborhood housing, for example: reinstate the Creole Cottage Project at John McDonogh and Douglass High Schools

>>Include student representation on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and other groups that make decisions about our educational system.