"School Reform"

       Since the beginning of time, the school reform process and the many voices considered in making decisions came from leaders in government ( Tozar, 2009).  The majority of their decisions were made for minorities and women in society. The government was influenced by white men with an elite status, Europeans, a supremacy group and a group called the Ku Klux Klan wanted to remain the dominant race and most intellectual group in America by keeping control of schools and the society of business. Each time progress was made in a small way for African Americans, Native Americans, women and other races for education was set back because of those forces who did not even consider minorities as citizens to have equal and fair education.There were many different opinions about the way minorities could attend school and perform academicly which lead them to  school reform. In the early years a reform was created in the schools to function with a certain amount money in every school, especially for those students with higher income and better schools would recieve more money than those with parents working with a low income. The reform involved creating a curriculum to reinforce the separation of white boys from girls and minorities. The leaders also made decisions for women, that a girls place in society was in the home or working a job  as a secretary (Tozar, 2009).

    The voices of those considered in the process of school reform today, in my opinion were created to make a difference for all races of students. I would favor the teachers, students, then the local school board members. Why? because I favor teachers and their working experience. I believe teachers can control any personal bias they may have about other races and cultures of students they have to teach. Teachers are more suited for the job of planning and creating policies in reference to the school curriculum and vocational classes for students ready to work right after they graduate from high school. Students would be the next group to help teachers if they could voice their opinion for extra curricular activities they would benefit most in their school. Students would be able to develop high self esteem, leadership skills, communication skills, written and verbal skills, many other skills if they are aloud to participate in the different areas of their education and if they are the participant they could view their education in a positive and rewarding attitude. You never know this could be a way for less truancy and dropouts in high school, when you allow students to be a part of the school system they can believe in. Furthermore, the local school board would be next in line for this well developed school reform to contribute their expertise to create better policies and help teachers enlist voters for their policies.  The local school boards would have a stronger and better membership if they would work with teachers to build a strong coalition for what is best in their school and districts. Furthermore the order I am taking to ensure important groups are not left out of making a school reform that will work for everyone, will also include the federal government.  Funding is an absolute priority for schools  and school districts to function at its best capacity. Funding would not be limited to the schools in service and would be provided whenever needed.  An infrastructure to build more and better schools for every student attending schools will have adequate equipment, computers, resources and extra curricular activities needed for advancement to teach students. The state will also need to be a part of this new school reform in order to pass the votes to support the teachers and students with their policies and issues that can only be handled by the state legislature. But they would not have complete power to restrict the policies the teachers and students would ensue. Furthermore, all groups would have an intricate part to perform in the school reform with teachers and students being the armor and shield to create school reforms and protecting those students with different cultures and values. With these two groups in place there would be minimal or no use for further labeling of students in school, because student participation would be an intricate part of the school reform for teachers supporting and building their future. Furthermore it would be difficult to leave any one group alone to handle all the important aspects of education and this is why involving the community leaders and members would be an important part of the school reform and  an asset to assist students with vocational courses and job trainings in the community. No one group or person has all the answers and this is probably why education is still needing voices to preserve the process of creating a better school system for all students and their culture.

     The level of impact each stakeholder has on the system as we know it today, involves
influence from the state and federal government. The local school board and principals have some power to fight and create new policies, but teachers, parent, and students have less or no power to persue school issues at their level. Community leaders also have more power when they are members on the local school board.

     The moral, philosophical and social ramifications of their power is increased or enlarged for state and federal governments when they pursue and create policies for the interest of better schools. Local board members and administrators can share the power if they know when to jump in and pursue policies that would benefit their school districts if they work together as a team.

     The present voices at the David School, who were involved with monitoring the students progress, offering support, help when needed, encouraging students with high self esteem and independence was their principal of the Alternative High School, Mitzi Crisp (Sakar, 2004). Furthermore, Ms. Crisp was often pictured in her office discussing the students progress in person with her students and she always gave the impression she really cared about her students in school and off campus. The teachers working at the Alternative High School were involved in assisting the students with ideas, classwork and student projects, but they were shown with little involvement. There was an incident involving Chris and a girl student getting in trouble over drugs he gave her at a wild party. I do not approve of drugs, but to me that was an escape from all the family drama and project failures Chris had to endure in school. He just made a stupid mistake that could have cost him the education the school was offering him. The point is Ms. Crisp did tell Chris after discussing this problem with the Superintendent and other teachers he would have another chance to stay with the school (Sakar, 2004).  Furthermore the administrators and teachers did have a voice in the decision making to keep Chris in their school.