Turtleboy: Non-Worcester Residents Should Leave North High Alone

Friday, March 20, 2015

Turtleboy

Should people who don’t live in Worcester be involved in the safety plans for Worcester North High School? You’re probably saying right now, “No. Of Course not. What kind of stupid question is that?” But that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday when a group called Coming Together Collective held a press conference at the YWCA in Worcester.

Two of the group’s speakers and leaders, Keesha LaTulippe and Joyce McNickles, live in Southern Worcester County. LaTulippe lives in Southbridge while McNickles claims residence in Sutton. Yet both of them feel like their input should be valued, simply because they have thrown together a bunch of words that sound good on paper and call themselves a group.

First of all, let’s point out the fact that “Coming Together Collective” is a ridiculous name for their little group. Because they are literally trying to do the opposite. They’re trying to pull us apart along racial lines. One of their primary concerns is that the teachers at North High don’t represent the “makeup” of the students they serve. Over 60% of Worcester Public School teachers are students of color, and over 70% come from low-income households.

This is problematic for Keehsa, who was quoted as saying, “Most teachers don’t come from an impoverished background.”

Right. Studies have shown that kids can’t learn from teachers unless they know from a fact that they used to live in a trailer park. Hey Keesha, I have an idea – why don’t you become a teacher? I mean, you’re really good at telling teachers how to do your job, and evidently you are an educational expert, so what better place to utilize your skills that in the classroom. Plus, since you’re not white, so you’ll obviously be able to reach kids that the old white women at North High simply can’t.

Oh I forgot, you would never do that. Because it’s a lot easier to sit in your ivory tower and tell North High school teachers and students what they do and don’t need. After all, you’ll never have to live it in Southbridge or Sutton.

But hey, I’m all for more diversity in the faculties of Worcester Public Schools. The director of human resources, Stacy Luster, is an African-American woman. So either she’s purposely not letting candidates of color into the classroom, or they’re just not applying for the job. And I can’t understand why either. I mean, who wouldn’t want to get their Master’s Degree, go through extensive training, pass two or three MTEL tests, and pay to be fingerprinted? The reward at the end of the day is a starting salary of $45,000 and you may or may not be punched in the face by a 20 year old sophomore while breaking up a fight.

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