School Pride

If you want to read my whole post, please do, and then come back to the top and watch this link for "School Pride."  If you don't feel like reading, just go to the link.  It really speaks for itself.

As a former teacher, and a teacher at heart, I am really excited about the new reality show "School Pride" premiering tonight on NBC.  I'm excited because it is targeting something dear to my heart.

The show is in the line of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," except that this show is about finding schools in need and uniting the community to renovate the schools and solve the problems the students face every day as they struggle to learn.

The few years that I was a teacher, it was in a low-income, inner city K-8th grade school.  I taught K-8 drama and 8th grade language arts.  Because the school had no gym, every rainy day, the PE teachers would bring their students to the small theater we had and I would have to bring my 40 drama students to my English class that seated 32 students.  What a mess!  And how do you teach drama from an over-crowded classroom with no textbooks or resources other than your own brain?  I loved it, but it was a challenge.

When I toured Isaac's new school, I was slack-jawed at the amazing facilities.  Get this: they have an art room that was actually designed to be an art room with art tables, a kiln, and plenty of supply storage; they have a music room that was designed to be a music room with instrument storage, and risers for the students.  There are two computer labs, a fantastic library, a large cafeteria and an indoor gym.  It's amazing to me considering my previous school experience.  The art and music rooms at the school where I taught were regular classrooms, "made to work" as best as the teacher could manage for the new intended purposes.

I have been so happy to be able to provide for my child a school that is so well-designed and cared for, and teachers that are well-trained and community-supported.  But my experience at a school of another kind has made this experience bitter-sweet.  It's not fair.  It's not fair that my child should be able to have the world at his fingertips while other kids in our country have to refuse to go to the restroom all day because a trip there would be either dangerous or futile because the facilities don't work.  I am very excited that someone has noticed and work has begun, however slowly, to draw attention to this problem, and provide solutions.

The producer of "School Pride," Cheryl Hines, has actually been doing these kinds of school renovations for the past four years before she decided to make a reality show out of it.  I'm excited for the show because I hope and pray that the exposure will help the movement gain enthusiasm and support.  This is one reality show where copycats will be most welcome!