Community Vision for Healthy and Healing Schools
Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education, Superintendent, and Executive Cabinet
How an institution chooses to spend its money tells us about its values- budgets are moral documents. On June 12, Grand Rapid Public Schools will be presenting its plan for spending in the 2023-24 school year to the board of education, and the community (YOU!) will have an opportunity to tell the board what you think is important and why. School food, student mental health, transportation, or something else…use your voice!
There have been failures at every level of the system – but as a community, we have a clear vision for how our public schools can improve. Grand Rapids’ neighborhoods are filled with an abundance of talent, we need safe and nurturing places for our talents to flourish. The following demands are a reimagining of the basics of what healthy and healing schools can be- read them in full at bit.ly/grpsbudgetdemands and visit the Urban Core Collective Facebook page to learn more about the community budget events on June 6 and June 12!
Cómo una institución elige gastar su dinero nos dice acerca de sus valores: Los presupuestos son documentos morales. El 12 de junio, las Escuelas Públicas de Grand Rapid presentarán su plan para el gasto en el año escolar 2023-24 a la junta de educación y a la comunidad (¡USTED!) tendrá la oportunidad de decirle a la junta lo que usted piensa que es importante y por qué. Comida escolar, salud mental del estudiante, transporte, o algo más… ¡Usa tu voz!
Ha habido fracasos en todos los niveles del sistema, pero como comunidad, tenemos una visión clara de cómo nuestras escuelas públicas pueden mejorar. Los vecindarios de Grand Rapids están llenos de una abundancia de talento, necesitamos lugares seguros y nutritivos para que nuestros talentos florezcan. Las siguientes demandas son una reimaginación de los conceptos básicos de lo que las escuelas saludables y curativas pueden ser: Léalos en su totalidad en bit.ly/grpsbudgetdemandsesp y visite la página de Facebook de Urban Core Collective para aprender más sobre los eventos del presupuesto comunitario el 6 de junio y el 12 de junio.
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To:
Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education, Superintendent, and Executive Cabinet
From:
[Your Name]
As a community, we have a clear vision for how our public schools can improve- how they can become healthy and healing schools. Grand Rapids Public Schools should be innovative, but first, students need them to deliver on the basics. Students deserve to eat healthy and delicious food. Parents deserve dependable transportation services for their children. Bus drivers deserve affordable healthcare. Teachers and school staff deserve classrooms and cafeterias with clean air. Our communities deserve redress from years of systemic divestment and neglect. Grand Rapids’ neighborhoods are filled with an abundance of talent, we need safe and nurturing places for our talents to flourish.
As a community, we demand the implementation and fulfillment of the following budget priority areas for the 2023-24 school year. View specific demands for each focus area at bit.ly/grpsbudgetdemands (Español: bit.ly/grpsbudgetdemandsesp)
1. Improve food service for GRPS students
Students are asking for healthier and more culturally responsive options, input in menu creation, and different preparation options. The constraints here are staffing capacity, facilities, and sunk-cost in a centralized distribution structure. In order for GRPS to reimagine Food Service, we need innovative leadership from the Nutrition Services Department, while ensuring that the department is appropriately staffed. At the same time, there needs to be significant investments in building-level capacity to prepare and serve healthy, yummy food.
2. Ensure Black students attend schools that are appropriately staffed:
Black students in GRPS deserve to attend excellent schools. Currently 1/4 of GRPS’ Black students attend are concentrated in the OHHS/SE side feeder pattern. These schools are not only chronically understaffed (classes often have no supervision or have long-term substitutes), they are also staffed by new and inexperienced teachers. This means that a student within the SE side feeder pattern can spend the entirety of their GRPS experience with brand new teachers, or without a qualified teacher at all.
3. Monitor and publicize indoor air quality for all GRPS buildings:
The ongoing dynamics of the COVID 19 pandemic, and the development of schools adjacent to major pollutants makes the need to monitor air quality essential. Indoor air quality continues to be an issue in several GRPS buildings, particularly those situated along the Grandville Avenue/César E. Chavez Avenue corridor. Environmental data shows that the César E Chavez corridor is one of the worst geographies in the state for environmental air pollutants due to the continued use of César E. Chavez Avenue as a trucking route, and the neighborhood's proximity to US131 highway. Building level staff at Southwest Elementary have consistently complained about indoor air quality, and there have already been recorded instances of elevated CO2 levels in classrooms. Poor indoor air quality represents a violation of the district’s responsibility to provide a safe place for educators and students to learn within.
4. Guarantee dependable transportation service for GRPS communities:
Transportation continues to be a major problem for both students and parents. Transportation concerns include: learning loss from late arrival, missed extracurricular activities, student safety at transfer sites, staff work loads, and poor communication from Dean/GRPS. Dynamics that contribute to these issues are: lack of accountability from Larry Johnson (Chief of Staff) to address community concerns, bus driver shortages, sprawl and scope of GRPS facilities and transportation obligations (e.g. McKinney Vento Transportation Requirements). GRPS is in an existing contract with Dean Transportation until 2025. However, there are immediate improvements that should be made including improving administrative oversight of lapses in service provision, and ensuring better driver retainment.
5. Support student mental health:
The GRPS strategic plan includes meeting holistic student needs as one of its main themes: We recognize that our student success goes beyond academic achievement, and it is our responsibility to acknowledge and support our students’ emotional, behavioral, mental, and physical health. Students continue to express a need to feel supported and safe at school, particularly since the pandemic. Some students experience significant pressure to succeed academically and get into and pay for college, while others are impacted by trauma in ways that make it difficult for them to maintain traditional class schedules. Students who require support for mental health concerns should have access to trusted adults and a variety of resources to meet their needs.
View specific demands for each focus area at bit.ly/grpsbudgetdemands