Episode Transcript
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Hey, hey, hey, hey everybody.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Good evening and welcome. And welcome and welcome again. It is the month of September. This has been a long school year already, okay? It's only September. Welcome and good evening everybody. We are Diversity, Equity and Education. I am Denise and to my left.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Or right on your screen is April Cop. How are you all doing today? We are back at another session. Look, the commitment level has been real. It has been real. We be. Look, look, look. Waking up late. Get, look, trying to get a nap in after church, right. Trying to attend events and events in the community in betweens. But we skating on in here. Yes. On this good third Sunday. So we welcome you all for being with us and we have a lot of topics to cover this evening, so we won't stay too long on one.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly, exactly. We gonna tiptoe around all of our subjects, but we want to give you as much information as possible and just who we are. First thing is just a quick mention if you missed it. All of this past month we have had the Parent Code workshop. It's a event that we did weekly. It was between Monday and Wednesday evening. And we really brought a lot of information to the community. And we encourage you to go back through our page, the Sunshine Education Coalition page, and really go back and look at the, the workshops that we did each, each week. They were really just powerful. I mean we, I, I know I learned personally so much about the, about the 504 and the IPs. We also talked about about just your parent role, parent advocacy, but also how teaching you how to advocate for yourself. We had some excellent and awesome and amazing guest speakers on there. I mean, I tell you, the quality of the information that we learned was just awesome. So we want to talk about that just for a moment and let you know that please go back if you missed any of that. We provided numerous resources for you all to have and just, just, just a wealth of information. So April, just tell me about your feelings on the Parent Code as well.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: So I will say that we were very intentional about the content that we wanted to bring to bring forth in the Parent Code as we have kicked off into the school year.
Remember, at this current point, we are in our fifth week of school and like Denise already said, it has been a long school year already. But we wanted to make sure that we equipped parents with the information that they could need readily now know in this current school year. So our ultimate goal is to make sure that we are empowering our parents in order to be advocates, advocates for their children. So our first Kickoff was about discipline of the school. The first week was discipline, the school code of conduct. And we had the person that is directly over in our district, which is Mike Rowan. We could not pick to have had a better person to speak to the, um, um, the student code of conduct, along with him, giving details as to the chain of command and protocol on how to reach out in the event that you're not getting what you need to support your child at a specific school site. So again, that's definitely one to go back and look at. Then in week two, we had about.
What was it? Meetings. Yes, the different types of meetings. And for that person, we had the individual that is a part of the PTA for youth with disabilities. I cannot remember the name. I think it's called septa, but don't quote me on it, but I think it is. And he was able to speak to the various types of meetings that a parent can enter and understand how to navigate without feeling so intimidated by the process, especially for those parents that are full, that have children with disabilities. And it's very important that the community understand that as well on how to. How parents or encourage parents on how to support their children with disabilities. And then for week three, we had.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Week three was all about our 504.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: No, that's correct, 504 and IEPs. And again, that. That was a plethora of information I think we blend into. Denise. One was about me. It's 504 IEPs. Then we had either way go. Then we had Esau, Ell.
And then we also. And that was also by one of the directors for De La Prida, which is the director for the es, the ESAU program. So again, it's coming directly from those that have the impact, creating the strategies, training the teachers and so on and so forth. And then for another set of meetings. That's what it was, parent meetings. Not just the 504 IEPs. That's the one that was covered under SEPTA. For week two we had Mr. Wilson, which has been in our community for decades, where he served in principalship and in educator positions throughout our district. His last principalship was at Piso Elementary. Prior to that was Carter G.
Was it Carter G. Wilson? And came through eight. And again, he did an excellent job in both of those roles. And now he's serving as a regional superintendent in our district. He served as replacement for Dr. Gray's absence because he had overbooked. And you know, we understand that, but we definitely had someone from the district be capable once again to Provide that information directly on how to advocate and, you know, serve your children. So there's, we want to make sure that we're able to remove that barrier of saying, I didn't know, I don't understand, understand. What do I do? So that's why we do. We're doing the parent code workshops. We're going to take the month of October off. Then we'll be back in November to provide our next series of parent codes. Because what we need you all to understand right now, parents, and this is a great segue forward, we're in week five, right. We're halfway through the quarter.
