A School in Trouble by Holland William R.;Morales Anna Cano;

Author:Holland, William R.;Morales, Anna Cano; [Holland, William R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 616432
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Education

CHAPTER 14

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Central Falls Students

Every time a young person is shot and killed on the streets of an inner city, the local high school’s reputation worsens. This is true in Central Falls even if the teenager was not currently enrolled in the school.

The public perception is that the high school must be a dangerous place; a place with unruly students, large-scale student suspensions, and resource officers patrolling the corridors with revolvers on their hips, ready to break up ugly fights on a moment’s notice. (Note that most high schools, urban and suburban, now hire resource officers.)

Central Falls High School naturally suffers from this misguided perception because there is a higher rate of crime in Central Falls than in other parts of the state. The small city is wedged between Pawtucket and Providence, two major cities. Invariably, crimes related to gang conflicts and drugs in those cities spill over to the Central Falls neighborhoods.

As previously reported, visitors to the high school are surprised when they observe an orderly school environment and students who are respectful, polite, and well behaved. Those who visit and observe and talk to the students call them “wonderful kids,” and they are, in spite of the obstacles they must overcome.

Although most of them are from families with limited means, they are similar to their suburban counterparts in many ways. Obviously, there are more students from poor families where the heads of the household are single parents, working multiple jobs and suffering from the residual fallout created by poverty, limited English proficiency, and low educational levels.

But just like suburban parents, Latino parents love their children dearly and want them to succeed and have a better life than they have had. Having the time and energy to be involved in their child’s education is another matter.

Similar to suburban students, Central Falls students look forward to their school proms, express pride in the success of their athletic teams and state-champion chess team, work part-time jobs to help support their families, are fiercely loyal to their friends, enjoy kibitzing with their favorite teachers, look forward to getting their driver’s license and a car someday, and engage in adolescent courtships and all that activity entails.

They also have immense pride in their school and become defensive when incidents happen in the city that negatively reflect the image of their school. They insist that their school is not a “jungle,” in spite of what may be going on outside its walls.

Their school is a safe and caring community, a learning community that is trying hard to get better results, a community that is serious about reform and expending considerable energy and resources to change the status quo and better serve its students.

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