Forum Calls for Parents to Step Up Youths Join Community Leaders to Brainstorm How to Help Students Do Better

By ADAM AASEN

The Rev. Tom Diamond and his colleagues at Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church were talking about education problems when they decided to take a new approach: “Let’s hear what the young people have to say.”

He said that’s what led his Northside church to open its doors to at least 200 people – about half of whom were students – on Saturday to discuss what can be done to help improve education, particularly among statistically low-performing black students.

Everyone in attendance, including teachers and parents, broke into small groups and brainstormed solutions to present. Local leaders such as Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals, School Board member Brenda Priestly Jackson and City Councilman Johnny Gaffney participated in the groups.

Not only did K-12 students get to express their opinions, but 17- year-old Kevin Barnes of Paxon School for Advanced Studies helped organize the event. He said he thinks students should take responsibility for their education and not leave it all up to adults.

In almost every group, students were concerned about guns and violence in schools.

Ashlei Barnes, 17, of Raines High School, said she wants to see more school resource officers in Duval County schools “because one officer can’t do it all.”

Some said better job training would help reduce crime caused by economic factors. Gaffney said he doesn’t think a lack of jobs is to blame for turning young people into drug dealers. He said nobody is forced to make bad decisions, and character-building lessons could combat these ideas.

“There’s no such thing as ‘You don’t have a choice.’ We all have a choice in what we do,” he said.

Lamar Brooks, 15, of A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology, said he thinks peers influence students more than parents or teachers.

“It’s mostly our surroundings, who we’re with, who we’re hanging around that affect us,” he said.

Juanita Franklin, a special education teacher at George Washington Carver Elementary, said she’s seen many problems with the inclusion process where special-needs students are put back into regular classrooms. She said the other teachers aren’t always equipped to deal with these students and can grow frustrated because of their lack of training.

There was a common call for more parental involvement in schools. Some wanted it to become mandatory for parents to volunteer at schools, while others complained that teachers aren’t letting parents know about their children’s progress. One woman said she didn’t feel welcome as a parent visiting her children’s schools.

Although the forum focused on black students, Diamond said that by lifting up one group, “all students will be helped.”

Pratt-Dannals said he wants to make sure all students receive the best education, but that there is a need to close the achievement gap that affects low-income students, black students and special- education students.

Diamond said school officials can’t be the only ones to put more effort into helping black students; parents, neighbors and religious leaders need to step up, as well.

“We have some special problems related to the incidents of bad behavior, crime, low achievement, and we have to address it,” he said. “We in the black community have to upgrade our level of input into education.”adam.aasen@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4247

(c) 2007 Florida Times Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.