Improved Schools and After School Care Programs

By Felicia Mollinedo

Jefferson Middle School and San Gabriel High School Quality of Education, Safety Issues and Implementation of Non-violent Conflict Resolution Programs. Cooperation with Parks and Recreation Department to offer better quality and reliable after-school care for working parents.

First of all how is it that the San Gabriel Unified School District thinks it can cram all of the elementary schools graduating 5th graders safely into one overcrowded Middle School? Evidently this is not working given the fights, suspensions, and even stabbing of one Jefferson Middle School child. Parents do not feel safe sending their children to Jefferson Middle School this is evident in the rising number of home-schooled children here in the city of San Gabriel. There are four home-schooled children witin walking distance of my home. I wonder how many children are heing home-schooled on your block?

As a parent whose child attended Wilson Elementary School I know there are currently NO Non-Violent Conflict Resolution Programs in place. I have personally seen Noon Duty Playground Workers dismiss or ignore violent or bullying behavior in the Elementary Schools. So is it any wonder that by 6th grade our children have no way to communicate their needs or differences with eachother? No instead they take knives to school and stab eachother. This is an atrocity!! What is the school district doing about this? Do parents have any rights in our schools? My son was hit by his school nurse with a witness who saw the incident. I took my concerns all the way to the Superintendent and Board of Education. Nothing was done. Something is seriously wrong with the city schools when our children are being stabbed by each other and hit by the people that are supposed to be caring for them.

I believe the City Of San Gabriel needs to take some responsibility for the decline of safety and quality of learning in our schools. If the "children are our mission" philosophy is truly valued then we all need to work together cohesively and collaboratively to improve our children's educational environment. Parent's voices need to be heard and valued, more money needs to be put into the creation of smaller schools for our middle school children. Possibly even a Gifted School for our higher achieving children and a Targeted Intevention and Tutoring Program for our struggling students.

We can do this by working together with the Parks and Recreation Department to develop afterschool programs that meet the needs of our academically challenged students. My plan is to model LA Unified's Afterschool care program LA's Best with the help and guidance of Debe Loxton LA's Best Chief Operating Officer.

It is my hope that we can use intervention and prevention within the public schools and in collaboration with San Gabriel's parks and rec department to ensure our children are not falling through the cracks.