I like to cross borders, especially those that bound or limit me from encountering other groups of people. I also like to take people with me when I cross these borders. So for over twenty years I have been taking students, friends, family and colleagues with me on journeys across borders that limit our interaction with each other. It is remarkable how we build artificial boundaries and treat them as “Great Walls”. We want our children to graduate without boundaries, yet they observe our reluctance to cross them our selves.
If the Grand Rapids Public
Schools is to reach its full potential, we will all have to work together to
bridge the boundaries that are separating us from the great institution we
could be.
I say “We are Grand Rapids Public Schools” or “Estamos GRPS” because all of us have to claim the schools as our own. We share the responsibility and the consequences. The children, the parents, grandparents and neighbors will have to believe in the children and expect achievement. Board members, teachers, administrators, custodians and city commissioners will have to work to provide the resources required by a top notch school system.
And we, the community, have much of what is needed. For instance, the Grand Rapids community is home to hundreds of individuals that work in higher education. Yet, many of our high school students have difficulty charting the complicated and intimidating routes to get to college. I believe we can find ways to harness these community resources for our schools. We should have no unused resource.
This call for community accountability is not new. What I offer is the experience of taking people across boundaries. I offer a vision of a collective response to raising our children.