Lessons Learned....

Recently the Lorain School Board made the decision to wait until November to ask the residents of Lorain to pass a levy for new money. It has been over twenty years since that the Lorain School district has received any new money. This means that the Lorain School district has been doing the best it can with the scraps it has been giving. Passing this levy is vital to the future of Lorain.

Long before Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson, long before the previous administration, and even before Charter schools we've learned that the vast majority of registered voters of Lorain do not want to invest in educating Lorain's children. We have a tendency to point the finger at the head and rightly so. I was reminded by a close friend of mine that when you are in a leadership position it opens you up for criticism. I understand it comes with the territory and I am also reminded that when you point the finger you have three pointed right back at you.

The City of Lorain's hopes of bringing and attracting people back into this city, to revitalize downtown and ultimately provide a state of the art School campus is four years away. Whether you agreed with the site or didn't agree with the site the reality is there were cuts...cuts...cuts! Some of whom were quality teachers that cared about our sons, daughters, grandchildren, neighbors, etc. Our children need the City's support now more than ever.

What has Lorain learned in the past twenty years besides failures of levies? I said Lorain because one of the things we need to learn is that the school system is not just made up of teachers, students, administrators and parents. The community is also part of the school system! Eistein said, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Marian Anderson said it best, "there are many persons ready to what is right because in their heart they know it is right. But they hestitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the first move and he in turn waits for you."

Words of Wisdom: Selecting a levy committee should have been in place May 5th 2010. It is time to change our mindset and strategies in bridging the communication gap amongst the informed and uninformed voters of Lorain.

Where were Lorain's PARENTS?

When I woke up Wednesday morning I did my usual, "Ricky, Rashay you guys up!" I walked through the house ranting about how they are seniors in high school and I shouldn't have to be making sure that they get up every morning on time for school. Getting up at 6am to make sure your kids get off to school, I know you are probably thinking that is what parents are suppose to do, right? According to Wes Fleming author, parent, there are seven emotional needs of a child that need to be met in order to build a strong foundation. He used the acronym PARENTS which include Protection, Acceptance, Recognition, Enforced Limits, Nearness, Time, and Support. I sat down and read my newspaper as my kids continued to get ready at a snails pace. It wasn't a surprise to read that the Lorain city school levy failed but I was shocked by how many 'no' votes there was. I sat there and in my head said, WOW!...Words of Wisdom: It is my opinion that the focus should and always be on providing OUR children with a quality education this in return builds a strong foundation for the city of LORAIN. Protection, Acceptance, Recognition, Enforced Limits, Nearness, Time and Support is what we all have to do even when it calls for us to get up at 6am.

Let's support OUR children by supporting OUR levy (Issue 7)

Recently, I attended a couple of the community forums that the port authority and the Lorain City Schools held for the public. I sat there and heard the different "concerned" community leaders give their spill on where the next Lorain High School should be built. I sat there and saw how our "concerned" leaders talked and treated one another during the two that I attended. I understand that we sometimes let our emotions and passions for something get the best of us. I had no words to describe what I was witnessing; I just had WOW... Words of Wisdom to the "concerned" community leaders, I hope you all can demonstrate the same emotions and passions in order to pass OUR SCHOOL LEVY! Without it, those students that you are "concerned" about will continue to be LEFT BEHIND!