On Education

By Eduardo Martinez

The Education platform of Team Richmond, the Progressive slate wanting to continue moving Richmond in the positive direction we have been moving for the past ten years.

Adult Education programs should be well integrated into the life of the school.
A quality pre-school program for all neighborhood two to four-year-olds.
The City's Parks and Recreation Department could conduct a rich program of after-school programs.
Teachers could be given access to their classrooms on the weekend.
Teachers could be encouraged to make home visits with release days.
Teachers could be given a discretionary fund for classroom supplies so that they don't have to buy supplies out of their own pockets.
The school kitchen and cafeteria could become a positive part of the community school. In the elementary schools parent volunteers could sit at each table as food is passed and shared with respect. Students from Richmond High's Culinary Arts program could work in the kitchen. Student committees could help plan the menus.
The District could hire staff teachers to train aides and classroom volunteers.
Parent meetings with teachers could be encouraged with teachers given release time to meet after school.
The school could become a site for both legal aid and medical check-ups.
The school might have a living animal mascot that roams the hallways like a turtle or animals, like chickens, that reside in the school garden area. (Le Conte Elementary in Berkeley has a goat in the center of the campus.)
The school could provide summer school to all grade levels including K, 1 and 2, which is not currently done.
The District could remove all barriers to Study Trips and encourage them at every grade level. All parent chaperones should be certified. The trips should be taken on sustainable transportation appropriate to the age level, i.e., walking, biking, bus, BART and trains.
Based on thorough research, the school could reduce the number of unnecessary and fear-inducing tests, retaining those that are useful to teachers and students, and removing those that build stress and perpetuate a "failure" attitude.
The District could conduct a contest to re-name the school after a hero or heroine appropriate to the surrounding community, and that person's life would become part of the curriculum at each grade level.
A community engagement person on the school site could be employed to oversee these various initiatives, encourage new ideas from the community and staff, and coordinate a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) where leadership skills were routinely taught. The current "community liaison" position should be examined and perhaps made that of a City employee who might take a more objective approach in mediation between the administration, staff, and parents.
The school year could begin and end with a barbeque party for parents, students, teachers, volunteers, and all staff.

Community Initiatives:

The neighborhood council could hold its meetings at the school. Every community/school event could provide free childcare.
The school could host evening cultural events for parents, grandparents, and children, such as sleepovers, concerts, cooking classes, star viewing, and a monthly movie night with popcorn.
The school could host weekend daytime events like story times and art, music, sports and literacy festivals.
School corridors could be lined with student art and science projects. The outside of the schools could be decorated with murals.
In conjunction with the Richmond Public Library, the community could make sure that the school library was fully operational all week.
Grandparents and parents could take responsibility to mentor students in creating and maintaining a school garden and garden produce boxes of produce that would be sent home with students. This venture would be undertaken in cooperation with the City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Retirees, high school and college students could be organized to tutor in remedial programs. Barriers to parent and senior volunteers would be removed.
Aides and volunteers would receive training in how to work with students.
Parent Days in which to learn how to work with their children could be offered more than once. We applaud the new "Parent University" about to be launched in a collaboration between the District's Adult Education and Community Engagement departments.
Parents and students could help keep the school grounds and paths to the school free of trash.
Parents, aides, or volunteers in the schools who wish to earn a teaching credential could be encouraged and given incentives to do so.

City of Richmond Initiatives:

City grant-proposal writers could work with residents to obtain state and foundation funds for special projects and for curriculum specialists in Physical Education, Science, Art and Dance, etc.
The roof of the school could be covered with solar panels, in conjunction with Richmond organizations like Solar Richmond and Richmond Build.
In conjunction, a curriculum that teaches about alternative energy should be developed and taught at every grade level. The Four "R's (reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink) would become core school values.
City employees could be given paid leave to chaperone study trips.
The leadership of the city could walk the neighborhoods to explain the concept of community schools which would incorporate many of the City programs now offered at senior and neighborhood centers.
The Mayor and members of the City Council could teach a lesson, or act as an aide in the classroom, once a month to better understand what happens inside of District schools.

