Painful Memory - Letter from Past President of JH Hull PTA

I received this letter yesterday passed on from a Walteria PTA member, and am sharing it with you at the urging of the letterwriter. It appears the letter writier has addressed the letter to all PTA groups in Torrance Unified.

Dear PTA,

As the election draws near, I feel I need to speak with every PTA member regarding Measure Y and Z. I have a unique perspective: I was the PTA President at JH Hull when the last bond attempt was defeated by 397 votes. I want all of you to take a minute to walk in my shoes.

The day after the election was a Torrance Council of PTAs Meeting. People arrived, greeting me hugs, smiles, 'Wow, great Karen, the bond passed!'. Even then, even in a room full of highly involved people, one of the key elements was missed by so many, the bond failed; it needed a 55% pass rate, not 50% as so many thought. Shocked faces of friends, panicked calls to school principals and others in the community, all the while for me, sitting in utter shock.

Back on campus at JH Hull, the district sent grief counselors not only for the students, for the staff. Something at Hull died that day, our campus of 35 years in our community. Students saddened they wouldn't see their final days on that campus, teachers that atended Hull as students, became teachers and 'came home' to Hull having that opportunity torn out of their hands. Teachers and parents that chose to have children in TUSD hoping their kids will go through the same schools as they did being denied that opportunity by 397 voters.

When you get involved with a PTA, you do it for your students, the schools they attend, and to make a difference in your community. You take ownership and personal pride in 'your school'. As PTA President the day the ballot measure failed, I felt overwhelmed with disappointment and that personal ownership failed. Akin to when a child overhears a conversation not meant for their ears, sees a car accident, finds a special present not means for him/her, just that shear moment as parents that we all go through of "Oh my gosh, I completely let you down' and then trying to work through those painful steps to recover.

As a PTA we worked through the rest of the year, worked through the pain all the while with the daily presence of the passing of a dear friend on the mind of everyone involved with JH Hull, hollowed, forever changed, and not stronger.

I went to Hull the day the portables were demolished. I stood there watching a bulldozer tear down rooms that were full of education, smiling students and memories. Put yourself in my shoes for a moment. Words cannot describe...

As we all move closer to Election Day, please do all you can and then more to educate your community members on the importance of these bonds. Fight for this! If, heaven forbid these bonds don't pass, the Board of Education will close campuses. I stand before you and tell you there is nothing as a parent, PTA member, school community member that you can do post-election to stop the closing of a school. Nothing. Kids will be consolidated onto campuses not of their choosing, neighbors will be divided by new school boundaries and school communities and more so our children will pay the ultimate price. I know, it happened to me.

Please share this with all your PTA members, school community, friends and neighbors.

I thank you for your time.
Karen Cristy
Past President of JH Hull 2006-07

In reading the letter about the grief counselors coming to campus, I imagined how I would have felt about having my middle or elementary school buildings that I attended being destroyed and never being able to go back. Sure, my folks wouldn't have taken me to see my school being torn down, but I certainly would have known what would have happened. I think fondly of my memories of grade school, and a lot of that is tied up with the physical place - the playgrounds, the classrooms of my favorite teachers where I had my "aha" moments of real learning --- I remember those places vividly. The big radiators, the view out the windows, the hallways where I hung out with friends, all that. If I learned that my elementary or middle school was torn down, it would bother me because it would kind of take away those memories a little, make them less real. And that's even with the passage of decades.

I can only imagine what it would feel like to be a kid not old enough to put things into perspective and live through a closure of his/her school in real time and literally be kicked out and have to go somewhere else.

This isn't just about maintaining physical structures, it's about how these structures affect our lives and most importantly those of our children. Displacing them from the schools that they identify with and are emotionally attached to, would be very tragic. When bad things happen, some kids think they are somehow responsible, even though they had no control over the situation. The thought that some of these kids would blame themselves for a school closure bothers me a lot.

The good news is that it's entirely preventable. If everyone supporting Y and Z goes out and convinces a few more people (person to person, through the phone bank, while trick or treating, etc.), then this bond measure will pass. We must strive for that.