A Visit From the President

This appeared in the June 2010 Excelsior.

As a community, we are honored to host President Obama on June 7.  Congratulations to Kalamazoo Central High School and Principal Von Washington on a successful application in the first Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. 

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to view the school’s three-minute video and short finalist essay, submitted when only six high schools in the country remained in the competition, you are able to do so at www.whitehouse.gov/commencement.

 The honor certainly reflects positively on our young people at Kalamazoo Central, whom we know to be very talented, as are our students at Loy Norrix, Phoenix, our middle schools, and our elementary schools.  More broadly, the honor reflects well on the Kalamazoo Public Schools and the entire, broader education community.

Indeed, we have received letters and e-mails from across the state and country, either from those who still live in Michigan or those who have left but still retain a connection to their home state.  All say roughly the same thing: Thanks for representing.

Since the Kalamazoo Promise was introduced four and a half years ago, the Kalamazoo community has worked hard to create a college-going culture, one in which Kalamazoo Public Schools students not only graduate from high school, but go to college and to college success.  Mayor Bobby Hopewell likes to say that children need to be not simply college ready, but world ready.  Regardless of the precise language, it is clear that the community is increasingly focused on the goal of preparing children for success after high school in both school and in life.

The president’s visit, particularly in a competition about the importance of college going and college success, is a clear validation of the community’s efforts to improve children’s life chances through education.  The Kalamazoo Promise has been the springboard for these efforts, which range from improvements in and expansion of pre-school to additional supports for college students.  Each year, we strengthen what we do for children, as parents, teachers, administrators, mentors, tutors, advisors, and other community members work to support children and their development in a wide range of different ways.

No, we haven’t arrived; it would be easy to pretend that we have done so, and simply bask for a while.  Yet, while we have made enormous strides in the last few years, we need to remain cognizant of the fact that we still have much room for improvement.  To paraphrase Robert Frost: We have miles to go before we sleep…and miles to go before we sleep.

Congratulations to the entire Kalamazoo community…..Let’s keep up the good work….The sky’s the limit!

Michael F. Rice, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Kalamazoo Public Schools