short-tea wisdom

"it's not life that matters; it's the courage that we bring to it". - printed on my yogi tea bag


when i told the shorties
during our morning circle
that our school is in danger of closing
they got mad.

they got angry just
as their parents had
the night before
at the parent meeting
where our principal informed
them that because
of inadequate funding
we might be forced to close.

"if not our school, then WHAT?"
she has asked our school system
repeatedly.

our school is not perfect.
but we advocate for what is
best for our children.
period.

we make sure that they
know how special they are
through much love,
patience,
understanding,
encouragement,
and alwaysalwaysalways
having their back.

oh.
and then,
after that,
we teach them.
we encourage them to
embrace gaining as much
knowledge as they can stand.
encourage them to share thier
thinking and be proud of
the struggle and for
reaching the summit
of understanding.

it makes me angrier
than i have ever been in my life
to think that our doors could be locked
and our windows dark.

but it won't happen without a fight.
my shorties are mailing their letters tomorrow.
our staff is showing up at the board meeting
on tuesday with our letters in hand,
and parents by our side.

our voices WILL BE HEARD.

all we wanted was to have enough.
the bare minimum.
and they said no.
so now, the fight is not just for us,
but will become a city-wide fight
for what every child in this
corrupt school system deserves:
an education that is equal to all other
counties in our state. in our nation.

with their NO,
they have opened the
biggest can o'
we-have-kept-quiet-long-enough-and-have-watched-our-children-be-ignored-LONG-ENOUGH

one shortie asked me,
"ms. k., are other schools going to fight, too?"
"we are going to ask them to," i responded.
"when our parents go to the person in charge, can we go too?"
"you can do anything you want. anything." i stated.

and they can.
the shorties are gonna rock our city.
just watch 'em.




i teach with emily. read her thoughts about this here.