So there are several things that should have happened by now. One being you should have checked the book bags and the grades. Yes, that, that's, that's, that's, that's two. I said one, but it's two. It's two. The book bags weekly, the grades at least once a week.
Because again, it can be a lot. And remember, we have a new platform which is focus for the parents as well. So again, there have been some kinks, but I will say that focus is better than synergy. I will, I will say that. So again, we must do our due diligence. Canvas, canvas, canvas. Again, parents, if the grades aren't there again, you can also email the teachers in that software to find out, hey, did you upload grades yet? Because my child saying they're not there yet. Or is it, hey, your child haven't turned in anything. We've been saying, I'm gonna do it. I'm going, I'm gonna do it. And then they, you've been giving them grace and then at some point all them zeros gonna fly in there. And the comparison could be like, well, I didn't know, but they also didn't ask. So we're giving you let. Listen, we got to do our part. So, parents, we are informal parent coaching at this point since we can look and look, I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna leave it alone.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: I'm.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: If we had as many experts in all the other careers as we do for educators or anything in the educator field, I'll be damn if we wouldn't have the smartest children. And yes, everybody in, in this doggone world. Because imagine me trying to tell a physician what to do all the time. The police, what to do all the time. Aeronautical, the flight attendant, the, the man that's selling the ship, the hard sir. Imagine me always got input on what they do, but I've never done what they're doing.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Shut up. Shut up.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Hush your mouth.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: I will jump in.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: It's exhausting.
Come on. Like, give. Give it a break at some point. Give it a break. And I did provide on my page anyone that's currently interested in serving and a capacity to understand more of what you think. You know, I did put the link on my page for Kelly's services. You are welcome to substitute. And you can choose the days that you're available, and that could be very well on your off days. So you could get a better insight from the inside versus looking from on the outside in. Because, you know, back in the days they used to have. When they were practicing medicine to a degree of. When they had the. The. The. The. The physician down at the bottom of the.
Of the dome, and then all the people that was. The doctors would be around looking down at the dome practitioners or preparing to become doctors because they were students. The key thing is they were practicing, getting prepared to do everything medicine.
We need y' all to stop practicing with us. Right? Stop.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Leave alone. Leave alone.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: No, I want to jump in. Okay, you done? I wanted to jump in real quick when you were saying about being able parents. There are so many platforms that's available there for you. We need you to also understand something else, okay? When your child says, I wasn't in school, I need you to understand something. Come walk with us into the digital world. We are now in a digital world. That excuse doesn't fly anymore because again, the blue collar jobs are getting ready to phase up because AI taking over. So your child, your child need to understand that I wasn't here is not the excuse. I'm gonna drop them zeros like a hot potato, because guess what? That work was in the system for weeks, and they chose to ignore it. Or they kept coming to say, well, I.
No, you can go back and get it done. But the problem is, it's a window is only so long, therefore it's gonna close. And we can't go back nine weeks to open up all your missing assignments. We're not doing that. Okay? It's there. That's why it's important. Again, what April said, check, go check everything go online. So as you go on Instagram daily, as you go on Facebook daily, as you go on daily, you should be checking that canvas daily the same way with the same energy that you do to go look up them fights. Because I'd be looking at the Waffle House fight page too. And I just want to let you know the quality of fights in Waffle House anyway. But Just like you check those pages, please also check your child grades. Please go check your child.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: And you made a very valid point, a very valid point. So what I do is to try to keep up with all of it. Because again, I also have a job with an S jobs to keep up with these children's grades. Because it can be a lot.
I have put in my phone and on that child's phone and everyone around here know on Wednesdays after school, what do we do?
Grades. We're all looking at grades. I don't care if they bad grades, good grades, no grades. The grades. Some grades. We're all looking at the grades. Yes, because again, I can't hold this kid accountable if I don't know why the grades haven't been uploaded for some time. And yes, I get it. I was just again, I'm not too far from the classroom. Just came out of October. I was very big on allowing children to make up things.
But I also went that extra step when they told me they was gonna make it up and they didn't make it up. I used to go snatch them from lunch. And now we're gonna do a lunch and learn because you gonna make it up. Cause you said you was gonna do it. So I'm gonna help you adhere to your word.
