Con respecto a la vision de SAMOHI, creo que es muy aceptable lo que propone la escuela con todos los programas que ofrece a todos los estudiantes en general. Lo que me preocupa como padre es que todas las veces que he motivado a mi hijo a tomar ciertos cursos también tenga la oportunidad como los demás estudiantes; pero lo que ha sucedido es que cuando el ha tratado de poder tomar esos cursos, siempre no ha podido tomarlos porque siempre están llenos. La verdad, nosotros como padres, no podemos visualisar muy bien como es que se coordinan todas las inscripciones de estos cursos y por ello nuestros hijos quedan fuera. Todo se ve muy bien graficado pero a la hora de aplicarlos para la comunidad Hispana y Afro-Americana, creo que no son bien aplicables o aceptables. Por lo tanto, con respecto al programa de California Master Plan for Education, deseamos con todo el corazón el que todas las cosas cambien pero creo que también nosotros como padres debemos de trabajar juntamente para que se puedan ver los cambios en la escuela y así nosotros podamos palpar muy bien el avance elevado que puedan alcanzar nuestros hijos al implementarce o al aplicarse bien todos los recursos de los cuales hablan para todos los estudiantes en general sin hacer excepción de raza étnica.Solamente así podremos ver el avance intelectual y académico reflejado en todos los estudiantes al salir egresados de SAMOHI. Creo que es el tiempo de que todas las cosas tienen que tomar un jiro completamente diferente para nuestra juventud que es el futuro de esta Nueva Generación cambien nuestras ciudades y barrios en algo digno de poder aplaudir pero solamente lo podemos lograr trabajando en todas las areas posibles que necesitan ser mejoradas.

[Loose Translation]

In regards to SAMOHI’s vision, I believe that what the school proposes through its programs it offers every student is very acceptable. What concerns me as a parent, is that every time that I have motivated my son to take certain classes, which other students have the opportunity to take, he’s never been able been able to because they are always full. Honestly, as parents, we cannot visualize how enrollment is coordinated for these classes and because of this, our children are left out. Everything looks well planned, but when it comes down to it, I believe that they are not accessible or applied in the Hispanic and African-American communities. For this reason, regarding the California Master Plan for Education program, we wish with all of our hearts that all of these things change but I also believe that we, as parents, need to work together to see that these changes are made in the school. This way we can feel and see the advancements that our children can reach when implementing and applying all of the resources that are talked about for all students in general equally without the exception of ethnicity or race. Only this way we can see the intellectual and academic achievements of students as they leave SAMOHI upon graduation. I believe it is time that things take a different turn for our youth who are the future of the new generation; that things in our cities and neighborhoods become something worthy of applause. We can only attain this working in all areas possible that need improvement.

Describe both the members of your school community and the place you call school. Who are the young people? Who are the parents? Who are the people who work at your school?

Our school community's administration is comprised of one Chief Education Officer, five Assistant Principals, two Deans of Students, and 12 Student counselors and advisors. Whereas the ethnic breakdown of students is about 51% Caucasian, 32% Latino, 11% African-American, and 6% Asian, the ethnic breakdown of teachers is about 68% Caucasian, 16% Latino, 9.4% African-American, and 4.4% Asian. The school community has one full-time African-American Community Liaison, and one Latina Bilingual Community Liaison. Of the 12 Counselor/Advisors, seven are Caucasian, three are Latino, one African-American and one Asian. Of the six administrators, five are Caucasian and one is Spanish-speaking.

We are located in beautiful Santa Monica, a school of 3300+ students. Half of our students are going on to prestigious universities and the other half are graduating having struggled to meet graduation requirements, but barely meeting university acceptance requirements, if at all. The half that are struggling through to graduation are the students of color, primarily Latino and African American.

Members of our school community tend to feel that our students of color are struggling because of their socio-economic backgrounds, cultural and language barriers, and lack of adequate parental guidance and support.

Students of color tend to feel that they do not belong at SAMOHI. They feel the system does not take them seriously. They feel frustrated, overwhelmed, anxiety-ridden with the stresses of passing classes with teachers who are not sensitive to who they are and what they bring to the class: their strengths, cultural perspectives, bicultural realities, etc. They struggle with the daily task of having to navigate and negotiate between worlds of family, school and peers, especially when each of these worlds have contrasting cultures, norms, values, expectations, etc.

Parents of color are equally overwhelmed, anxious and stressed about how best to support and guide their teenagers through these crucial high school years. For many of our Latino parents, they have not been through the school system and many times are comparing the school system with their own experience of school in their home countries. They tend to trust that the school system has the best interest of their children in mind-- that when their students do not do well, that it must be something their student is doing or not doing; the blame is on the student. Parents are ignorant of the fact that the American school system was NOT designed with students of color in mind!

What hopes do these individuals (faculty/staff) bring to your school?

The main hope of members of the school community is to increase academic achievement for all students, to narrow the achievement gap between Caucasian students and students of color, and to create a more personalized learning environment through the creation of smaller learning communities. The challenge is to maintain a rigorous curriculum that meets A-G requirements for UC/CSU acceptance while ensuring academic support for all students. The goal is to empower students of color to experience sustained success in these courses without simply relegating them to "tutoring or academic academies.” The challenge in creating smaller, more personalized learning environments is to ensure that they make equity and access for students of color its top priority.

