Ever since my son Allan started kindergarten 11 years ago, I wanted him to have access to the best education I could find for him. I dropped him off that day at the same campus where I went to elementary school and left proud that my son would attend the same school I had attended as a child. Later that…
Category: Parents
The Real World for Black Parents, Teachers and Students in America
This is the true story of 40 strangers picked to meet in a park, talk together and have their conversations taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real… on education. Okay, so this isn’t an episode of The Real World, and the MTV series that sparked a reality television revolution probably isn’t recording…
In Douglas County, it’s not about vouchers. It’s about vision.
How does this benefit me? How does this benefit my family? How does this affect my neighbors? These are all seemingly common and innocuous questions that all voters think about when entering the polls. One might even suggest that the questions are simple—simple until you consider answering those questions from a short- or long-term perspective. Douglas County has historically…
Top 10 Reasons to Pay Attention to School Board Races in the State’s Largest Districts
This week Jimmy Kimmel took “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to Brooklyn, New York to tape before a live audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. He brought with him former late night king, David Letterman, whose famous “Top 10 List” still resonates with me in a way that Kimmel’s “Mean Tweets” and Fallon’s “Thank You Notes” don’t…
When the Neighborhood Choice Is the Best Choice
By Joel Newton Four and a half years ago when we moved to Edgewater, we chose to send our daughters to our neighborhood school, Lumberg Elementary. At the time, I wrote a blog post titled “Sacrificing Our Kids’ Education for the Mission.” In September of 2012, we felt like we were taking a chance in sending our children to a…