Foss Fiasco

I sent the email below to Tacoma School District leadership on Thursday, September 23. On Monday, September 27 I received an email from Toni Pace, Director of High School Education requesting a meeting. I have yet to hear from her assistant to set an appointment.

Two parents of Hilltop Scholars have also sent emails. One was told "we'll look into it and get back to you." The other just sent his email yesterday.

Greetings:

I am writing to request that Foss High School be given a math teacher, a Spanish teacher, and an English teacher. Not having these teachers on staff is limiting student opportunities to get classes needed to be a competitive college applicant. The following are specific concerns shared with me by Foss students and staff:

1. Students are being removed from Spanish 5/6 (third year Spanish) if they are not “full IB” students. As you know, two years of foreign language is the minimum requirement for college acceptance. Offering third year Spanish at Foss, but not allowing certain students to access the class puts them behind other students at Foss and other schools. It makes these students less competitive and may even block their acceptance to the college of their choice. In some cases, parents were not notified of this important schedule change.
2. Juniors are not allowed to take Algebra 1-2 and seniors are not allowed to take Geometry. Instead, these students are being placed in Applied Math. If these students want to go to community college, they will have to remediate Algebra and Geometry (on their own dime) in order to reach college-level math.

In addition, many of the classes at Foss have an unacceptable high student to teacher ratio and are over-capacity. This depresses teachers’ and students’ morale and continues to limit access for students who want a quality education. In particular, there are concerns about the following classes:

1. English classes are so over-capacity that freshmen and sophomores are being placed in On-Line English classes. As you know, the one-class failure rate of Tacoma freshmen is over 50%. I worry that giving them an online class is going to exacerbate the problem, especially if they are asked to take the class at home on their own.
2. World issues and history classes are over-capacity and students are being placed in on-line classes.
3. Algebra 3/Trig is over-capacity.
4. There is only one teacher teaching freshman science, so biology classes are now over-capacity.
5. Art classes are over-capacity so students are not able to access this required class.

Last spring and summer, my students from Peace Community Center presented “Voices from the Gap.” These are the same students who are coming to me with concerns about what is happening to them at Foss High School. They know about the Achievement Gap and they recognize that they are being underserved by Foss and by the Tacoma School District. It is disheartening to see a student who wants a good education try to access it and be turned away.

As I said above, Foss High School needs at the very least, an additional qualified, good math teacher, English teacher, and Spanish teacher. Otherwise, the school and the District are blocking access to learning and to college for its students. In the future, I suggest the school schedule be built based on students’ academic needs and requests. It doesn’t appear that happened this year.

Please let me know of any actions taken in the next week or so to rectify this situation. If there is anything we can do as a community to help with this problem, please let us know.

Sincerely,
Laurie Fisher Ruiz

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Laurie Fisher Ruiz
Peace Community Center
"Touching Lives, Extending Peace"
Education Director
253.383.0702 ext. 109
eddir@peacetacoma.org
2106 South Cushman Avenue
Tacoma, Washington 98405

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The Beginning

Just started teaching CLASS last week. I am entering my second year of teaching this course. My freshmen are young, but trainable, my sophies are delightful and inquisitive, my juniors are like my very own children, and my seniors are brilliant. I can't wait to see how they all progress this year!

So far, we have done the basic stuff, like reminding everyone how to take Cornell Notes and organize their binders.

Our overarching theme this year is Prejudice. I decided to begin this theme by teaching the kids about 9/11. Just asking them questions today, I learned that they know a little about Al Qaida and Osama Bin Ladin, but some did not know that there were 4 planes involved and that the Pentagon was attacked as well. They were so young when it happened. Today I just taught them basic stuff like Al Qaida's responsible for 9/11 and Afghanistan was their training ground which is why we went into Aghanistan. There is so much more to the story, I know, but I have so little time to teach them!

I also learned today that one of my students is taking an online math class at Foss instead of taking a real live math class from a real live teacher. What the heck?

The assignment this week is for them to complete the Life Plan Assignment:

LIFE PLAN ASSIGNMENT

Your assignment is to make a timeline of your life. Indicate various milestones in your life by showing what age you plan to achieve these milestones. Some of the milestones you might not ever want (like marriage and/or children, or military service). If there are other milestones that are not listed here, please feel free to add them.

