It’s Impossible to Smear Schools Without Spattering Good Teachers

Recently, I served as interim principal at Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park. The experience raised several questions: Why is this school so unlike the schools described in almost every local newspaper? Why is it unlike the schools described, and maligned, by the hosts of talk radio shows with their cattle-prod format?

At Columbus I found a school where every student has a textbook for every class, where teachers are teaching values along with the curriculum, where the academic program is designed to meet the needs of all students, where the campus is clean, where parents are active members of the many school-wide councils, where students feel safe and enjoy being teenagers, where students of many cultures and languages are accepted, where the classroom environment is stimulating, where problems that develop become the concern of all stakeholders and where every member of the staff takes pride in students’ successes.

Sure, not everything is perfect. As with most institutions, there are areas where improvements can be made. But at the same time, the staff cares--a lot. And each member of that staff feels continuing pain from the continuous bashing from the media, politicians and organizations with their own agendas.

Every time the Los Angeles Unified School District is negatively painted with a broad brush, the paint splatters on every teacher, administrator and classified employee. These people give their time, energy and sweat only to be told that they have no worth.

At what point is this community going to recognize the difference between what happens at the political level in this district and what happens in the thousands of classrooms and the hundreds of schools in Los Angeles? Every time a teacher is splattered, a bit of fire is squelched and the desire to give a little extra is diminished. And who are the losers? The children and the community in which they live.

There once was a bumper sticker that read, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” Don’t forget that each of us is where we are because of those who taught us, had high expectations for us and administered the schools we attended. They are no different from those in your schools today.

Turn those paintbrushes into ones of support. Columbus Middle School isn’t the exception. It is only an example of the fine schools in the district.