A School with A Big Heart in the Heart of the Heights!

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Love Elementary children are primarily drawn from a section of the Heights that is dominated by families who live in poverty and speak Spanish as their “home” language.  It needs an influx of new effective educational tools to encourage diversity.  In short, it needs to be designated and funded by HISD to become a Magnet School.

As many of you know, in the 1960s, the concept of Magnet Schools in America was conceived as a tool to reduce segregation.   Dr. David Waldrip, former president of Magnet Schools of America, best explained it this way:

 “Magnet Schools are based on the premise that all students do not learn in the same ways, that if we find a unifying theme or a different organizational structure for students of similar interest, those students will learn more in all areas. In other words, if a Magnet School voluntarily attracts students and teachers, it will succeed because, more than for any other reason, those in attendance want to be there. They will have chosen that school. When a parent chooses a school for his or her young child, that school is more likely to succeed for that child than would one to which that child was assigned.”

Now, well into the 21st century, some schools are still battling with a type of segregation as a result of socioeconomic issues and/or language barriers.  Our own Love Elementary, located in the heart of the Heights at 13th and Shepherd, is a perfect example of a school still caught in such a quandary and unfortunately it is to the detriment of its students, who have no choice as to where they attend school.

Unfortunately, in Houston Heights the current demand for the benefits of Magnet Schools exceeds and exhausts the resources for existing Magnet Schools. Magnet Schools are just that – they attract the best and most talented students and in turn encourage healthy competition between schools.

 All of this work to get their children into the better schools (e.g. Magnet Schools or Private) takes time, money, resources, effort and awareness, attributes that are frequently missing in families who live in weak socioeconomic conditions and who are further isolated by language barriers. This forces some zoned parents to resort to taking some borderline unethical measures, such as renting a place short term in order to have the “right” address – all in an effort to get their children assigned to the most desirable Magnet School which is highly diversified and has better test scores than the school in which their children are zoned/assigned to attend.

We all know that Love Elementary is not currently designated by HISD as a Magnet School, despite the best efforts of many dedicated community people and teachers.  We also know, that there is an extremely high number of families who are zoned to attend Love Elementary, yet are expending considerable effort to get their children assigned to attend different schools which are Magnet Schools or Private because Love Elementary is far from being able to offer commensurate educational opportunities.

 Because of this prevalent trend, some schools, a couple miles apart (eg Harvard and Love) have completely different socio economic characteristics and statistics. If we use Harvard Elementary for a comparison, located less than 5 miles from Love Elementary, there are some stark differences in statistics.

 Harvard Elementary currently has only 21% economically disadvantaged students. Love Elementary has 89%. Because of this, Harvard PTA was able to raise funds up to $100,000 for the improvement of the school.  while Love Elementary was only able to raise less than $5,000 with the current demography of the school. 

When we look at the overall school card, Harvard Elementary is a great example of balanced ethnic background with 41% Hispanic, 45% White.  On the other hand, Love Elementary demographics are 88% Hispanic, 7% white.   Love Elementary student population does not reflect the demography of the zoned area either which has 60% white and 31% Hispanic.  

The Majority of the student population has Spanish as their first language and there is not enough diversity for enrichment. The school is lacking the necessary tools such as a magnet program to attract diversified profile from the zoned area. The solution is to increase education opportunities for these kids and to attract neighborhood kids as well.

 Magnet Schools are usually conceived and planned by school staff, parents, students and other stakeholders.  The school has already done some of the grassroots work to become a Magnet School by submitting an application to HISD and making tremendous effort to improve school scores.  It was sadly rejected.  We believe with the support from the other stakeholders such as zoned households and community, we could make a stronger case to HISD to designate Love Elementary as a Magnet School.  

 Majority of the negative factors such as lack of socioeconomic diversity, funding, neighborhood support  and many more only be eliminated and improved by assigning Magnet status to this wonderful school. We are here and willing  to do anything it takes to make this happen. We, as a community, must be willing to work on this.

 In order to help, please sign the petition and spread the word in the neighborhood.

 

Follow us on the Facebook for the updates #MagnetForLove 

https://www.facebook.com/MagnetForLove/

If you would like to find out what you can do more such as donating funds, school supplies or your time to school please contact PTA at   Cjanetl@gmail.com

For More Information: 

Ebru Erdini      ebru.erdini@yahoo.com     or

Barbara Caroll        BAC77008@gmail.com

 

Thank you for caring, taking the time to be involved and for reading this letter.

 

Supporters of Love Elementary