El Rincon. My home away from home, the elementary school that both my son and grandson attended. The site of my first job with the district in 1996. A place that holds fond memories for me and a school with infinite possibilities just waiting patiently to come to fruition.
El Rincon is a school aching to reach its full
potential. Unfortunately, it faces
challenges that are difficult to overcome in today’s fiscal climate. When people tell you that it’s not about the
money or that money doesn’t buy happiness, you want to believe that. But, the reality is that it is about the money and that those
schools with less cannot offer their students the same goods, services and
opportunities that other schools in the district enjoy.
El Rincon has amazing teachers and support
staff. We are all deeply invested in our
school and our students. It is true that
we have had a frequent turnover in principals—three in three years. We now have a principal, Reginald Brunson,
who is as invested in our school as we have always been and under his
leadership, we are beginning to realize some of our potential.
Of course, there are still challenges. While we were
fortunate to be the recipient school of grant monies that allowed us to create
a state-of-the-art Science Lab, we soon realized that in order to utilize it to
its full extent, we needed to have an aide in the lab during the school
day. It was difficult for the teacher to
be responsible for the set up of the experiment, the execution of the
experiment, the breakdown and clean-up of the experiment during lab time
without help. With a limited block of time in which to accomplish all of these
things, we worried that our students weren’t getting the maximum benefit of
their time in the lab. Of course the solution would be an aide in the lab, but
the problem that remains is how to fund it.
We have had full day kindergarten for years and in
the beginning it was decided that in order to make full day instruction a
success, an aide would be needed in those classrooms for at least half of the
day. For awhile, that was what was
happening and it was working. Not that
full day kindergarten wasn’t a challenge for our teachers in other ways—the
children, even those with preschool experience, grew tired easily and had
trouble focusing on their work. Having
an aide in the room helped.
Then we faced another major challenge.
A parent raised the issue of how those aides were
being paid, and it turned out that since they were being paid for with Targeted
Title I funds they could not stay in the kindergarten classrooms. They could only be used to work with our
Targeted Title I students in grades 2 through 5, since students are identified
as being qualified due to their state test scores and testing doesn’t begin
until 2nd grade. The result
was that the three aides paid for through Title I funding would be taken away
from kindergarten entirely, which left a single aide (who was paid through
School Improvement funds) to be shared by our three kindergarten teachers. The Title I funded aides would split their
time working with targeted students in our other classrooms. It was a
heartbreaking blow to the kindergarten students as well as their teachers, but
much to the teachers’ credit, they rose to the occasion, as difficult as it
was, came to terms with the result of a state guideline that had to be
observed, and still enriched their students’ lives.
The other challenge we face is the community’s
perception of our school. To some, we are CCUSD's “African-American” school, to
some we are the “permit” school, to some we are the elementary school with the most
suspensions or the one with the kids that have behavior issues and to some we may now be a
Title I school, as opposed to a Targeted Title I school.
But to us, the people who work at El Rincon and who
give our all every day to do what’s best for our students and families, it is
home. We embrace our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focus and
strive to make each new school year better than the last. Our PTA is working
hard to fundraise for us, even though they are still working through their own
financial crisis, and while we do not have a booster club right now, we hope to
in the future.
Yet, we persevere because while we may not be a
school with money, we are a school with heart.
Debbie Hamme is a Staff Writer for the Culver City Progress Blog, the President of the Culver City Association of Classified Employees, and the Secretary at El Rincon Elementary School.
Thank you for sharing your poignant article. El Rincon is the local school for my family and, if I had children of the right age, I would not hesitate sending them to El Rincon.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child, my home school was Stoner Avenue Elementary, where many of the children came from the housing projects across the street. As children, we were all equals; I was not aware of our racial, ethnic, cultural or income differences. It was part of my education and contributed to who I am today. In those days, people did not send their children to private schools or get wait-listed for a chance to attend a “better” school. If people don’t “opt out” of Culver City’s neighborhood schools for all the wrong reasons, everyone will benefit.
El Rincon is the “Little School That Could.”
I agree 100%.
DeleteMy brother and I attended El Rincon from kindergarten through grade 6. It was a great experience, filled with wonderful memories (except for one girl who bullied me, broke my glasses and pushed my Nana... but I am almost over that....). My two kids attended El Rincon as well, when the Spanish Immersion Program was housed there, and I was a teacher there for a few years. The Spanish Immersion Program would still be there if it had been up to the teachers, the principal and the district. The ER parents, however, did not want the Immersion program on their campus, so we were forced to move our program to another site. I miss my colleagues at ER, and am happy that the current staff loves the school as much as I have always loved it. rsergant
ReplyDeleteI guess parents do not always know what is best for the children; the village also includes teachers and administrators.
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