Original article on the Connecticut Post by Jill Harkins.
As school resumes at the end of August and I begin my second-year of teaching in an urban high school, I look forward to building on lessons I learned in my first year of teaching. I look forward to meeting 70 new ninth and tenth graders and introducing them to engaging texts with themes that connect with their everyday lives and guiding them to the realization that words are always stronger than fists.
I don’t, however, look forward to the questions about why Cornwall Public Schools, a district that is 99 percent white, has $29,000 to educate each student, while Bridgeport Public Schools, a majority-minority district, has less that $14,000 per student. I don’t look forward to the overwhelming sense of hopelessness I’ll feel when I receive previous year score reports for my students and compare them to those of their peers in wealthier Fairfield.
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