Building better schools

"To live improperly educated

is the equivalent of living uneducated."

- Anonymous

THIS QUOTE is more relevant to me with each passing year.

In almost 12 years as a student in the School District of Philadelphia, I've seen many positive things: great teachers, dedicated, strong-willed, available for students 24/7, persistent and skilled at dealing with my peers and me.

But too often, I've also seen the negatives: teachers absent more days than students, teachers who are there one year but not the next, teachers forced to teach without proper instructional tools, teachers yet to be mentored by senior teachers and those who don't receive support for classroom management.

But, most important, I've recently seen real improvement in the way teachers teach and students learn. It's been a long hard road, and there is much more to be done, but it seems we're headed in the right direction.

The best place to illustrate this is within the walls of my own school, West Philadelphia High School.

Upon entering this school, there was clearly a divide. I have experienced all manner of teachers in my time at West. In my ninth-grade year, West was flooded with vacancies and lacking books (the tattered ones we did have were worn out and ripped).

Coincidentally, that was the same year I joined the Philadelphia Student Union and took a trip to New York City to visit a school that just a few years ago was just like the West I saw daily. It was the Urban Academy, part of the Julia Richmond Complex.

There, I saw not only good teachers but a community of teachers. That visit opened my eyes to the possibilities for my own school.

It had teachers who, when they applied to work there, knew what direction it was headed and agreed to support a shared vision. What I saw made me commit to transforming my own school.

What started as a process to change the education in the school led to hiring a new principal with the help of student, staff and community input.

We pushed for hands-on learning, and incorporating media and technology skills into what we learned. It all started with us.

To accomplish that, we've created an emphasis on teacher quality that comes from building a staff community who have signed on to a process of supporting students and truly putting them first.

Putting the students first is more than just politicking for small, short-term gains. I'm proud to say that not only do we not have any teacher vacancies but for the first time in my life, I have an African-American MALE teacher. It's a trend that is being seen throughout the district, thanks to groups like the Cross City Campaign.

I'M WRITING this not to bash teachers or the teachers union or the school district.

I'm simply writing to say this: Over my four years in high school, I haven't seen a better West than the one today.

The success at West is a credit to the students, parents, community and staff that came together and decided that our school could do so much better.

Right now, the School District and the PFT are yet again discussing the teacher contract.

Teacher quality is a pressing issue, but when we talk about it we should not just be pointing the fingers at teachers - we must also be looking to discuss issues such as school climate, teacher coaches, common planning time and - most important - the sense of community in the school.

Khalif Dobson is a senior at West Philadelphia High School, and a member of the Philadelphia Student Union.