Be creative. These are going on the walls of our classroom.

Title your life plan with your name. Example: “Daniel’s Life Plan”

Milestones (in alphabetical order):

AmeriCorps Service
Begin career
Buy first house
College entrance (which college/university do you hope to attend?)
College graduation
First child
First job (part-time or summer job)
Fourth child
Graduate school (after you finish college)
High school graduation
Marriage
Military service
Second child
Third child

A great week for learning

This was a great week. I really enjoyed every class I taught.

The freshmen learned about how much sleep they need and how badly they are affected when they don't get enough sleep. For the next week they are keeping a sleep and food diary so we can track how they are treating their bodies with sleep and food.

The sophomores are learning about Coach John Wooden and his way of looking at success. We had some great discussions about whether success is determined by us or by other people and about the definition of success.

The juniors learned some strategies to help them with the ACT. The major one is "triage," which means to do all the easy ones first, then go back and do the ones that will take more time. Use the "letter of the day" as your answer for the ones you are guessing at.

The seniors had 2 classes on money management. We learned about checking and savings accounts and today learned about debit cards and credit cards. It's interesting how credit cards really punish you if you don't pay off the balance each month. But if you do pay off the balance, you can earn free rewards from the card.

It was a fun week and I feel like we are really getting into the "meat" of CLASS.

ACT Prep and Money Management

So here we go! Getting into the big stuff now.

The Juniors got a 500 page book on preparing for the ACT. It kind of scared them I think! lol. We looked through a test and learned some basic stuff. Will get into real strategy on Thursday.

The Seniors had their first Money Management class! It is being taught by a volunteer from Goodwill. The kids seemed engaged. We talked about checking accounts, how to choose a bank, etc. It was great!

Sleep and John Wooden

The freshmen will be spending some time thinking about sleep. Today they journaled about how much sleep they get and whether or not it is enough. Only one out of the five gets enough sleep. One has to get up early to take care of her other sisters. We read an article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561.html) about high school start times and teenagers unique sleep times which are largely dictated by when their melatonin rises which is usually between 10pm and 8am. (That's when they should be sleeping). But school here in Tacoma starts at 7:30! When I was teacher, I hated teaching first period because even though the kids were in their seats, they were not present mentally. 4 out of the 5 liked the idea of having a later start time for school.

The sophomores are about to start studying John Wooden's pyramid of success. Today they journaled about who had the biggest impact on their lives. Most of them named a family member. I am hopeful they will listen to Wooden's words of wisdom and incorporate them into their beings. We are working from the book "Wooden. A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off The Court."

Visit from SAMI teachers and self-awareness

Some staff from SAMI (Science and Math Insitute) visited us today! We showed them around and answered their questions and they sat in on the freshman class. They participated in our relaxation exercises which really helped calm everyone down! :-) Then we talked about why plant-based foods are so good for us, especially those with more odor,flavor, and color. It's because the way they work in nature is how they work in your body! They keep away disease and bad stuff in nature because of their strong odor/color and they do that in your body too! Cool,huh?

The sophomores discussed self-awareness and understanding how our actions affect others. We talked about reflecting inward when something is not right with another person. Figure out if you are responsible for the negativity coming towards you. . .or not! We practiced this by talking about how it affects students when some one is hecka noisy during our quiet relaxation time. This led to the noisy culprits asking to be excused during quiet time. Yes! Way to take responsiblity! Hopefully next year they can actually stay in the classroom and sit quietly. Baby steps. . .

Catching Up

I haven't blogged in about a month! Sorry. I have been a bit overwhelmed. Slowly, I am getting organized and my efficiency is kicking in.

In CLASS we have been working with Dr. Phyllis Bales on relaxation techniques. She has taught us how to "ground," how to "run energy" through our bodies, and how to "pull our auras in." What we've learned is the power of the imagination to calm ourselves. Some of this has been difficult for some of the kids to get. But today it seemed we had some breakthroughs with the freshmen who appear to be understanding how to calm themselves and are actually using the practice in their lives outside of class.

