The Bulldogs are Back- Students in for a shock at new Garfield High School

My grandparents raised their children to believe that education was the single most important thing to acquire in life, and my mom and her brothers passed that on to me, my siblings and cousins, and we now work to instill that belief and drive in our own children. 

Let’s face it though, times have changed.  With each generation, for our communities and our country, effectively preparing children for the world is a goal often missed.  Sure there are stories of success, but those are the exceptions and not the rule.

The numbers show that Black children have at least a 50 percent chance of flunking or dropping out of school before they get to the 12^th grade.  I have a 7^th grader and a 3^rd grader and my job is to make sure that these statistics never represent their academic experience.

Seattle Schools –like most school districts- has yet to figure out how to teach all children successfully.  Pedagogy and resources vary drastically from school to school, and buildings are too small, too crowded and out-dated, where drinking water and paint contain unacceptable levels of lead and other toxins.

Take Garfield High School for example.  Students who attend the Central District school will tell you that the building isn’t big enough to fit the roughly 1600 students; hence the 15 portables out back.  The building is outdated; it took two separate stairwells to access either side of the 3^rd floor.  The plumbing and sewage system was nothing less than archaic.  Students would rather walk blocks to a friend or family member’s house than brave the stench of all who’d gone before them- literally.

Imagine art class in the old girl’s locker room in the basement, having no computer lab, a substandard library that lacks the reference materials needed to complete a special project, and a gymnasium that makes gyms in West Seattle and Roosevelt look like professional sports arenas.

Not very inspiring, is it?

The last time I visited Garfield was exactly two and a half years ago when Barack Obama came to town.  Much of my family was there to see him for the first time, and my grandparents, Robert and Francis, stood eye to eye with Obama, shaking hands and exchanging introductions.  Obama promised to reform No Child Left Behind and close the achievement gap between children of color and their White counterparts.  How fitting then, that he should speak at a school that suffered from the previously mentioned ills and was equally well known for having a segregated advanced learning program with roughly three-fourths of the population made up of White students, in a school district where the achievement gap between Black students and White students remains.

Last week Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.  Four generations of my family witnessed history in a way that we likely never will again.  The morning after his powerful, inspiring and historic acceptance speech, I found myself back at Garfield High School.

After two years of construction and more than one hundred million dollars the Central District high school welcomes its students back this week to a new, massive, state of the art facility.  

Now I know that many folks balked at the idea of spending anywhere near 100 million dollars on a school.  Where does all of that money go, right? 

I’ll tell you.  Eleven science labs and a greenhouse, a brand new performing arts theater, classrooms roughly twice as large as they were before, a new teen life center, gymnasium, new track and field, new commons, and an art room oozing with natural light and every tool needed to explore and hone one’s artistic abilities.  The additional square footage alone will make a significant difference.  It’s not easy being squished into a building with sixteen hundred other teenagers.

As a parent, it’s the kind of environment you want for you child, and I got chills walking through the new campus, thinking about how inspired students will every day.  Garfield has always been a tight knit community where students supported each other and worked hard.  They finally have a campus that reflects that inner spirit. 

It’s exactly the kind of change our kids need to be transformed into world class learners.  But in a school where freshman still come through the door reading at a fourth grade level, the teachers, staff and parents have their work cut out for them. 

In a time of hope and change, when we have seen the impossible become possible, where we have all seen history made, I choose to believe, “yes we can”. 

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