Letters of Concern from Young Laredoans
Written by admin, Jun 18, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Maribel Valdez,
What started out as a social studies lesson on municipal government ended up as a letter writing assignment to Mayor Raul Salinas.
Fourth grade students in Tony Resendez class at J.C. Martin recently learned about communities and their local governing bodies. The students were particularly interested in communicating the safety and security of a park located near their campus. The park is a popular site with neighborhood children who spend most of their summer days meeting and playing with friends. The students expressed their concerns in a letter to the City of Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas.
The students collectively discussed their concerns while one student acted as secretary writing down the student’s responses. Students were alarmed with the amount of graffiti on the playground equipment and were distressed over finding syringes and other paraphernalia around the park. Some students even discussed being harassed and bullied by older kids hanging out at the park.
In addition, the class offered solutions to their concerns. Ms. Resendez noted that every effort and concern should involve some level of problem solving. Therefore, the students agreed that it would be necessary and only fair to provide solutions to the concerns for the mayor.
Some of the few solutions the children offered were simple. “The park needs constant supervision from local law enforcement such as the police,” said Daniel Sanchez. Other students mentioned installing surveillance cameras to help catch criminals and the persons responsible for the graffiti and drugs.
Resendez, who has been an educator for five years, was amazed that these students were the first of her many classes to come up with a creative way to voice their concerns through writing. “Becoming problem solvers is what I instill in my students, I am extremely proud of their strong initiative to empower themselves to help find ways of keeping their community safe,” said Resendez.
With the help of their teacher, the students edited the letter and mailed to Mayor Salinas on June 10. The Mayor is scheduled to visit with the students on Thursday, June 24, to continue discussing their concerns.
