Community saves schools

By Ocynthia Williams
Community activist

This is the final of three excerpts the Horizon is publishing of "A community-led reform: Improving schools in the South Bronx," by community activist Ocynthia Williams. The article tells how parents and community activists, organized as the Community Collaborative to Improve District 9 Schools, or CC9, have mobilized local residents to address education problems. It was published by Voices in Urban Education.

Hiring the lead teachers

Although it seemed that most of our work was over, it had just begun, because the next step was the actual advertising for the position and interviewing the best candidates.

The agreement called for a two-step process. First, a committee made up of four representatives of the superintendent, two from UFT, and two CC9 parent leaders would select a pool of the best-qualified candidates for the ten schools to consider. The second step was for each school to form a committee composed of the principal, administration representatives, staff representatives, and parents to hire the lead teacher. The selections were to be made by consensus, and the principal had veto power.

While the selection process was somewhat rushed due to the short timeline, overall it worked quite well. All of the teachers were interviewed by the first and second committees and 36 teachers were hired. Consolidating a historic achievement

The final stage of CC9's quest to establish the lead teacher program involved developing, along with the Department of Education and the UFT, a training program for lead teachers. To ensure the involvement of CC9 throughout the process, we facilitated the first day of training.

In keeping with CC9's mission, we will continue to build power and work in collaboration with organizations to ensure that the children in the South Bronx receive the best quality education possible. We strongly believe in the words of the freedom fighter Frederick Douglass, that "without struggle, there can be no progress."