Now, when you have a child that's missing at least two to three days a week, those gaps get so big I can't keep up. So then at that point again go to extra step, pull four to five questions that I'm going to give you some verbal with some request, require you to sit down and show me you can demonstrate you could do the show me the steps to do it or the algorithm. Then we gonna move on because again, I can't get caught up in the days that you're absent me personally when you're not responsible for your attendance. Now if I didn't call mom and daddy, say you just won't come, hey, now that's a different story. But when you're out and parents say, oh, they had to watch the baby, they have a ride, the clothes weren't clean and we had to live with auntie and them and the lights, that those are beyond the scope of the child's responsibility.
So again, parents put the app on your phone, put them on your phone like we got Tick tock, Snapchat. Is Snapchat even a thing anymore?
[00:13:51] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: I don't even know.
X, X, Facebook, Instagram. Add that out in between right there between them so you can slip up sometimes and click it even if you don't intend to.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: Yes. And speaking of which, I am so. Oh, I've missed. Completely missed. And there is. Parents just want to let you know there is a communication app that is the kids are actually using on through Hillsborough County.
And remember here, let me just give you a little insight. We have a, I think it's called Lightspeed. We have a, an application as well that we can look at the kids screen while they're online. Because you know, keep in mind like me doing a test and they over here playing games. We can see it now. I took a screenshot. Oh, I don't know what is. But I, I. There is something that they're using now, right. It's an actual communication device. And it's like they, they think that the teachers can't. There it is. They think that the teachers can't see it, but they're actually communicating entire messages to other classrooms. Other. You know, it's, it's wild and, and, and it looks, what it looks like is a series of code, but it really isn't code. It may look sometimes like a string of numbers, like math. It's not that. It's actually. I had to stop for a second to read through and realize they were talking about fighting. I was like, wow, okay, so it's on there. They have, they are doing it in school. So just pay attention. You need to really pay attention. Because if it's on, if we could see it through school, you can see, probably see it on the phones too. Okay, so just really pay attention to that. And, and that actually then April is a segue into the behavior. Let's, let's talk about that.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Okay, so we re. We, let's, let's just do some.
What I say, let's reflect back on this time last year.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: This time last year we had been hit by not one but those hurricanes. Am I correct?
So children were very attentive to their current circumstances. Many of them were out of power for several days, months, weeks, I'm saying weeks and months. Some of them were, you know, didn't have stability in their living arrangements on top of the barriers that they all were already were experiences within their families. So therefore you didn't see a lot of, I will say excessive fighting behavior situations for some time. So probably it didn't pick up, I know at our school site to probably like about January, February. So you start getting a little bit more of the behaviors. But right now, that window of cleansing that we got from the hurricanes, it didn't happen.
So right now, they are in full effect of the. The anger is there, the rage is there. They. They ready to just scrap. And it ain't regular fighting. You all. I don't care what nobody say this. This type of fighting that our children are engaging is just rage. I don't. I don't even know how to explain it.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: It's rage.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Remember, you could talk crap a little bit. I do this to you, I'll do that to you. Push and shove and kind of move on to give adults time enough to kind of break it up. No, they go from, I'm gonna hit you. And then the person is hit, Bop, scratch, pulled down to the ground, kick, drug. All of that is happening. Those are real things. And then you have where some parents will be vocal and going to the school to say, yes, I want to do the press. What is the press charges.
They will follow through with that and rightfully so. If a child is being attacked now, mutual fighting is different, but an attack and a child is not fighting back and so on and so forth. Please press all the way through. Press. And that might save that other child's life at some point because they continue to be able to get away with doing things as such, eventually it's going to land them in one or two places. Let's just be transparent. In a prison for an excessive amount of time for taking somebody's life or in a grave for someone responding for them constantly being the bully. Correct. Let's just be honest.
So I will say this. Parents, we got to do our parts. Educators, we have to do our parts in the classrooms. Because when we see these things manifested, we have to intervene. We can't allow them to just sit and talk about something to where it turns into. Now I'm so mad I have to defend myself physically because I could not take the verbal attacks. That's what our kids can't do anymore. They can't take the verbal.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: They can't.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: They can't handle it. The verbal turns them into just, I got to put my hands on you. And we know as adults we feel that way sometimes and we have a little bit more tolerance. Our children, they don't have it. The lack of emotional intelligence. So let's just. Parents, do your part. Talk to your kids. Bullying is not okay. It never will be. Check the phones. Check the damn phones. Check the damn phones. Today.
