Death Knell

The mood in the teachers workroom was somewhat somber. I could easily compare it to that of a wake. Not the wake of a person suddenly cut down in the prime of life, rather like that of a long-ailing relative. The death knells, having been expected, were finally beginning to play.

No one really expected the school levy to pass, yet while it was on the ballot, there remained that sliver of hope. Today we look around at the bare bones of an educational system in the poorest city in the United States and wonder, what else can be cut? Rumor has it, hundreds more teachers will be laid off in the next couple of weeks. From where? Class sizes are already huge. We have had no money for supplies or materials or programs.

We understand how this happened, what we don't understand is why it continues. How can the rest of Ohio, the rest of the country continue to look away?

Is it because these 70,000 children are the children of the poor?

If their parents had been more ambitious, they would be in a suburban district.
If those parents would have stayed off of drugs, would have gotten a good education, would have kept a job, would have not gotten sick, would have married the fathers of their children...then they could send their kids to private schools. Then they could move away from Cleveland. Why should anyone who has worked hard to become successful have to support the children of those who did not?

We have been abandoned