We Need Good Bone Structure First!

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Hitomi attended the Bay Area Townhall about the new Regional Consortia system for Adult Education.  Hitomi was San Mateo Adult School ESL Morning Student Council President last year.  She shares her thoughts about the visit here:

We Need Good Bone Structure First!

　　　

           October 30^th 2013、11:45am sharp we (Mr. T, Tim, Bruce, Patricia, Jeri, Cynthia, Marco, Marina and I) hit the road to the Town hall meeting in Oakland. Why Oakland? Honestly, I was concerned about visiting Oakland.  I had read about crime.  This meeting title was “What AB86 is All About”. This time we arrived more than thirty minutes earlier than opening time. We were very well organized for this meeting. We were the only Adult School to turn in our survey. This place was at a very old High School where many classes were closed and very quiet. When we entered the big room, it reminded me of an old theater, so we could hear our voices clearly. I thought this was a suitable place to have this big meeting. After taking part in the event, I felt Adult Schools needed three things seriously.

     First of all, Adult Schools need equality with the community colleges because we don’t have stable funding. We don’t have Designated Funding. We don’t have our own wallet yet. So we are not equal partners. “The K12 Adult Schools need the Community Colleges because the K12 Adult Schools MUST be in a consortia.” said Cynthia. This is one of the most important things to do.

     Secondly, the governor’s group (The AB86 Group) didn’t give teachers any information about their plan “AB86”, but they wanted to ask four questions to the Adult School teachers first. Some teachers were very anxious about this plan because there were no details for explanations. Some teachers wanted clear direction from them.  I thought The AB86 group didn’t know what to do either. Today’s meeting was good for not only us but also the governor. They could find out some keys from the teachers serious questions. Also AB86 mentioned that teachers could ask something about this plan, but not get answers from AB86 group.  This is very one sided idea and unfair. We need good bone structure first and give us flame of this plan immediately.   

In addition, Mr. T mentioned about the time. We have a two year budget from now, but the deadline is March 2015.  Actually, we have one year and seven months, not two years. We need more time to prepare this issue.  He asked to extend the time for our Adult Schools’ future.

Overall, I had a great time to take part in this meeting. Now I understand our Adult School’s situation more. 　I thought students who attended at Adult School in Oakland really needed education! No schools mean no education and no future.  Where did they go? How did you learn English?   We can continue to keep on saying to get stable funding, exact structure and extend more time for our Adult Schools.


Thank you to Hitomi for sharing this wisdom.

Thank you to Hitomi and Marco and Marina for attending the Townhall.

Hitomi, Marco, Marina

As Hitomi says, to make a good system for Adult Education, we need good bone structure.

  And to make good bone structure, we need student ideas, experience, and wisdom -  because the bone structure is for the student body.