Dear Secretary Cardona- Open Letter From Detroit Students

Dear Secretary Cardona,

We are the youth members of 482Forward, a Detroit-based education grassroots advocacy nonprofit. As a youth organizing collective for the past 5 years , we focused on reshaping the negative narratives of Detroit schools through systemic change and school accountability. Comprised of students, parents, community members, and educators, 482Forward emphasizes that those most impacted by problems should help create the solution. We are writing to you today to invite you to collaborate with us and give you an image of our reality.

Our education reality is one of broken desks and substitute, uncertified teachers. A reality of graffitied, shutdown schools and mold infestations. We live with the existence of metal detectors, school police and the lack of social workers and mental health counselors. Over the past 15 years, over 200 schools in Detroit have been closed. This was in part due to the aggressive lobbying done by the former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos and the Great Lakes Education Project. Left stranded by the system meant to educate us, Black and Brown students have been forced to accept less than the bare minimum in schooling. Recognizing this injustice, 482Forward and the Michigan Education Justice Coalition stepped in.

However, stepping in should have not been our only option to have a quality education.. It is not the responsibility of community members to pick up the slack of lawmakers and lobbyists who prioritize billionaires over babies. While we have done incredible work in the past, and will continue to do so, we are asking for federal cooperation and support in our cause.  

Since the formation of the youth collective, we’ve surveyed over 3,000 community members on the most prominent issues in our schools and what we would like to see changed. We have helped elect school board members that best represent our needs, we have prevented the closing of 24 Detroit schools with Partnership Agreements in 2017, and we have centered our voice - the students - in our organizing. Consistently, we saw a need for student voice and accountability from the local, state, and federal government. Now, we are recognizing that in order to create generational and systemic change, we need the support of leaders in Washington D.C. We urge you to accept our following requests:

1. Visit Detroit: Establish an emphasis on bridging disconnected experiences and realities by regularly visiting failing public schools. Given our experiences and personal attacks from Betsy DeVos, we are asking you to start with Detroit. As an organization, we are extending an invitation to you to visit our city, our schools, and meet with students, parents, educators, and community members to discuss our frustrations and needs. 
   
2. Create a student advisory committee: Ensure the voices of students hurt strongest by our country’s broken public education system are at the forefront of all education policy discussions. This can be done by creating a student advisory committee. Not only is this essential in centering student voice, it would allow us to bridge the disconnection between those running schools, and those experiencing them. Listening to those most impacted by education policy was not on your predecessor’s agenda. As low-income Black and Brown students, we were forced to suffer the consequences of DeVos’s administration and self-centered priorities. While we have yet to be given a national platform and opportunity to share our voice, fortunately, it is not too late. 
   

 

In your nomination remarks, you said that “we gain strength for joining together.” Now, more than ever, unity is essential to our success. For too long we have been positioned to be vulnerable, educationally disenfranchised, and ignored; we want you to know, Dr. Cardona, that we are powerful, passionate, and brilliant youth organizers. We ask that you join us in our fight for quality and equitable public education and prove that not only is systemic educational change possible, but vital to the success of our country. It is your responsibility to be a part of leading this change.

Best,

The 482Forward Youth Organizing Collective

Cosigned:

North East Action Team

Detroit Heals Detroit

Congress of Communities
MIStudentsDream

ELITE