All up in the phones. The business, they have no privacy. And if they do, for what right? You pay the phone bill. I think if we start holding, you know, Some accountability to. If you paying the bill and there's bullying and all that happened on the bill, let's go tap on your shoulder and say, hey, hey. Yeah, hey, hey.
Because they're.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Because they're doing it in other places like they. Like in other states. You see in them. I remember, remember.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Against the people of color now. But they doing it doing in all these places where now if your child fight, if your child, you know, vandalize the classroom, well, then you got to go to jail too, because guess what? You're raising that person to be that way. And now we do understand circumstances do happen, okay? We understand the frustration, okay? We've lost our housing. We are living now, we used to live in. I had my own bedroom. Now I gotta stay with my eight cousins. I mean, we understand that, but we also need to understand, okay, we got to learn to work it out in such a way. Take advantage of the resources that are available to you, all right? That can help you help your child process these emotions. But you can't let this behavior go on. And remember, they're kids whose parents are like, I don't want this for my child.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Right? Nobody wants that for their child. Right?
[00:19:55] Speaker B: They don't want their child to be abused. They don't want their child to be. And then as a teacher, okay, okay, first question is always, what did the teacher do? Well, first of all, if we've been saying since the beginning of the school day or the beginning of school year, walk on the right side, keep your hands to yourself, don't hit anybody. Stop running down the hall with it. How many times do I have to say this to your child for your child not to actually get it? So your child is choosing not to follow these rules. They making a conscientious choice not to do it. So now my hands are tight. I can't put my hand on that child and say, stop hitting this other child.
So parents, I. I get it. When they make these laws or these past. These. These laws and say, listen, if your child continue to be the aggressor, you should be locked up too.
Maybe then you'll learn or. Or these fines or whatever, you lose. Whatever. Something has to happen to where you. You understand. Both you and your child understand that this is not okay. This is not the right thing for you to do. This is wrong. This behavior is wrong. Which leads us to. Hold on one second. That's. This leads us to. Oh, one quick one.
Going back to attendance real quick. Parents, if your child has. Is no longer attending the School, please withdraw the child from the school because they keep showing up on the roster and they keep showing up as present. We have to mark them absent every day. If they're enrolled in another school, they enroll in the charter school. You homeschooling them, call the school and please unenroll your child. This is just an aside. But anyway, going back to that with this bullying leads us directly to suicides of children. So I want April to talk a little bit about the things that we're finding out about young people.
Young people are being bullied to the point where they. This is a option that they is truly considering for themselves. And we. It shouldn't be a world that you live in where you consider suicide to be the only option so that you can get relief from being bullied. So go ahead and talk about it for a minute.
[00:21:44] Speaker A: So we're just gonna kind of, you know, peruse with this topic, really not delve down too much because it's sensitive in our county right now because you got a lot going on. There's a lot of things that sensitive, but this is one of them. I will say this.
Suicide has always been one of the leading cause of death for minority children. We just don't talk about it a lot within our communities. And it's time. It's all, it's. We're behind time with having those conversations. So I just will remind families that it's important to pay attention to the signs. And sometimes there aren't any. And in most cases, families that have had to embrace that as something that has occurred in their families, they look back and say, I do recall that. I do recall this and I should have and I could have and I would have. And we remind families that it's not your fault. It's not, it's not.
But again, being a little bit more in tune to what our children are doing, sometimes we could catch some of those things. So I will remind families here and throughout, you know, whoever's looking at this, that, you know, you have various suicide prevention programs, kids that are going through variations of mental health that may not have necessarily been been diagnosed yet and should be diagnosed. But again, sometimes some will never go without being someone going, never be diagnosed. The key thing is support the national alliance on Mental Illness, nami. There are a plethora of resources on that website, along with support groups that happen virtually and in person.
Nami Hillsboro is, and any NAMI is not a actual mental health agency. We are resource based, we are support groups. We are capable of making recommendations on how to seek out supports. And then you also have.
The CDC provides a lot of data and resources as it relates to the prevention. But I will say this. It's increasing in the rate at which individuals are taking their own lives.
And again, we, our children, minority children, still serve as the leading in that area.