A City Commission on Education

The mayor could convene a Task Force on Education. The Task Force would include social services and non-profit groups working with children, law enforcement, the WCCUSD, the United Teachers of Richmond, other relevant unions, the Contra Costa County School Board, the Ed Fund, and all agencies with the knowledge and responsibility to contribute to children's education in Richmond.

One important task would be to oversee the creation of a Commission on Education similar to other City commissions, that is, a body that meets regularly and is made up of concerned citizens who have a background and interest in public education including early childhood and adult education programs and with youth representatives. This commission could work with City staff, like Parks and Recreation, to generate new ideas, to act as a conduit for community concerns, and to monitor the progress of the following initiatives.

Making Community Schools Real

One key to improving education is to make the community--in particular the parents--part of the process.

The City has created an Umbrella Joint-Use Agreement with the School District to share facilities; that needs to be finalized as soon as possible.

We propose that the City and the District partner to create model community elementary schools, a well-regarded educational reform. The doors to the school would be open to the community as widely as possible, with the community strengthening the school and the school becoming a hub for the community. Classroom teachers would benefit from additional support. Of course, staff oversight and monitoring would be required to determine the most effective uses.

We seek results-driven innovation. If the model schools improve academic performance and attendance and help students and parents to feel ownership of their schools, the District would commit to gradually extending this approach to more elementary schools and to middle and high schools.

Training & Retention of Good Teachers & Principals

Often the District gives professional development and mentoring to teachers who work in Richmond for a year or two and then leave for a better-paid or better-supported position. Experienced teachers are always retiring. Recently the District lost a number when changes were made to medical benefits. Inexperienced principals also chase away teachers. When a school is given both a new principal and new teachers, the result is usually chaotic, and there's the opportunity for bad habits to get established.

We must find ways to develop and retain good teachers and principals.

For example, the City and the District could devise a plan to encourage all teachers who have shown a commitment to our schools to purchase homes in Richmond by co-signing for loans in exchange for a multi-year teaching contract, or offer to pay portions of a mortgage based on the same commitment.

New principals should always be given appropriate professional development and permanent mentors if they have had no previous experience. They should have a background in education, not business. The City and District should create a way to evaluate school principals that reflects both community and District goals. They could also be eligible to take advantage of any program that encourages them to reside in Richmond.

Expanding Volunteers in the Schools, Learning Opportunities for Students

The City could recruit more volunteers to work in the schools and in other programs that benefit Richmond children. One excellent example is WriterCoach Connection, which trains adult volunteers to help high school students with their writing and analytic thinking skills. About 300 adults recruited from the community currently work with students at Kennedy, Richmond, and El Cerrito High.

Many community institutions could help in the schools and enrich students' education. Currently Urban Tilth, a local non-profit, is working with students to create gardens at Lincoln Elementary and Helms Middle School. Urban Tilth staff teach an agriculture program at Richmond High and coordinate landscaping and gardening projects on the Richmond Greenway. Likewise, the East Bay Center for Performing Arts and the Richmond Art Center could help enrich the arts and performing arts curriculum.

Students learn as much outside the classroom as they do inside. High school students should receive classroom and community service credits for volunteering at the Richmond Museum of History, the Richmond Public Library, the Rosie the Riveter Park, the Red Oak Victory Ship, the Richmond Art Center, and other to-be-determined city organizations. The City of Richmond could provide internships and opportunities to "job shadow" in City departments and with elected officials. School unions could do the same, as could community partners doing business with the City.

Non-profit programs like those mentioned will always need volunteers. The more adult volunteers, the more Richmond students can be accommodated and enriched. The City already has an excellent volunteer coordinator and good programs like LEAP (Literacy for Every Adult Program).

Furthermore, the City has the most complete overview of programs available to residents. It can take on the task of giving Richmond students more chances to interact with engaged, qualified, and certified adults.

Students can become volunteers themselves by helping other students, as when high school students tutor elementary students. In all these endeavors, we look forward to the participation of the recently formed Youth Council.

We see these initial ideas as the contemporary version of the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child."