Johanna Busch
Save Monarch Academy
Students learn that they can use individual or collective assets to navigate and challenge systemic injustices or inequity of opportunities, or to increase pride in cultural identity.
In November 2018, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools recommended that Monarch Academy, my school, be closed at the end of the year. The school board had three months to consider this recommendation before voting if our school would stay open or close in January 2019. My students and their families were extremely upset. Monarch Academy is the only school that many of my second grade students have attended. Though it is not perfect, students and their families feel comfortable at Monarch. Furthermore, many parents commented that this was just another instance of city government disinvesting in the neighborhoods that needed the most support. My students had so many questions, but most of all they wanted to know what they could do to convince the school board to keep Monarch open. Because of this, I decided to work with them on a letter writing campaign to advocate to save Monarch Academy.
Letter Writing Lesson
Students review the five parts of a letter everyday when we read our morning message. This lesson built on this prior knowledge to give students the skills they needed to write letters to the Baltimore City school board. First, students brainstormed reasons why Monarch Academy should not be closed. Then, we discussed activism and how raising our voices to challenge injustice can bring about change. We discussed how reading letters from students might make the school board feel. Finally, students wrote their own draft letters to the school board.
This is the lesson plan I wrote around writing letters to the Baltimore City school board to convince them to keep our school from closing.
Students decided that we could best convince the school board if every single student wrote about their favorite part of Monarch Academy and what they love about our school. Based on this, we created a template to use to write our letters. Students used our group brainstorming ideas to write draft letters. They then edited their own letters using a writing checklist. Finally, I read over their letters and further edited them to ensure that students were sending well-written letters that clearly represented their opinions and ideas.
This student wrote that she loves Monarch Academy because the teachers are nice.
This students wrote that recess and field trips are her favorite parts of Monarch Academy.
This student wrote that art was his favorite part of Monarch Academy.
This student wrote that she loves Monarch Academy because the teachers are nice.
Above are rough drafts of letters that students wrote to the Baltimore city school board to convince them to vote to keep Monarch Academy open. The letters also show my edits.
Final Letters
After brainstorming and writing drafts, students were ready to write their final letters. I created a letter writing template to ensure that students' letters looked neat. Students then used their own edits and my edits on their drafts to craft final letters that would be sent to the Baltimore city school board. Though my students often complain about having to edit and re-write their work, they were incredibly focused on this task, as you can see in the pictures below. They were very excited to be writing letters that people in power would actually read.
Above are images of students using their rough drafts to create final drafts of letters to Baltimore City schools.
In this student's final letter, she wrote about safety and the teachers at Monarch Academy.
In this student's final letter, she wrote about how much she loves field trips and her friends at Monarch Academy.
This students wrote about loving the teachers at Monarch Academy.
In this student's final letter, she wrote about safety and the teachers at Monarch Academy.
This slideshow shows a few of the final letters that students wrote which were sent to the Baltimore city school board.
I included the above letter in the envelope with all of my students letters. Though my students' words speak for themselves, I thought it might be helpful to add some context to their letters.
After students wrote their letters, I mailed them to the Baltimore City School Board. Though the board voted not to renew Monarch Academy's charter, multiple school board members mentioned the letters they had received from students and how meaningful they were.
Above is the image of the envelope containing our letters to the school board.
Above is an image of me mailing the letters to the school board.
Teacher Reflection
The school closure process has been very difficult for my students. When the recommendation was first announced, we all felt confused and very helpless. By initiating a letter writing campaign, I was able to show my students that we can work together to solve real world problems and challenge injustices. My students were extremely excited to try to change the minds of the people in charge a decision that had a huge impact on their lives. Seeing my students take ownership over a real life problem was very powerful for me.
Unfortunately, a few weeks after we sent the letters, the school board voted to close Monarch Academy. However, in the meeting board members explicitly mentioned how moving the letters they received from students were. Though our letter writing campaign did not achieve its stated goal of keeping our school from closing, it did show my students that when they raise their voices, powerful people will listen. I hope that this experience has built a foundation of standing up for their communities and beliefs that they will continue.