Assist our Schools

By Craig Tappa

Although not the responsibility of city government, we need to assist our local schools who are suffering because of the State budget crisis.

Teachers already spend so much of their own money in their classrooms just for the basic supplies. They do so because of their passion for providing their students with a quality education. Teachers need our help, and I believe the City Council has the opportunity to bring the community together in this endeavor.

Further, we need to continue to be pro-active in seeking out schools, including public, charter and private schools, who are qualified to enter into reciprocal agreements with the City of Palmdale for the provision of afterschool recreational activities and academic enrichment services.

We can expand Families in Action to include a Students in Action program, which targets students who are performing poorly and their parents, to assist them in academic and vocational studies while the students earn school credit.

Our city government should extend its influence in any way possible to encourage individuals, families and businesses to assist the hardest hit schools, but especially pre-schools and kindergarten classes.

We need to continue to keep the pressure on the State to return the millions of dollars borrowed from education that has not been returned as promised. Our classrooms are overcrowded, teachers are being laid off. Campus nurses and computer technicians are being reduced. Campus safety is being compromised. This is not fair to our children, who deserve everything that we were offered by the schools systems of the past.

I believe that if we put our mind to it, the City of Palmdale could assist our school in some way, and we need to hold an education summit, inviting teachers, students and city officials, in an effort to find measures in which the city can offer help. There are a lot of bright minds in our city. I think we can do it.

If elected to the City Council, I will encourage the Council to take an active role in the community's schools by creating an awareness of the need for programs of this nature.