New School, Who Dis?

New School, Who Dis?

By: Naima DeBrest

I heard my mom say in the other room “This is not working, something has to change” I didn’t know exactly what she was talking about but I had a clue that I was going to be switching schools again.

At the time, I was attending Khepera Charter School in Mt. Airy. I had started there when I was in fourth grade. It seemed like the perfect choice for me and my family : it was an African centered charter school right in my neighborhood with good credentials. All my teachers looked like me and the school had excellent parental involvement and after school clubs. Everything went continuously great until I got to seventh grade. The school started going through financial troubles and the walls began to close in on it. The students’ behaviour and attendance began to drastically decline which resulted in multiple teacher turnovers. My class had gone through five teachers in four months.  

It was sometimes hard to let the teacher go because the class had formed bonds with them. One teacher named Brother Roundtree made hefty promises to us, that he was going to be the best english teacher we ever had and that he was going to work us to our full potential. The whole class including me became ecstatic. Then he just decided to leave, abruptly, our hearts were broken. We were then introduced to another teacher named Brother Ishmael but he was fired because he told us too much. After we coverned baseline history, he took us deep into the Black Panther movement and had us all ready for a revolution. We would watch “The Boondocks” and Tupac interviews in class. Then every Friday we would listen to songs like The Coup’s “The Guillotine” which states

“Hey you!
We got your war
We're at the gates
We're at your door

We got the guillotine
We got the guillotine, you better run”

Along with Dead Prez’s “They School”  with lyrics like,

“They schools can't teach us s***

My people need freedom, we trying to get all we can get

All my high school teachers can suck my d***

Telling me white man lies straight bulls*** (bulls***)”

There was a method to his madness, but the school didn’t really appreciate all its student running around repeating these lyrics, so he was fired. From the way that my parents reacted when I told them I knew that I would probably be changing schools. However, this wouldn’t be my first rodeo I would be moving to my fourth school before the eighth grade.

Thursday, December 12th 2013 was my first day at Hill Freedman World Academy. I remember walking into the classroom and all the students eyes were on me. The teacher introduced me to the class and she gave me a seat in the back. I don’t really remember much about the rest of that day but I quickly made friends through my time there. Everything was good on the social scene but my family and I realized that my grades started to slip.

I had consistently gotten A’s and high honors at all the other schools  that I had attended. But it seemed that this new school didn't think that my work was worthy of their A’s. It was at that school that I received my first B on a project, I was baffled. I also was not caught up on all the material that they had learned so they made me attend after school classes with the teachers. I was not thrilled but I did my best and excelled enough to get out of the after school program. Things started looking prosperous again and I was able to complete middle school there and graduate.

One of my favorite schools that I attended was my first, Ivy Leaf Elementary School. I remember my first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday. My mom dressed me in a pink polo dress with pigtails in my hair. I was armed with a Dora backpack and a Bratz lunch box and was ready to conquer the world. Even though I eventually had to wear a uniform I always felt like an important and valued individual. Even though I was so young my teachers respected my opinions and I always spoke my mind.  I also excelled at the work that they were giving me with flying colors.

I remember one day, after I was already put in the most advanced 1st grade english class, we were working on reading words on the board. It was a game that the first graders of Ms. Katrina’s class took very seriously, and I was the reigning champion.

I had just conquered my entire class and was on my way to my seat Ms. Katrina called me out into the hallway and about four other teachers were out there. I remember looking up at them while they all towered over me and decided my fate. I had no idea what they were talking about but it alarmed me. When they were done with the conversation Ms. Katrina told me to get my belongings and go with her. I was moved up to second grade math and reading and I ran into headfirst unafraid, like soldiers in a war.  I don't remember much about the reading class, besides the fact that I was given my first chapter book which was a “Junie B. Jones” novel.

The class that really stuck with me was math. I remember the teacher was a heavy set light skin woman who was so loving even though the students thought of her as a tyrant. I remember that the walls were a warm  yellow and my desk was right near the teachers and I loved feeling like my questions were prioritized.

Moving from school to school affirmed my belief change is inevitable and sometimes we get thrown into it very unexpectedly, like on the last day of school or in the middle of the school year. However most times it can have, a good effect on our lives. I didn’t want to change schools four times before my eighth grade year but I am thankful for the experience and adaptation skills that it gave me. I was able to be in environments where I felt right at home, but I also was in environments where I was one of very few people like me. I had to learn how not only to survive but thrive in the new places so I could be my best self. In the areas where I felt at home I had to make sure that I didn’t get too caught up with my friends and activities and focused on my work and in the schools where I didn’t feel so at home I had to make sure that I was maintaining healthy relationships with people my age along with my work. When my parents decided to put me into new schools I was always the last to know but I didn’t let that deter me from taking the change like a champ. We must march boldly into unfamiliar situations because how we perform in them decides how strong we really are.