Their Side of the Story

Last evening I had the opportunity to attend the public forum on the closing of Banneker Elementary School in the Englewood neighborhood.  Banneker is one of the 54 schools slated for closing in the coming fall.  Actually, the building will remain open and the over 300 students from Mays Elementary will join the Banneker students.

A couple of students, teachers, community members and a office staff worker spoke on behalf of leaving Banneker open and not combining the two schools.  They made impassioned and reasonable pleas.  There was no screaming or demeaning comments launched at those facilitating the meeting.  I say because the sense of the loss of their school weighs heavily on them and I was amazed that they could keep their emotions in check.

What I found most credible and warranting of keeping Banneker as one entity was the fact that, to a person, each member of the Banneker staff conveyed the sense of family that exists at all levels within the school.  Whether the Principal, Asst. Principal, teachers or secretarial personnel, the testimony was riveting in terms of how each staff member cares about the children as if they were their very own son or daughter.

Nothing could be more compeling or be more convincing of leaving Banneker as it is now constituted.  Trouble is, friends, all of this is in vain.

Dick