Wearing maroon or blue blazers punctuated by white shirts, signature striped neckties or bowties, the battalion of male students from Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park march into Matteson Elementary one bright morning this week to help us read to children.
“Hey, Uncle John,” my adopted nephew Joseph, among the young men in the group, quips.
“Hey, Joseph,” I respond heartily as we exchange hugs and a handshake.
Jalen smiles. “I see you got your braces off,” he says, his silver braces shining.
“Yep, I see you still have yours,” I reply, reassuring him that he too will someday be free of the orthodontist’s chains.
Another boy walks in.
“What’s up, Savion?” I say.
“Hey, Mr. Fountain,” he says. We slap hands, embrace.
With Joseph, Savion and Jalen are about a dozen Southland boys who, last year, began helping us read. The Southland boys, my 17-year-old son among them, are doing more than community service. By their presence alone, they are passing the baton of academic pride and excellence, helping to mend a cultural fabric that continues to leave so many black children drowning in a sea of miseducation.
Young, gifted and black, they are examples, their futures shining bright. In contrast to so many other boys — and girls — with the unenviable misfortune of being caught in a public education system that still neglects to put children first.
The boys’ growth and development are not lost on me. And I am suddenly unexpectedly, awash with a sense of near teary pride amid these young men, now with wisps of mustache and beard. It’s partly because I have known some of them since kindergarten. But mostly it’s seeing them standing self-assured with a glint of pride and their sights squarely set on college. It’s seeing them standing, basking in the glow of Southland.
The Southland glow. It beams like sunshine. Exudes a sense of purpose and pride — of self, of school and community. It envelops the dream of Southland’s superintendent, Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, whose vision for an alternative to Rich Township High School District 227 gave birth in 2010 and rise to what is possible when you put children first.
When it isn’t about adults. When a school board doesn’t engage in bickering and infighting. When school administrators, teachers and municipal officials alike cease blame shifting — or in my grandmother’s words, “Stop pointing the finger, and point the thumb.”
It makes no sense — the recent reports and public community rumblings from some who would now blame Southland, accusing it of draining financial resources from District 227, which is facing how to deal with aging facilities and declining enrollment. There has even been the suggestion that the answer is closing Southland. Huh?
Having written about District 227’s opposition to Southland from the start, I can’t help thinking: So where was the fiscal concern years ago when the district spent at least $140,000 on a fruitless lawsuit trying to block Southland and another $4.2 million for new administrative digs — as I reported in 2011 — including 14 brand-spanking-new toilets?
I’m also doing the math: six years of Southland graduating classes all admitted to college; 10 years of academic excellence — $54 million in merit-based scholarships last year alone, more than $156 million over six graduating classes; plus being the only charter high school in 2018 to achieve the state board’s “exemplary” status.
Doesn’t that add up to it being about time to leave Southland and Dr. Davis alone and expecting District 227 to finally take responsibility for — and clean up — its own mess?
The future of countless children, like the boys I have watched grow into fine young men, depend on it.
Write John W. Fountain at: Author@johnwfountain.com
Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com