So again, we have to just be intentional and show our kids that it's okay to not be okay. And I think we keep missing that. It's okay not to be okay. It's okay for you to feel like you're losing it. And now this loose term that's being, you know, spewed out and, you know, adults are doing it. So I just pay attention to it lately.
Once the kids are saying crash out.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Crashing out, they're crashing, that is.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: And if you identify what crashing does, in most cases, any type of crash leads to and no longer being able to function in its capacity.
If we look at a crash, in most cases, crash lead to death or some type of lethal type, some type of injury. We don't want our children crashing out.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: Right?
[00:25:08] Speaker A: So we need to remove that vocabulary and that thought process because you will hear them talk themselves through it, saying, I'm crashing out. I'm gonna crash out and cra. I mean, my God, what are we doing?
So again, it's all, look, look, death is in the power of the tongue. They are coaching themselves on crashing.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. And, and they, you have to continue to speak life into children. You have to, you have to encourage them to speak. But like, you know, I'll notice when, when they're getting ready to take a test or something, they say, I'm gonna fail this. Well, wait, you have put in your mouth right out into the atmosphere and you've given it to the, to the heavens and telling them that you're going to fail. That's, that's not the, that's not the mentality that you're supposed to be coming out with. You're going to come, come in here and always think that you're going to be, do well. You're always going to be successful, you are going to progress, you're going to move forward and then say if nobody else said that to you for the day, you have to say that to yourself. Encourage yourself. So I know for a fact, I'm going to tell you that when you walk in here, because this, this is the place for learning. This is, this, this is the environment that I create in my room. But I said, but I want to make sure that you know, you, you're Constantly speaking to them. Remember, think about how negative it is. Imagine if they have to go, they get up two hours before school and. And no one has said anything positive, from the bus driver to the worker to the. To anybody. And then the first person that speaks something positive to them might just be you, whether you either the teacher or just maybe the first. They may see the principal for whoever they see first. You got to push that into their mind every single day. Because they always talk down. I cannot believe how. How negatively they talk to them. So even when you're calling them to just tell them something positive. What I did. Now, wait a minute.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: No, no, no.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Just because I'm calling you don't mean you did something wrong. I'm gonna be calling you to tell you, hey, you look sharp today. Like you should.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: Right?
[00:26:54] Speaker B: The haircut fresh. Yeah. Listen, I like how they tip that hair. That inspired me to get a little color.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: Okay.
Okay.
[00:27:00] Speaker B: It could be something, but they usually respond with a negative response. So try to pour into your TR and pour into that into them that positivity, because that is so important. I'm telling you, they will thrive with more positive things that they hear and see every single day.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: So I'll just finish off with saying this. And this came from the. Where the. Came from the CDC. It says from 2007 to 2020. And you know, sometimes that data collection could be a little gappy. I'm pretty sure it's a little bit more update. But this is what I have in front of me right now. It says that the suicide raise rate rose 144among 10among children ages 10 to 17 years old who were black.
Process that alone and do what it would do. What do with it? You. What you do with it.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: What you will.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: What you will.
Which lets you know, we have to be intentional. We have to be intentional. And not talking about it will not make it go away. Right. It will not make it go away. We cannot be concerned with or to make copycats. Well, there's so many things I could say to that, but I'm not gonna. I create.
I act like I'm an expert in that field, so I'll leave it alone. But there are so many things that they're copycatting that this would be something that I. I do believe that it's worth mentioning to say, you have purpose, you have value. You should never come to a point to where you want to commit suicide or kill yourselves. You just should not do that. And my pastor made. I'm. Leave it alone. My pastor Said we have even went so far to make up a word in order to, I guess. How do you say it? Long story short. Unalive. Unalive.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: It's not. It's not a word. We have to speak directly to the issue. Yeah, it took the issue and I refer to it as the demon. We have to speak directly to it. And again, not talking about it does not make it go away and will move forward. So, again, families, there are resources out there.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yes, I absolutely agree.
And, well, speaking of resource, do we have our calendar up that we can share with parents so they can know about things that are coming up? I know for us at our school, we do have conference night this week.
So it's important, parents, if you can make it. We do understand there are four major conferences every school year and they're in every single quarter.