The sophs are such a bizarre class with really loud kids and really quiet kids and not too many in the middle. Some of the sophs are simply disruptive during our quiet relaxation time which is highly annoying to the rest of us. Next time I think I will ask the noisy ones to step outside so the rest of us can relax.

Time Management and Goal Setting

I had to rearrange the classroom because of the high number of sophomores! I can't fit them all around the table. So now the place looks less like a seminar room and more like a normal classroom.

We got our binders organized and I had the students write their long term and short term goals and tape them in their binder or put them somewhere on their binder where they will see them all the time. Then I had the kids write out on a weekly calendar their typical week. They also wrote how they could spend their time better at school, at Peace and at home. I will spend some time going over these and share them with the students' mentors. There will probably be lots of opportunity for conversation and support from mentors.

Juniors and Seniors Get Organized

It's strange having such a big class of seniors! We are up to 7 total now! Up from 3 last semester. Two of our seniors went to the Historically Black College Fair. One was accepted to Bethune-Cookman and the other to Norfolk! Wow!

I taught/retaught the Juniors and the Seniors how to take Cornell notes and how to organize their binders. We are all set and ready to rock this semester!

Getting Organized/Cornell Notes

I retaught the students how to take Cornell Notes. They really need to take better notes in class, then finish the process at Peace, writing test questions and a summary of their notes. They are going to hate this, but it gives them a chance to interact with the material 2 more times and sets them up to study better for tests.

We also got new school supplies and got our binders organized. I had 17 kids in the sophomore class today! 1 is from Bellarmine and is just auditing the class, but 16 are enrolled! Wow!

We are now up to 35 students total enrolled in CLASS. This is up 10 students from last semester! It's almost like if you are a Hilltop Scholar, you are in CLASS!

What color is your grounding cord?

Today Phyllis came and talked to the Juniors and Seniors about "getting grounded." She had us imagine a cord connecting us to the center of the earth. It was funny to hear what the different kids' cords looked like:
a string with a ball
a slide
a bike
a snowboard
a chicken!

The point is for the kids to have a way to imagine themselves connected to something, to feel safe and relaxed. From here we can have better results with our daily meditation that we do at the beginning of each class.

Freshmen and Sophomores Get Grounded

Today was the first day of second semester. We have one new student joining the freshman class and four new students joining the sophomore class!

After reviewing the CLASS expectations and attendance policies, etc., local psychologist, Phyllis Bales worked with the students on grounding their energy. I have taught the students how to sit still and focus on their breathing as a relaxation technique. Phyllis built on this by having the students imagine they are dropping a cord of energy down into the earth and anchoring it at the center of the earth. It was interesting to listen to the students descriptions of what that was like. Some didn't get it at all. Some felt more relaxed, some felt tingly. Phyllis will continue to work with the students over the next couple of months. We will see her again in a couple of weeks.

Final Blog of the Semester

Today was the last day of CLASS for the 1st semester. We have made history with this class!

The Juniors and Seniors wrote reflections on this past semester and what they want to do better next semester. They are hoping to be more organized and disciplined. I will have to remind them of that in a few weeks! :-)

As for me, as their teacher, I also want to be more organized and keep more consistent track of students' grades in mine and in their other classes. I think I need to be harder on them about their note taking and binder organization. They hate it but it's good for them.

Until next Monday, adios!

Freshmen and Sophs reflect on the semester

The students answered the following questions in their journals today:
1. Academically, what went well for you this semester?
2. What did not go well?
3. What are your academic goals for next semester?
4. What are your personal goals for next semester?
5. What changes will you have to make or habits will you have to form in order to achieve your goals?

Some of them had big trouble with math, others did great in math. Some had problems getting their homework turned in in all of their classes! I think they all want to try to do better next semester. They said the need to try and overcome their laziness.

We talked quite a bit about college entrance and whether or not they had already blown it. I hate hearing them say, "I'll never go to college!" I talked about the different ways you can get to a 4-year school (community college, etc) and that it's really never too late.

Juniors' and Seniors' Reflections

In reflecting on all that we have learned about the Achievement Gap and Equity in Education, the students felt that the information should be shared with other students especially. They seemed reluctant to share the info with teachers thinking the teachers might get defensive. They asked about how teachers are evaluated in Tacoma Schools and I told them about my experience being evaluated, which amounted to an administrator observing in my class and just reviewing with me what I did. I was never given any constructive criticism. It was pretty meaningless to me.