If a visitor wanted to see the heart of this school, where would you take them? Why?
If I were asked to show a visitor the heart of our school, I would be stumped-- we have two schools within the one SAMOHI--each with its own life-line.

Student Reports

By Cynthia Santiago & Moises Castillo
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Who are you and what are your main goals this year for your school and the student body?

Cynthia: I am the student body president and my main goal this year is to reach out to those students that have not been served properly by the school and administrators. I not only want to help them academically but socially and emotionally as well.

Moises: I am the Student Representative to the Board of Education for the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District. I want to reach out to the students that are not achieving as well as others, such as the students that have under a 2.0 GPA. It is important that we create programs or a system that helps these students succeed at a better rate.

How would you describe your school?

Cynthia: Physically, it is a nice campus. There are a lot of trees and grass. Socially, it is segregated and there is a “two-school phenomenon.” The Latino and African-American students hang around in the main quad area, and when you walk into the science quad area, there is a majority of white students. So as you walk across campus, students begin to feel where they are wanted and not. In student government, there is more diversity than in the previous years, but it is not as representative as it should be. Students vote for each other, so it is hard to achieve that.

Moises: To the Board of Education, I describe the school in two different categories. One is the physical aspect of the school, such as the facilities and the resources available on campus. The other component consists of the events at the school, and whether they are good or bad. I discuss issues from arson going on in the school to a positive event, such as AIDS Awareness Day. There are a variety of things that I use to describe this school.

If I wanted to see the heart of this school, where would I go and at what time of the day?

Cynthia & Moises: That is a tough question. There is no real heart of the school because during a regular day, the school is divided. However, the whole school comes together at pep rallies and the students are united.

Cynthia: I would not even say a classroom has the appropriate diversity. In an AP class versus a college prep course, you see the segregation as well and this has been since I was a freshman.

What makes you most proud about this school and/or its students?

Moises: What I like about this school is that it does give some students an opportunity to succeed and to express themselves. It allows students to voice their opinions and actually be heard to some extent. There are also a lot of resources that other schools do not necessarily have.

Cynthia: Although segregated, I like the diversity and that you can walk down the hall and see many types of different people. It also offers opportunities to students that come from other areas where the schools do not have enough resources. This is very important because there are students that do go on to higher education, and this is something good that other schools in the Los Angeles area do not do as well.

What are your hopes for what this school can be?

Moises: I hope that one day every graduating senior enters a four-year university or a vocational school of their choice.

Cynthia: A school that recognizes and celebrates its diversity by uniting the students rather than staying quiet about what occurs and happens to students of color. Like Moises says, I hope that everyone can go on to college or do something that they enjoy doing and not pressured into another path like jail or dropping out of high school.

What are your concerns?

Cynthia: What I see happening, because I work with people from the community, is that there are a lot of those students that do not do so well and just end up dropping out. They find no other way to be successful and end up in jail. I have had friends that have died. Students are being pushed out of school and no one deserves that.

Moises: This school offers vocational courses, but not all students choose to be in there. A great amount of students in the classes did not choose to be there and are somehow forced to take a vocational path, which leads to a blue-collar job or mechanical and secretarial jobs. If you want to be in these type of classes, that is great. I, myself, however, was put in these classes. I enjoyed it for a while, but I did not want to do it for the rest of my life. You have a lot of students that are being pushed into these types of vocational programs and to be something they are not. The path ends up being there only choice because nothing else is out there.

Cynthia: There is a concern that there is a generation of students that leave this school having low expectations of themselves, and self-fulfilling prophecies come to life through self-blame. That is why it causes people to feel forced into negative paths because they have heard it so much and feel like they are not going to get anywhere. It is my biggest concern that people leave this school feeling bad about who they are and their true goals are not reached.

What are you doing as student leaders to address these concerns and other issues?

Cynthia: There are students from UCLA, raza students from MEChA, that come to our school and a lot of teachers support them by offering their classrooms. It is important to have mentorship programs at this school, tutoring, and intervention. I think there is a greater need for that. Currently, Moises and I are working on this Peer-Mentorship program. We want to have 11th and 12th graders that are college-bound to help the younger students in the Alliance Program, which are students that have a 2.0 or below. It is difficult to develop a program that is both academic and social. It is a debate whether we should just help them boost their GPAs or also incorporate the mentor piece and building their social consciousness.

Moises: It is difficult to address all of the issues with just one program. People can raise their GPAs but can still feel neglected and not involved on campus. Another concern that is going on in the Board of Education is regarding ROP classes. The question is whether we should get rid of them because although many students take these courses, the certificates are not being recognized by the employers and some students do not have the proper training as well. There are people speaking out against the program. They say that it is not helping the students at all and not accomplishing what it is supposed to. Also, you have students receiving certificates that do not know how to address a letter. Students need to be well rounded to succeed. It is good to have vocational courses, but should be taken seriously, taught by professionals, and receive the actual certification.

Cynthia: And if students are taking these courses, they should make sure that they are doing well in their other subjects and able to graduate. If they are just doing well in one course, they are not going to graduate with a high school education and find the jobs that they want. I feel a lot of pressure to repair the gaps, but as a student it is difficult to organize when you do not have mentors that offer guidance. There are programs on campus that help students of color go to college, but only a few students can participate. They also do not enforce community and students feel like they have achieved their success on their own and do not need to reach out to others. It is hard to use those students to help other students.