So that's important that we have that information is out there to you. And remember, always go back to the. To the school district Hillsborough county website, because that's where you'll get your plethora of resources. A lot of questions that you're asking. That information is up there. I don't know if we have it available to put up, but definitely want to check out that school calendar and I believe we'll just drop it on our page as well. Right.
So again, we're still in the first quarter, which means progress reports should have gone up by now as well, which lets us. So if your child said they didn't get a progress report, they did. Okay?
That's first and foremost. So that lets you know. And let me. Let me say this about the progress report real quick. This is progress, okay? Progress means it can be changing. It's a flexible, fluid document. Let's just say that. So your child may actually have received that progress report, say the Wednesday or Thursday, whatever like that. Right. It may have been an F on Wednesday when you go in canvas on Friday morning.
Look at God. Friday morning, your grade rose up. Okay, so. So it could be when your child come to school losing their mind.
You gave me an F course. First of all, I've never given an F a day in my life. I've given you the grade that you have earned or what you work towards. So look carefully. The progress reports are out. And I try to explain to kids that it's just a snapshot of what your grade was at that very moment that it was printed. It isn't what your grade is going to be because remember, we still got a few weeks left in the quarter. So Therefore, they have time to pull that grade up, they have time to maintain that grade if it's an A or B, a passing grade, and they have time to turn that work in. So please again run it. We're going to run it back to the beginning of the conversation when we started. Check the book bag because the progress report's sitting in there or it may have been thrown away. It might be on the bus. We don't know. But we do know the children have received the progress report and they should know what their grade is at this very moment and then go back to canvas and check again as well. So again, like I said, the calendars are available there for you. Please go ahead and get that. This leads us to because when kids need extra help with work, we let's talk for a moment about the programs or lack thereof of quality after school programs that can help our kids while they are waiting to go home. So let's talk about that.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: So all I need to talk about is that there needs to be equity in the after school programs.
And that goes to the fact that the programs that are housed in our Hillsborough County Public schools host, you got some Boys and Girls Clubs, you have some other programs as well that they do not have the capacity to be able to meet the needs of students with disabilities. And primarily it's going to be your ones with ad, adhd, od, so on and so forth, so forth, the ones that are more behavioral and even with some kids with autism. So I will say this any event that we're supposed to be providing services to all students.
However, there is no direct differentiation for youth to have disabilities as it relates to being in these programs. The kids are allowed to pay the registration fee, paid a couple of weeks or whatever it may be to be in the program.
They get their three strikes of behavior, whatever it may be, and then they're kicked out.
So the question become how is it that they can be in school all day and have accommodations and you know, their needs are being met, but then they're put in the after school program where they're paying money, keywords, and then they go through the, I guess you could say, process of just knowing that they're going to be kicked out. That has to change because again, parents of kids with disabilities work too, and they're diagnosed. We're not just talking about behaviors, children that are diagnosed. So therefore we got to look at that from a lens of what do we do? I mean, is that discrimination in your eyes?
I mean, to me it's like what Are we doing? Because if they have, they need a break, they need to have a smaller student ratio, they need to be able to have, you know, de escalate, you know, all of those things. If they have that in a normal school day, how do we expect that to just be oh, after school program housed here on our district campuses expected to be a program that's utilized by all students.
But if their behaviors don't line up to meet the same behaviors as their peers, bye, we'll take your money for a little bit then. Goodbye. Yep, that's not good.
So that definitely has become my concern because yeah, everybody don't fit in that box.
So we have to open up the box and do something different.
Otherwise I question, I question it.
The equity in it.
So that's all I have to say about that. So I will begin chipping away with at that sooner than later.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: And that's what we're all about.
[00:34:22] Speaker A: Equity, equity.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Not just that diversity, we, but equity.
We got to make a level of playing field.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Snatch it up, snatch it.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: There you go. I mean we just have to have to make sure that it is equitable for all of our children.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: All. Keyword, all children. Not all children during the school day, not all children until it's time to get on the bus and go home. Not all.
It got to be all children because if the program is available to all children and it's housed on the Hillsborough county public school campus, then it has to be accessible and realistic for all children.
