Broken and bitter cannot make a better Bridgeport
The revenge campaign may have ended on the mayoral level; however, supporters of the failed “movement” hold and have held seats on the Board of Education and other key positions for years. They are abdicating their fiduciary responsibilities to support the work of the schools superintendent to positively change the trajectory for our children.
Norman Vincent Peale, author widely known for sparking interest in positive thinking through his best seller, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” wrote the introduction for the book, “Better Men or Bitter Men” by authors, Homer L. Good and Cort R. Flint. The authors distinguish better men from bitter men. However, many of us do not need to read the book to be able to distinguish the character trait difference or to know that broken and bitter simply cannot make better.
Why? Bitter and broken people typically gaze through a myopic and compromised lens which keeps them from seeing and supporting bold and necessary improvements.
Bridgeport, please do not take on a nearsighted view. Zoom out, take a balcony approach to determine what is what. Take a look at the published plan of action available on the school district’s website; inquire about joining legal and non-disruptive school tours; and zoom in to what really matters.
Bold change often requires both crisis and wisdom along with positive thinking and courage. Many Bridgeport public schools are in crisis. It will take wisdom and courage to push back against the negative and dangerous actions of the bitter and broken which may give rise to educational abuse and neglect.
Scholars, fathers, mothers, grandparents, care-givers, staff, neighbors, and friends, push back against any plan to keep our children-young adult scholars and staff trapped in lead and asbestos filled, temperature challenged, non-ADA compliant, understaffed, low-enrolled school buildings where high barriers to learning and teaching exists as evidenced by public assessment data in the single digits and chronic absenteeism reports.
My body knows all too well the impact of being assigned to one of these dangerous, under-resourced, non-ADA compliant school buildings. Several years ago, I advocated to keep the school building temporarily open due to the absence of a plan of action that would transition our K-6 scholars and staff to a better school.
Our children and young-adult scholars need to be in safe learning environments where high quality, culturally responsive learning and teaching consistently happens. School staff need to be able to work in physically safe and easily accessible school buildings. Parents, grandparents, and community partners need to be able to easily access safe buildings to support our young scholars and schools.
“It’s easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men.” — Frederick Douglass.
Gladys D. Walker-Jones is education committee chair of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP.