Submitted by Isabella Martin & Anabell Rivera
10-16-24
Underperforming, lackluster, dereliction are a few words to describe the state of the Uvalde Independent School District. So why not allow our kindergartners to run our district instead? The lack of transparency that parents have had to withstand from numerous school administrators, and the idea that our superintendent portrays, makes us believe the role of authority is not difficult. All it takes is deceit, hindrance of information, boldfaced lies and your squared away for the job.
Think back to your kindergarten days, at that age we were taught values such as honesty, accountability, respect, open communication, responsibility, integrity, and justice. I believe that since kindergarten students can comprehend and apply these values that should run our local school district.
From that age, as little as four years old, kindergarteners are taught to be honest. Being untruthful can have harsh consequences as a kindergarten student, whether that means no recess, or having to switch seats away from your friend. So why aren’t we holding our superintendent and administrators to the same standards? Our kindergarten students would never hide the fact that inappropriate items were and a continuously being brought to school. After the major tragedy, the community of Uvalde has already suffered this abuse of authority and neglect. Our kindergarten students would handle these taboo situations with honesty, openness, and clarity. Allowing questions to be asked, parents’ concerns heard and given a solution to ongoing problems.
Another core value our kindergartener students are taught is accountability. As stated in the Oxford Languages Dictionary: Of a (person, organization, or interest institution) required or expected to justify action or decisions; Responsible. Do you really believe our kindergarteners would let a teacher who was caught consuming prohibited substances on the job continue to instruct young children? Not only was this teacher allowed to hold their position but was also paid to keep the story under wraps. Our students would never allow this injustice to happen and would continue to hold admins accountable for their actions.
As many of us have been around. Young children, we know how open and transparent they can be when a subject comes to mind. If our kindergarten students ran our school board imagine all the excellent work, they could accomplish. Having a transparent school board would make parents and community members more comfortable with sending their children to school. Pertaining to the school system, parents would like to be able to trust the faculty and systems in place to protect and provide adequate leaning to their children, but the continuance of lies and not hinderance of information has made it extremely difficult. Admins need to learn to be more open and not fear the repercussions, the school system would become more beneficial to the students and community. If we cannot get the correct administrators in the office the whole community will continue to suffer.
Even if we think there is not any way that children could do this, it is not any better now and we might have actual accountability. Children cannot lie or have perceived judgment as adults. On a serious note, having people that are tied to the community would make better leaders in the school district because children are the priority, and they have an invested interest in the betterment of the schools and students’ future