That's the bottom line. So I want to know how we're going to be able to get that accomplished otherwise no children should have it.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Correct. And then parents gonna want to know, well, where am I going to put these children at the end of the day? I mean, because parents, parents that work.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: I mean, you know, you know it's.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: Hard because especially when the window is, is short. Like say look, look at, look at the, the life cycle of Ferritin, right? Your child go to elementary school for a certain window of time. They go to middle school, the hours change. They go to high school, the hours change. Yeah, I mean you, you, you, you are really trying to be as flexible. You, you, you have to mold yourself into whatever you need to do to and, and take advantage of the programs that are going to help your child as best you can. But you know, the programs truly have to do what help your child. Is it. That's. We can't say it in any other way. They must be helping your child.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: And then. Okay, let me, I want to Go back once again, I know, April, we do ask. There's somebody always ask that question. We're gonna run back just a couple weeks ago when we talked about it when school started, people are still asking about these constant testing of the kids. Right now we go, we, we, we. We don't want to be the dead horse, but we're gonna say it to y' all one more time, right?
We have to know where they are in order to. To teach them. You know what they need? There are some kids that will come in, excuse me. And they. They are at the top of their game, right? Then there's others that are just like, whoa, way down. So we need to know what standards, what benchmarks, all these things. We have to be able to teach the kids. So that's why there's testing. I mean, and for us, what I did, did like about that. I ready is like, you, you could you test every, what, two or three weeks and you're able to see now.
Oh man, we made some progress. We made some progress. That's important. I mean, I know we're not teaching specifically to a particular test or anything like that, but it's like just knowing, okay, can I. Can I get the kids what they need? These things that they need to know in order to move to the next grade level. Okay?
The way it is, it's stacked on one on top of the other. Okay? Things skills I learned in sixth grade. I should be able to carry them into seventh and I'm going to carry them get into eighth grade. So that's important why there's testing. I mean, if I. If we didn't do it, you know, we just did. But also, I think it's important, I mean, to you, I really sat down and thought about my life, right?
No, for real though, me coming up in school, I. We had the end of the year test.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: End of the year test, man, we had made.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: Y' all didn't have a mid time by high school. By high school, we had met the mid. The midterm, mid semester, right? But here's the thing, right?
We had zero distractions. We had. There was no Internet, there was no cell phone.
So it makes sense that you'd only test twice a year at most. Because we could retain information. There was nothing else going in our head to pull the information away from us. Here, the kid. What if the kid learns something in class right now in five minutes is gone because he keeps processing everything else. He got Naruto and Goku and all. Then he got Fortnite on One side, Roblox over here, he got all this stuff in the brain that is like taking them away from education. So it makes sense that we would need to do. Do just more testing just, just to really make sure that they. To ensure that they have got the concepts that we have taught. And then you factor in and thank God for right now, Lord. Keep fingers crossed. No hurricane. But factor in the fact that, you know, storms are coming.
[00:38:24] Speaker A: No, they're not.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: They're not. Okay. And, and, and, and what are we talking about?
Holidays are coming up, days off. Those days are killers, I'm telling you. Because then, then you, you really worry about the retention when they're off. Okay. Or out of school.
So just keep in mind, you know, it's not.
Yeah, I know sometimes we, you know, I may disagree with, with testing from time to time, but I begin to understand why.
Because of the fact that, man, yeah, like I said, I thought about my own life. Like, I understand why I was able to retain so much more because I. 1. I read more. You know, let me get me, Let me get on my horse again. Okay?
[00:39:02] Speaker A: Reading more.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: You got to read and read. And I can't stress enough how much you need to be reading. Your children should be reading at least an hour a day. They got to read because if they're not reading, they're not get. They're not strengthening what they need to have in order to be successful in other classes. So I can't. I'll keep on saying it. I'll keep on saying to the day I die, they got to be reading. And let me come off of my thing real quick. I got a question about for y', all being that we are now in Hispanic Heritage Month, Right?
Here's my question. Okay? We see, we see the direction our country going in. We ain't putting no comments or nothing like that. We just always saying as we see in the direction of going, how is your school and is your school celebrating with your Hispanic kids? Are they celebrating with them? Are they. They acknowledging that they do exist?
Do they. Are they putting out blessing, putting out material? Are they making it a welcoming environment for the children? I mean, in my classroom, I have every flag from every country in there. And the kids were. Had the opportunity to not only identify their.
Their particular country, they put their. They put their favorite foods underneath it, and they put down maybe a couple cultural events of significance from their particular country. So now I know where Carnival is all over the Caribbean.
