Sunday, November 1, 2009

Kudos to Joe Reed!


I couldn't be more proud of the new principal at Lakeside, Joe Reed. The man lives in reality and is making a sincere effort to reach out to ALL students and parents at the school. Historically, this has not been done in DeKalb. DCSS administration deals only in black and white. We live in denial of the fact that we have nearly as many Hispanic students in DCSS as we do whites. In fact, DeKalb hosts students from all over the world who mostly reside in central and north areas of the county. Schools in the south end of the county do not have the immigrant/language/cultural issues to deal with that the schools in central and north DeKalb do, as schools in the south are mostly homogeneous African-American. Teachers and principals in these multi-cultural schools are working very hard to close achievement gaps and increase equity for immigrant students.

Allow me to post Joe Reed's letter to the Hispanic community below. I know that other schools are using similar outreach techniques, and sincerely hope that principals with the same highly diverse populations as Lakeside band together and tackle the cultural issues as a team. It's up to the principals to lead this effort, as there doesn't appear to be a serious focus on this issue in the system's administrative leadership.

Dear Parents, Estimádos Padres de Familia,

You are the most important persons in your child's education. We want you to know about Lakeside High School, what we are trying to do and how you can help your child to be successful.

Ustedes son las personas más importantes en la educación de sus hijos. Nosotros en Lakeside High School queremos que sepan de todo lo que estamos haciendo para apoyar las metas educativas de sus hijos.

We invite you to a special meeting on Monday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m. in the cafeteria with your son or daughter to discuss opportunities at Lakeside and to help us plan to better include our Spanish speaking families in the decisions made at Lakeside. At this meeting we will talk about the courses your son or daughter is taking, the tests that he or she must pass and the many choices available after high school. We will also discuss ways that you can be more involved in Lakeside High School.

Les invitamos a ustedes con sus hijos a una reunión el lunes 2 de noviembre 2009 a las 7:00 pm en la cafetería. Esta reunión es para ayudarnos incluir a las familias de habla español en las decisiones que tomamos en Lakeside. Durante esta reunión hablaremos de los cursos que sus hijos están tomando, los varios exámenes que tienen que tomar para graduarse, y las varias opciones que tienen después que acaban la secundaria.

We want you to know that Lakeside is your school. Whether you speak English or not, your participation is important to our success and the success of your child. We hope you will be able to attend what we believe will be an informational and organizational meeting for our Spanish speaking parents.

Lakeside es su escuela. Si habla inglés o no su participación en la educación de sus hijos es critico para que nosotros lleguemos a nuestras metas en educar a sus hijos y para que ellos sean exitosos. Esperamos que ustedes puedan asistir a esta reunión que va a ser muy informativa para ustedes, nuestros padres de habla español.

We need you. Please put mark Monday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m. on your calendar. We want to see you there.

Los necesitamos. Por favor marque su calendario para el lunes 2 de noviembre 2009 a las 7:00. Los esperamos.

Sincerely,

Atentamente,

Joe Reed

Principal

Lakeside High School

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe Reed is a class act. Notice how a principal has to set up and reach out to Latino parents.

DCSS, with its endless number of administrators, has virtually ignored its Latino population. Just ask Kim G. from Cross Keys.

The county's Latino population is growing and growing, especially along the Bufird Highway corridor.

Nice to see Joe Reed step up, because no one at the DCSS Central Office will.

Anonymous said...

Joe Reed is a class act.

Ella

Anonymous said...

Not just Central office. The parent leadership population at LHS acts as though the only kids there are the white local neighborhood kids. They treat the black students as probable admin transfers and the hispanic students as non existent. One of the reasons the rest of the county thinks LHS is majority white (which it isn't) is because it acts that way.

Really. Go watch Miss Lakeside sometime (if you can stomach it). Not a Latina in the field. I would like to think it is because they are doing something more worthwhile...

Cerebration said...

There are going to be groups like that in any school - but by and large, Lakeside has some pretty nice people in its community, IMO>

Anonymous said...

Now, nothing keeps anyone from entering the Ms. Lakeside Pageant. Everyone who wants to be in the competition as a senior is welcome. Being in this contest has nothing to do with whomever you are. Being in the pageant is a choice.

I have worked with the pageant and see the benifit of such things. Maybe this is because I participating in many, when I was young. Again, this is a choice. The members of the Miss Lakeside Pageant do not discriminate.

Now I am not one to think highly of anyone who thinks they are better than anyone else. But you have these individuals in all schools. Lakeside has some wonderful parents just like all other schools in the county.

Ella

No Duh said...

Any word on how many parents showed up at LHS' "get to know us" meeting for the Hispanic community?

Anonymous said...

The Latino community is a major cultural and economic force in Atlanta, especially along the Buford Hwy corridor. Schools like Cross Keys are a key in the transition of many of this community's children to vital, English speaking, politically conscious members of our society. These kids will have the power someday.

DCSS doesn't have the cultural awareness to recognize this and assume its own responsibility to this community in a positive, supportive, and non-political manner.

Cross Keys, its feeder schools, and schools like Lakeside who have significant Latino populations are only candlelights in the darkness of DCSS's discrimination against this population.

André said...

Lakeside High School has a diverse Population, and it is known that Hispanics are numerous there. I have not heard the rumors about the Lakeside being an "all white" school, but I find those untrue. What we need more diversity of is the brazillians. Not enough Brazillians at the school.