Let’s take a moment to talk about the Opportunity Gap. Have you ever heard that term before? Here’s an explanation from the Close the Gap Foundation website:
The opportunity gap is one of the widest-reaching issues in our society today. It is the way uncontrollable factors can contribute to lower rates of success in educational achievement, career prospects, and other life aspirations.
Though it’s often called the “achievement gap”…we intentionally use the term “opportunity gap” instead. This is because we feel the word “achievement” implies that the reason this disparity exists is that some individuals simply don’t work as hard as others to achieve their goals. We’d like to bring awareness to the ways in which that assumption is a myth.
The reality is that we are not all born with the same opportunities and sadly, many don’t get the chance to even believe they can achieve something, let alone the resources necessary to reach for it. This has nothing to do with a person’s potential or abilities and everything to do with the opportunities available to them.
So now lets talk about Oakland Mills High School. Here are a few facts*:
- mold
- leaky ceilings
- lack of fresh air
- lack of natural light
- largest gap between state calculated capacity and county calculated capacity among the 13 high schools
- A hundred students over capacity by county calculations, and 250 students over capacity by state calculations
- no student gathering spaces
- substandard auditorium
- noncompliance with current standards including COMAR
- Major HVAC renovation project deferred since 2009.
Add to that one more thing: Oakland Mills High School has a high percentage of Black and Brown students as well as students who need food support. This is precisely the kind of school community which embodies the description of the Opportunity Gap:
The reality is that we are not all born with the same opportunities and sadly, many don’t get the chance to even believe they can achieve something, let alone the resources necessary to reach for it. This has nothing to do with a person’s potential or abilities and everything to do with the opportunities available to them.
How on earth can we ask students and families - - who are already contending with numerous factors that make their lives more difficult - - to study, strive, and rise above - - when we as a school system are actively adding to their burden? The budget recommendations - - as they are stated now - - increase the opportunity gap for these students.
Time and again the professional recommendations for repair, renovation, and replacement of major systems have been denied. Promises are made, then promises are broken. Yet again we are facing another budget proposal that says to students of Oakland Mills that they are not worthy of the recommended financial investment that would bring their school environment on to a par with what we require of other schools in our system.
No, it’s deeper than that. We are saying that they are not the kind of people worthy of the most basic sign of respect: the obligation to keep our word to them. The aspirational vision of the
fierce urgency of now is being crushed by the sheer audacity of broken promises.
*Taken from OMCA Chair Jonathan Edelson’s
testimony to the Board of Education.
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