Okay, but.
Yeah, okay, so they, they, they have done that, but that gives them Also a sense of belonging.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: A sense of, you know, they know that this space right here is a welcoming space. Okay. Wow. My teacher respects the fact that I am here and they see me. That's another thing, too.
To be able to be seen. You want to be able to be seen in school. Okay. And not, not in a bad way, but just to recognize the fact that, hey, yes, I do understand, or I want to learn more about who you are in your culture. Okay. And that's important because all of us make up this country. I got, you know, I just, just. That's all I got. Throw out there. Okay.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: And I will add to the Hispanic Heritage Month. That again, like Denise said, we're very intentional at our school site to make sure that we celebrate it big because I believe we have 40, 46% of our student population is Hispanic. So we must be intentional about that. Very much so. Because of the current climate of the world today, we must be intentional. We must let them understand that we care. We understand, we don't. We cannot.
I cannot imagine the constant unknown when it comes to being in a country where this is where you were born in, you know what I'm saying? And just the possibility of political indifferences by the adults, the big people that's making all the decisions, that it could very well impact me in a negative way. So, you know, I give kudos to, you know, our Spanish teacher on site, Ms. Quay, because, you know, we are, you know, going through a charade of various activities that we'll be doing these upcoming weeks, along with our conference night that we have our Hispanic Heritage dinner for our teachers. So again, music. We have the music going. I mean, it's, it's all. I mean, at certain points of the day, like, oh, I'm at work. Let me. Let me stop dancing to the look. So again, and the kids, you should see the smiles on their face when they hear the music, you know, from their countries. And I mean, I. I love it. I always have and, you know, nothing like music to bring about.
And this one here, she love all things music with extra parts of beats. She'll find. Look, it don't matter what that look.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Hey, she'll see a holiday.
It is true, because it's just. It's just. It's wonderful. Okay. It's wonderful. So just, yeah. Embrace our kids, you know, and they all, like, they all want to feel loved too. And remember, they. They spent. Just keep in mind, they spend hours at school, think about how long. Including I'm. Including the bus ride.
[00:43:11] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: I'M including, I'm including the time that they spend. They spend. They eat breakfast and lunch at school. All right? And then they got to go back home. I mean, so imagine that's hours of your life you spend at school. This is the place that you want to feel welcome and, and you want to enjoy being, being in school. Okay? So just, just keep all that in mind. And so we just want, we want to know, just reached out to you all. Just tell us how you. How your school is celebrating their Hispanic Heritage Month as well. And just also to just see how all the other events are being celebrated as well. So we just, we're just excited about the one at our school and we're just happy to say that. Anything else, friend?
[00:43:46] Speaker A: That's all I had on that.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: That's all we have. And we, what we want you to do is just stay up, stay blessed, have a wonderful, wonderful the rest of your Sunday. I'm mad that Dallas loses. Anyway.
I'm sitting here watching the thing. I'm like, anyway, I, I just gotta just let it go. Just let it go. It's gonna be all right. But, but we just wanted to let you know we will be back again on the third Sunday of October and with. With more information. We're bringing to you as much as we can. Again, please feel free to reach out to us. We are available online. We are in @sunshine education coalition.org sunshine well, just look for us at Sunshine Education Coalition. We're on Facebook, on Instagram, but definitely we want you to go back and look at everything that we have posted this past couple weeks about the parent code. There is so much information for you. All we are here to do is serve the community and give you as much information as we can.
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Anything else, that's it. There will be more information posted on our page about, you know, various activities and resources that are being hosted in the community that we will find that we find that parents can be useful to them as it relates to supporting their scholars. So again, start heading over to the page again. If we don't have the answer, we definitely will find someone that does. And if we don't have the answer, we can't find someone that does. We'll literally say that I can't help you.
And that's unfortunate. But again, I don't think we've come across that yet.
So again, we want to thank Bianca Goosby with Teacher for the Culture for hosting our diversity and equity existence here on Facebook. And, you know, just, just stay tuned, guys, because I definitely feel like the parent code is going to evolve to a podcast.
So again, stay tuned, stay tuned, stay tuned. More things to come. But as for now, we want y' all have a great week. Check the grades and the book bag and the phones.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: And if you do those three things, our hearts will smile. Have a great week and until next time, bye.
