My View of Central Falls
I walked into Central Falls High School with a lot of misconceptions, a lot of hearsay, and a lot of bias.
Who could blame me? This was a school with an international record of not doing its job right. Nobody fires its entire staff for no reason, right? Right?
Let's consider the record, then. Central Falls is a place that is 1.2 square miles, and houses nearly 20,000 people. It's one of the most densely populated places in the U.S., it recently filed for bankruptcy, and it has a track record of corruption and mismanagement (mostly stemming from the kickback schemes of previous mayor Charles Moreau). More specifically, its school district is heralded to be the worst in the state, with around a 50% graduation rate and consistently low NECAP test scores.
This is the lens through which I saw Central Falls High School: a place of mismanagement, a failed school district, and a crowded place of violence. Let's not forget that only a few years ago, gang violence between Central Falls and Pawtucket gangs escalated to the point that armed policemen with assault rifles formed a ring around the high school. All of this contributed to my view of Central Falls as a crowded, impoverished, violent place.
Changing Course
Whatever it may have been once, it is not now.
I am yet to interact with any students, as our first day working at CFHS was a professional development day, and the students were off for the primary elections. Regardless, what I found in that school was an environment conducive to learning, an environment that welcomed us in. As we stood in the hallway, discussing standard procedure for when we come there, we were greeted by multiple teachers passing by, and one stopped to talk to us about the school, giving his honest opinion about its progress and where it is headed.
He was one of the teachers who was fired from the school, and was later rehired. He told us that it was a difficult time for the school at that point, referencing the gang violence and difficulty in teaching students who did not want to be taught. After asking him multiple questions, he welcomed us to the school and told us where to find him for an honest opinion.
Above all, the person who truly challenged my assumptions about Central Falls High School was its principal. He shared his plan for the future with us, such as certifying all teachers working there in ESL or having to let them go. This is incredibly useful for a community that is nearly 50% Hispanic or Latino. He was clearly very committed to making Central Falls High School a different place than the one we hear about on the news.
The Real Central Falls
I do wonder, however, if the school we heard about just a few years ago was really as bad as the media hyped it up to be. I tend to believe that even if there is violence, poverty, and corruption, the vast majority of people are good people. I imagine that even if we had visited that school a few years ago, we would have still found a welcoming school, filled with students who do care and want to learn.
We also have to remember to keep information in context. The administration of CFHS didn't fire all of its teachers because they weren't doing their jobs, they fired them because there was a disagreement between the unions and the laws at the time for No Child Left Behind. All you heard about on the news, though, was that all of the teachers were fired.
I hope that I can continue to use this experience to question the ideas we have about other places, and the kinds of people we think live there. Even if all we hear about is violence, oppression, and corruption (think Iraq), we have to remember that we are only hearing the worst news. We only have a single story of what these places are like, and as such we have a skewed concept of how they really are.
