No Parents at Homecoming

As many might have guessed, there were NO parents at the Richmond Homecoming. What a sad state of affairs and quite possibly it is what strikes at the heart of the issue in Richmond overall. Where I am, teachers have to have random drawings to choose parents to attend trips and assemblies as "too many" ask to attend.

From the Contra Costa Times article: "Richmond High struggles perennially to engage its families, most of them residents of diverse but poor flatland neighborhoods in San Pablo, unincorporated North Richmond and parts of Central Richmond. Three years ago, a principal even tried a doorbell campaign. It remains difficult to sustain parental commitment, Franco admitted."

Knowing the above, and knowing what was further stated in the Times article about parents and their problems with younger children at home, why doesn't the school play a more active role in TRYING to get parents out. For example, why not stagger the homecomings in the same town for different nights and ask for older student volunteers of the "other school" to babysit for parents (with adult supervision), so that they can volunteer - perhaps an onsite classroom can be set up with movies , popcorn and other activities for children. That is just one of many solutions I could see being offered. Provide solutions to the "excuses" and MAYBE you'll get more involvement. (Of course, I could be completely underestimating this community and perhaps even with solutions, they'll choose not to participate.)

So thinking of everything that went wrong in Richmond (no parents, minimal supervision, police not patrolling perimeters, no checks on non students, and seemingly no hard and fast rules about coming and going), with what happened in Pleasant Hill at College Park's Homecoming:

(again from the Times) "Such high schools as Concord and College Park call the parents of students who don't show up for a dance for which they purchased tickets. No students may leave until the dance ends without calling their parents. Those who walk to their cars in the parking lot are escorted."

So perhaps, the easiest solution for now in Richmond, is that without parent commitment and involvement in a safe school environment, dances and events like this must cease - if only for student safety. What a sad state of affairs, don't you think? I hope this was a wake up call for parents everywhere. The schools can't do it all. Though I do still place some blame on the school for this one. If they had inadequate supervision, and had no intention of monitoring students coming and going, and didn't communicate with security their expectations of perimeter patrols - then just stop until you get your act together.

What happened in Richmond should never have happened, may never have happened, if the proper safety protocol was in place. And no I don't blame the behavior of those guilty parties on the school - but it was a perfect storm of opportunity that night. An opportunity that could've been lessened or eliminated had a few more safety measures been taken. El Cerrito seems to be on the right track:

"Cameras and gates will not solve the problem. You've got to have a parent presence. You can't expect a bankrupt district to have the people to send. We have to be the people," said Michele Jawad, a longtime parent volunteer in El Cerrito schools and a member of the school district's safety committee."

"We just have to have more parents, grandparents, retired people, neighbors involved. They have to step up for the kids. There's no excuse. If kids don't have parents (available), then others should be willing to step in," Jawad said. "The days of sending kids to school and forgetting about them are gone."

It seems that Richmond needs a Michele Jawad to step up, I hope from this tragedy, Richmond gets many just like her.

.

Richmond Homecoming: Could it Happen Here?

Who else is absolutely sickened by the news continuing to come out of Richmond? And for me, as a parent of a high school student, it is not just the horrific nature of the crime, and the bystanders who did nothing.... it is the school that is worrying me too.

From the CNN article ,

She had come alone to the Richmond High School homecoming dance, gorgeous in a sparkling purple dress and faux diamond baubles. The DJ played salsa, meringue, rap. When the teenager disappeared, her friends thought she had gone home early.

But we all know now, she didn't go home early, she was outside, ON SCHOOL GROUNDS being brutally beaten and raped for over 2 hours. I won't even go into all the nuances of the case as I've learned them, as you all have probably read the stories and heard the news too. But what scares me is the question, SHOULDN'T WE BE ABLE TO COUNT ON OUR CHILDREN BEING SAFE AT A SCHOOL EVENT?

What happened to the days when once you checked into a dance you could not leave. What happened to student safety being #1 priority. Why is it now being noted that there were chaperones, at least one asst principal and security officers there and not one was patrolling the grounds? It is also noted that strangers (non students) were seen on campus and as quoted from one of the victim's friends, "I looked outside of the gym and I saw 12 to 15 guys, sitting there, with no IDs," Baker said at the hearing. "The officers -- not only did they not check the IDs of those students or men sitting outside of of our campus, but the security officers who are employed here did no ... checking either. The assistant principal looked outside and actually saw those men, and did nothing about it."

In addition, how could it be ok that a school board member was seen on the news a few days ago acknowledging that school security cameras do not work? Yes, it's a big campus as he said, but you have security officers, chaperones, and school personnel and no one is monitoring the grounds during a big dance? In an area known for drugs, gangs and crime - no one is watching what is going on, or as stated above, questioning those who do not belong?

And unfortunately, this brings up so many other larger questions, like WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE that not only allow a crime like this to be committed, but who seemingly turned a blind eye to the signs something was amiss (strangers/non students on campus).

Could this happen here? How are our dances monitored? Are kids allowed to come and go? Do they allow non students on campus? Is there security or school personnel patrolling?

What about the unthinkable moral trainwreck? Could kids in our own schools just stand and watch something like this happen and do nothing? Could kids in our own schools do such a thing? I want to think no way. But ?? Why is Richmond different? What was the "perfect storm" that made this happen there, on that night, to that girl?

This was a school sponsored event. And as a parent , it makes me angry. Maybe I'll make some of you angry with my opinions here, but I think that school , the school officials, security and the district needs to be held accountable for doing nothing to prevent an unsafe environment for children. Children who just wanted to fit in, go to a dance, have fun, hang with their friends. There is no excuse. School officials didn't make this happen, but did they do enough to prevent it? I say no based on the information I have now... your thoughts?

Prayers go out to this girl , her friends and her family. I hope for speedy recovery and that she can rise above this horror. I can't even imagine..... it's too hard to even wrap my brain around all this....