Community must fight for what’s best for Lorain Schools

Editor’s note: Another Viewpoint is a column the Morning Journal makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. Cel Rivera is Lorain chief of police.

I was born and raised in Lorain and I love this community, and like all of us, I have seen a lot of ups and downs. I have not, however, EVER been as deflated as I was after attending the CEO Candidates Night for the Lorain City Schools recently.

It suddenly hit me that House Bill 70, which put a chief executive officer, overseen by a state-appointed academic distress commission, in control of a school district, has set us up to fail.

Despite our misplaced optimism, we as a community have been duped and now we must fight harder for Lorain and our kids than we ever have before.

In recent years, we have seen a resurgence of Lorain pride throughout our community; Titan fever has captured our imagination and its spirit has re-energized and uplifted adults and children alike.

With our new school buildings opening, our athletes doing great, and for the first time in years, children returning to our public schools, community morale was high.

I honestly feel the tide turning in Lorain and our momentum was heading in the right direction — until this blatant display of disrespect by the poorly named Academic Distress Commission. You came in the guise of a friend and partner, but behind the mask hides a hostile takeover with dictatorial impulses.

But the saddest and obvious truth is that you come with a political and ideological agenda and that is to witness the failure of public schools with the laser-like intention of promoting for profit, charter schools. The Academic Distress Commission is the vehicle and Lorain and our kids are the test lab.

What I saw during the Candidates Night was a shameful, patronizing and condescending display of well-intentioned professionals with little input or notice to the community. It was designed that way — to have little input from us, the people that they are claiming they will help with their “new leadership.” There was little notice to the community and little time to adjust schedules to attend — just the way they planned it.

Then we learned that in their hurry, the ADC had not even interviewed some of the candidates yet.

And worse, we were told that neither our elected School Board, nor the Academic Distress Commission, had any say in the selection process — they were chosen by the for-profit search company.

The truth is that Lorain Schools has always produced outstanding graduates who have gone on to excel in the fields of literature, poetry, science, education, the arts, business, and government and the military.

They did it with local talent and teachers and administrators who chose to devote their careers and lives to the children of Lorain. They continue to do that today.

What they do not need is constant change in leadership and “direction.”What they do need is a partner who is willing to support and guide the efforts, not only to provide a wonderful education for our children, but to bring the resources to address the devastating social and economic conditions that many of them face when they leave our buildings. In other words, come in with the shared goal of growing their minds, winning their hearts, and uplifting their sense of self.

The people of Lorain have always risen to the challenges we’ve faced and I am heartened in knowing that I believe they will do the same here — our schools are too important to allow this flawed process, and this for-profit company, to come in and steal our hardwon schools and turn them into charter schools.

This hurried up, accelerated process and lack of transparency dashes the hope and dreams of our kids, drains our teachers and staff, and demoralizes parents and a community that is on the rise.

These are our schools and our children.

We will not be dismissed or made irrelevant in discussions and decisions that affect them.

I generally try to find common ground, but these recent developments leave me believing that our only recourse is to band together and fight for our schools and public education.