Fait Accompli

 It reminded me of a quote from Abraham Lincoln. When asked about losing an election, he said he felt “like the boy that stumped his toe,—‘it hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too big to cry.’” I may amend that by saying that I do feel like vomiting.

On Tuesday night, the Oakland School Board voted, along what were already pretty established lines, to close our school. Not just our school. A number of others made the list as well. In a last minute addition to the resolution put forth by those who hoped to close a budget shortfall by "consolidating schools," one of the members of the board suggested sparing a few off the top. It was a spectacular act of political theater, providing those left awake at that hour the impression that there was something called "largesse" left among those who saw fit to balance their mismanaged budget on the backs of black and brown students and their families. 

The families of students that attend my school. 

And I would like to say that I was shocked. Or surprised. I'm not. Disgusted. Depressed. Deflated. Demoralized. That's more like it.

A week earlier, I listened to six hours of public comment on the topic. Not one voice was raised in support of this action. Those comments continued well after I went to bed, lasting until three in the morning. This past Tuesday, we all sat in front of our zoom machines, waiting for a chance to have our voices heard, but a motion by some of the more capricious members moved to shut down any further discussion from outside. They wanted to get to the vote. The voices that were kept at a distance through technology were cut off, and only those left fighting what I can only describe as the good fight, the ones on the board who hoped to avoid consolidation, liquidation, amputation, tried to speak truth to power. 

The power had already spoken. 

So now we wait. We are told that we have a year to prepare for the impending sentence. I do not know what to say to families and kids. I would like to read this into the record. It is the work of a fifth grader who has spent six years with us and will be fortunate enough to be among the penultimate promotion held here at Horace Mann. "You should not close the school because we have a lot of friends here. I have been at this school since kindergarten. I have been at this school for six years. One reason you should not close this school is because there is Upward Roots. If you don’t know what Upward Roots is, Upward Roots is a community program. Also you should not close this school because we have memories here."

I have memories here too. That's one of them.