How in the world did I get educated?

As many of you know, I am proud to say that I am a graduate of the public school system in New Orleans. While I am more than willing to admit that the school system has a lot of serious problems, there are some schools that are bright spots and should make us proud. I attended Jean Gordon (K-6th grade), McMain (7-8th grade) and Ben Franklin (9th-12th grade). I am proud to be associated with all three of these schools. The teachers that I had were great people. They cared deeply about their jobs, their students and about education.

Today I am ashamed. I am ashamed to call myself a New Orleanian and ashamed of my school system. If you haven't seen it yet, surf over to the Times-Picayune website and check out this article. This is sad. It hurts me that so-called teachers and educators are willing to trample on our children in order to fill their pockets. Let me say, also, that I don't include Kathy Riedlinger (principal at Lusher) in this group. Although the article lumps her name with the others, she has operated above-board and has done so much for our school system. The article does explain her situation. (The parents at Lusher have donated money out of their own pockets as an added bonus to her salary as a way to thank her. She is not receiving unwarranted money from the school board.).

Anyway, I just had to post this. This article left me speechless. I hope that we can work together as New Orleanians to make our schools better rather than running away from the problem. I am fully aware of how fortunate I was to be able to attend the public schools that I attended. Not every kid in New Orleans has the advantages I had. A vast majority are at the mercy of whatever is their district school. I long for the day when every kid in New Orleans gets the chance to get the kind of education that I had.