Next we will talk about the format we want to create for delivering this information.

Reflecting on what we have learned about Equity in Education

Yesterday with the freshmen and sophomores, I lead reflective conversations where we reviewed what we have learned and how that affects our actions now.

We briefly discussed the Little Rock Nine, Central High School today, Foss High School today, and the Achievement Gap.

The students realize we have come a long way since 1957, but we also have a long way to go.

They said they know they need to step up and try harder, do better in school. But sometimes they feel stymied by their teacher. It is so hard to stay motivated and to do well in a class where you think your teacher doesn't believe in you or where you feel intimidated by the other students. This is what I will be mulling around in my head over the next few days. How do I help them with this?

The sophomores were so joyful about meeting Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine. We spent a few minutes recalling his speech and one of their favorite quotes from him was:
"The biggest lesson I learned was whatever people think about you is none of your business. It wastes all of your time and energy, and nothing of what they say is as accurate as how you feel about yourself."

Wow!

Meeting Dr. Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine

On Monday, MLK Day, 23 of our students showed up at 7:15am to go to UWT's Unity Breakfast and meet and listen to Dr. Terrence Roberts, a member of the Little Rock Nine. In the fall we learned about the Little Rock Nine and the kids were so excited to meet this courageous man. They were all sparkly eyed when they met him and asked him some good questions. He gave them all a good pep talk. It was very cool.

Catch Up Blog

Over the past two weeks, the CLASS students and I have been studying and discussing the Achievement Gap Report for Tacoma Schools. You can read it at the following web address:

http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/information/departments/assessment/Achievement%20Gap%20Documents/Addressing%20the%20Achievement%20Gap%20Report.pdf

Specifically we looked at pages 11 to 17.

The students answered the following questions in their journals:

1. TEACHER QUALITY
Write about a time when you feel you learned more because of your teacher.

Write about a time when you feel you didn’t learn as much as you could have because of your teacher.


2. CULTURAL COMPETENCY
Write about a time when a teacher or staff member at school did or said something racist either purposefully or out of ignorance.

OR

Write about a time when you could relate to what was being taught because it included your culture or something that is unique about you. Did it help you learn the material better because you could relate to it?

3. PROGRAM OFFERINGS
What academic programs have you participated in at school? Which was the most beneficial for you and why? Which was the least beneficial for you and why?

4. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
How do your parents feel about their contact with your school? Have their feelings changed over the years, from elementary to high school?

5. DISCIPLINE
The Tacoma School District Achievement Gap Report says “discipline of African American students is grossly out of proportion. The number of students who are suspended and expelled is cause for alarm.”
From your point of view, is this statement true or false? Explain your answer.

And also these questions:

1. Attendance

The Achievement Gap Report says there is a clear trend of poor attendance for African American students in the 8th grade. Why do you think some students have poor attendance? How can school attendance be improved for all students?

2. Special Education

The report shows that African-American students are over-represented in the Special Ed category of Emotional/Behavioral Disability. The test for Emotional/Behavioral disability is subjective, meaning you are place in Special Ed based on what specific adults think about you, not based on a written or verbal test.

Do you think Black kids are over-represented with emotional/behavioral disabilities because they are just more likely to have these disabilities or because of some bias on the adult making the decision? Explain your answer.

3. Intervention Class Trends

Black students are underrepresented in Honors/IB/AP classes and overrepresented in remedial classes.

In your experience, does this statement appear to be true? What can schools do to encourage more Black students to take Honors/IB/AP classes?

4. African-American students have much lower GPAs than Asians and Whites at the high school level.

Why do you think Black students have lower GPAs?

5. Only 68% of African American students graduate on time. What efforts have you seen in the schools to improve the graduation rate for Black students and other students as well.

6. African Americans are 23% of the student population but only 7% of teaching staff.

Do you think African American students would do better in school if they had more teachers who were African American? Why or why not?

What we figured out is that the cause of these problems is complex. There are certainly things that kids, families,and communities can do to address the problems, but the school district has a lot of work to do also.