Dear Editor:
Denise Baer Apuzzo’s column Jan. 16 unfairly attacked Enid Lee
and her commitment to have true dialogue about racism and equity in
schools.
Dear Editor:
Denise Baer Apuzzo’s column Jan. 16 unfairly attacked Enid Lee and her commitment to have true dialogue about racism and equity in schools.
Ms. Lee worked with the principal and a group of teachers at Gilroy High last year and Ms. Apuzzo apparently felt this was a waste of the taxpayers’ money. Along with being concerned with the inaccuracies in the column, I was disheartened to read such a negative attack on a woman I have had the pleasure of meeting and felt I received a wonderful experience reflecting on my teaching practice.
Ms. Lee never pointed any fingers, never singled any one out and absolutely never insulted anyone’s character or beliefs. A black woman insulted and attacked in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. – is this really the only thing she could think to write about for a holiday acknowledging the accomplishments of African-Americans in the United States?
First, the inaccuracies. The money spent to bring Ms. Lee to Gilroy High was IIUSP funding. IIUSP money is given to schools with the sole purpose of raising API (student performance on standardized testing) and specifically to raise the achievement of the economically disadvantaged, second language learners, and students of color. As a teacher who worked with Enid, I was able to work on equity pedagogy, how to alter my instruction as a teacher to better reach ALL students – the high achievers, the low achievers, the second language learners or the one kid in the room who did not look like anyone else (often times in our community that would be the African-American or Asian student). The money given to the school was never meant and could not be used for the books, computers, office supplies or the leaky roof Ms. Apuzzo suggests.
Another inaccuracy concerned the Puente Program. Although the funding has been cut and the program no longer exists at GHS, it was not only for Latino students. It was a program which included GATE students, students with GPAs of 2.0 and students from a variety of economic and ethnic backgrounds. This was a wonderful example of an effective heterogeneous program.
More than the inaccurate facts, however, I would like to address the attack of Ms. Lee’s character as well as the importance I saw in “putting race on the table.” Like Ms. Apuzzo, I am a mother. I am the white mother of a 2-year-old son who is half African-American. As my son approaches school age I worry about stereotypes about African-Americans persisting, and of my son feeling isolated since African-Americans here are few.
I am extremely concerned with labeling. Statistics today show that African-American boys are three times more likely to be labeled as mentally retarded than whites and twice as likely to be labeled emotionally disturbed. These referrals into special education programs come from teachers and they are almost always for disorders that are subjective. Why are teachers referring African-American boys at such an alarming rate? What types of misconceptions do some teachers have that has led to this epidemic? Working with Enid Lee addresses such issues. It is nothing more than aiding teachers, including myself, in looking at the attitudes and beliefs we might have that causes us to treat students unfairly.
The other role I would like to speak from is as a teacher at Gilroy High where I work closely with ELD teachers and English language learners. I was shocked to find out that last year out of ninth and 10th grade students who scored below the API 39th percentile (minimum goal is 50th percentile) – 80 percent were English language learners and 72 percent of those have been in our district since first grade. Obviously this fact needs to be looked at and discussed with teachers like myself.
Those of us working with Ms. Lee were addressing these and many other concerns and anyone who worked with her could have shared this if we were asked. It was never some secret racist plot against white people.
Finally, Ms. Apuzzo said that she believes racism still exists. I would really like to know what she thinks we should do about it. Her column led me to believe she thought we should ignore racism. To me that would be pretending not to see the pink elephant in the room or to be the person who says “I am colorblind.”
As for equality, I always thought equality meant everyone gets the same regardless of what they need. Based on that description, Ms. Apuzzo confuses me with her fight for an extended honors program. I mean if we are really talking equality here, then every kid would get the same thing and be in the same classroom. Or did I miss something? Is there a criterion for equality?
Susan Nisonger, Gilroy
Submitted Monday, Jan. 27 to ed****@************ch.com
