Reprinted from an article that appeared in the Lodi News-Sentinel on February 12, 2008


What about those left behind?

If your child has a 3.0 GPA or better, doesn't get in trouble (whatever that means) and you have $700 bucks to spare, your eighth-grader may be on his or her way to Catalina for a week's worth of snorkeling, hikes, kayaking and wall-climbing. And, somewhere along the way, your child might even learn something worth learning. Unfortunately, all other eighth-graders, the vast majority of "the class," need not apply.

The plain fact of the matter is, for every eighth-grader who gets go to Catalina, two must stay home. Lodi Unified School District calls Catalina a "rewards trip," and for the last 15-years or so, approximately one-third of all eight-graders look forward to "fun in the sun" at Catalina, while the others, the ones left behind, are left to wonder what they have missed. Just in case they aren't willing to ponder what they have missed, they are soon reminded by the lucky few upon their return.

Some of those left behind were transfer students who could not qualify. Some of the students left behind got in trouble in seventh-grade, so they were disqualified in eighth. Some of those "left behind" didn't achieve a high enough grade point average, even though some have missed the trip by one-tenth of a grade point. Others just couldn't afford the $700 to $800 nor wanted to ask for a "scholarship." However, all those left behind share a singularly common experience: they are all offered their first institutionalized taste of segregation.

Ironically, who is serving up all that regret, division and degradation? Our public school system! And that's just plain wrong.

Unwittingly, I hope, Lodi Unified School District has put their stamp of approval on a policy that celebrates the creation of a second-class student. The district rewards some and necessarily punishes all others. Common sense would inform just about anyone who is willing to be informed that policies that are inherently unfair and discriminatory by nature should be abolished by the leaders of our public school system.

Ken Davis, president of the Lodi Unified School District, gave an extensive interview on Dec. 17, 2007, with the Lodi News-Sentinel. In that interview, he gave a very personal and moving account of his own discrimination as an African-American student growing up in the South. Among other things, Mr. Davis said: "I know what's its like to feel like you're unwanted. I know what it's like to feel that you're not as good as the next person."

One can only assume Mr. Davis hasn't fully realized the hurt and disillusionment of those students left behind from the Catalina trip. We are confident that when Mr. Davis has an opportunity to investigate these matters, he will lead an initiative to abolish the Catalina trip before more damage can be done.

In point of fact, Lodi Unified School District, like all school districts, is charged with offering each and every child access to a "free and appropriate" education, period. This is not just good table manners, it's the rule of law.

Clearly, it is not appropriate to take some students and leave others. After all, there is a reason they call it "the class." It's not appropriate to take the experienced core faculty to Catalina with the chosen few while the rest of the class are given substitutes for an entire week. Those substitutes are paid in the absence of the experienced faculty, who also must be paid; that's both inappropriate and wasteful. Besides, there is a very good chance the practice of leaving two-thirds of the class with substitutes for an entire week may violate the No Child Left Behind Act, 2001; the act is not equivocal; all teachers, even substitutes, must be "highly qualified teachers." Some substitutes may be highly qualified; however, some may not. Providing a week's worth of unknown teaching and learning quality, by substitutes, is totally inappropriate and probably unlawful to boot.

It is also inappropriate for children who can't afford the trip to be embarrassed or made to invent reasons why they can't go. Further, it is not appropriate to pit parent against parent in what amounts to Catalina musical chairs; when the music stops, there is someone always left standing. Someone is always disappointed, many feel angry, disillusioned, depressed and isolated. There are no positive lessons to be gained by this exercise in artificial scarcity.

Lastly, it is not appropriate to divide the class into haves and have nots at the hands of their school teachers and administrators this early in life. Regretfully, there will be many opportunities for these students to find out the world isn't fair, right or equitable at some latter date. They don't need to get their first lessen in segregation from their eighth-grade Alma Mater. Whether you call it a "rewards trip" or something more obvious, it is education that is separate and unequal and should be abolished now.

A simple but elegant solution might be to consider finding a study trip location a little bit closer to home, take each and every student, and leave nobody behind. In this way, we can avoid creating a second class student who doesn't have to be reminded of the education they missed or the fun they never had.