Albany High School has two students going to Harvard University and a graduation rate of 49 percent.
How can these two extremes exist at one school?
Albany schools clearly offer paths to success, so why are so many students not getting there? The answer is hugely complicated, but it certainly has much more to do with our community as a whole than our schools alone.
Albany residents: If you are upset over this graduation rate, then you need to do something about it. Every single person needs to feel compelled to act. Until this happens, little will change.
It's easy to blame teachers and administrators for failing students; however, the true reasons for failing students almost always go much deeper than the schools. The teachers and administrators I know work incredibly hard and are unbelievably dedicated. Their jobs are difficult, and they take it personally when things don't go right.
More of us need to take the failings of our community personally. We all need to value our schools. We all need to value the children. We all need to do something to help: Teach your children to value school above all else; volunteer to read to children or tutor them; be willing to connect with and support others, even if they are different; write to politicians demanding adequate funding for our schools and communities; vote for politicians who will bring us together to address deep-rooted problems; be involved in community events; support early childhood education; and stay in Albany and send children to public school.
The only way I see things getting better for our schools is to help our community as a whole.
Kristin Bonds
Albany