Hanna Early College High School; my glorious school; my Alma Mater is as broken, crooked, and corrupt as the school district itself.
And not just Hanna but many other schools as well.
There are many untold stories of corrupt individuals that lurk in the shadows of injustice. It is a problem widely known in the valley and yet it has not changed.
But I am here to speak out my voice problems with in my school and point out problems I myself have noticed and am concerned about. For example, our newest principal as well the previous one seem to be playing a game of hot potato passing her problems to the next and the next in charge and on down the line; issues she herself should be handling personally.
Hanna being so old requires much maintenance to keep up to date but how can we achieve this when our Maintenance Department is understaffed, under-educated, and lack the vital skills to comprehend and accomplish basic tasks? Now I understand that nothing is free, but you cannot tell me that there is no money.
If there wasn’t any, then why did the superintendent grant herself a $30,000 raise in the summer, as well as an artificial turf (costing $100,000s) for Hanna’s soccer team?
The school is physically falling apart in many locations. I am more afraid the roof will fall over my head than the food poisoning I would have gotten from the rotten and molded biscuit and barbacoa scandal. Let us not forget the $300,000 of cafeteria funds stolen from the student’s cafeteria food funds. How much lower can you get than stealing from kids?
I have attended Hanna for some time now and have noticed no change for the better. Our administration seems to be heading in the wrong direction. On September 17, 1787 our founding fathers signed and issued the constitution for the United States. Within it James Madison pushed toward a better sense of government by establishing the separation of powers and checks and balances.
But what is the point of democracy. It is NOT the rule of the people by the people? The Greeks did it, the Romans sort of did it, and England improved upon it with the Magna Carta. And our founding fathers established it because they believed that it is easier to corrupt an individual than to corrupt a group of individuals.
The valley on the other hand has proven them wrong. Our politician’s, our schools, our fire departments, our hospitals, our law enforcement, etc., all have traces of corruption. Many of us are afraid to speak out the truth and many of us are silenced by money and the false promises of power.
Others have involuntarily been dragged into this loop of corruption and are as well afraid to speak up in the fear of facing charges. But it will be much worse if you keep silent. We live in a country where we as a people can speak our voice and be heard. These moral values that we have between wrong and what is right should not be ignored.
If we do not speak out as a community, then nothing will ever change. But as a student of BISD I still dream of a greater future for my beautiful city. I dream of a place where I can trust my children to be safe in our schools and that doctors will do everything they can to make them sure my kids are better rather than milk me for money because they are so in debt in student loans.
There is a reason we are the poorest city in Texas. It is because the money that we do get disappears in someone else’s pockets.