Eloquent testimony from Karen Zaccor on Noble Street.
This is Karen Zaccor’s testimony at the recent almost-under-the-radar hearing for the Noble Street insertion into Buena Park.
Testimony in opposition to the relocation of a Noble St. high school to the 46th Ward
Children learn what they live. At my school, Uplift, like many neighborhood high school, our children learn that they are important whether they are the most successful student or the least, whether they are the best behaved student or the worst. In our schools we strive to educate every single child to the best of our ability. In our schools, we understand that too many students are struggling with devastating life challenges and act out at times when they are overwhelmed by events like a sibling being shot or the toll of being homeless, and we look for ways to support those students despite the loss of resources that could help with that.
In our schools, we strive to give our students a voice in what happens in school. We want them to be active participants in our democratic society so we want them to practice what that means in school. We want them to learn that they should always stand up against oppression wherever they see it. We teach them not to just accept what they are told, but to investigate and demand evidence, knowing that the path of unquestioning obedience to authority has led to all manner of evils throughout history in our country and elsewhere.
Children learn what they live. At Noble Street charter schools, children learn that they are not all important, that they only matter if they are going to contribute to better statistics for the school, that if they are not successful or not well behaved, they should find another school. They learn that it does not matter if they are dealing with traumas so extreme they would weigh adults down—that will not be accepted as an excuse for a less than perfect performance. A full one-third of its students leave Eloquent testimony from Karen Zaccor on Noble Street. | Fred Klonsky:
