Community Building in the Washington, DC area!!

SFP Editor: How did you become involved with the Student Support Center (SSC)? Jonathan Y. Anderson: I became involved in late 2011. I was working for the World Bank doing NPO development and one of my interests through that work was education. It was difficult to travel with the birth of my son, so I began looking at local NPO's that needed help with development. I immediately saw the need for development with the Student Support Center, and was ready to dedicate all my time to serving those students in need. The Center's mission was one that I had not see before and the fact thst The Center is in the schools made me feel an impact could actually be made. I also knew that by putting in long hours, and really dedicating my time to this organization, I could make a difference on a child's life, being a father myself, that meant something to me.

SFP Editor: What brought you to the DC area?

Jonathan Y. Anderson,: Originally I came for a job in 2005 and ended up staying when I met my wife. She was not going to relocate so I stayed in the area.

SFP Editor: What do you hope to achieve at SSC this year?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: I have set some very high goals for this year. The reality is that they may all not happen but you need to set your hopes high, to achieve great things. The first thing I would like to see is to make sure the organization continues our work. With the financial crisis everywhere, fundraising is difficult. I would like to see ten businesses sponsor the center regardless of the size of contribution, so that we can get a community feel for this community organization. That has never happened before, and we are able to offer some great publicity now for businesses who want to come on board in different capacities. I would also like to have a few companies do an internal campaign for us to raise funds in order to hire someone to do grants. Right now, my executive director and I handle everything and could use some additional help in this category. It is simply too much for the two of us.

The final goal would be to get publicized in at least 15 publications. This is number one. Kudos to Small Friendly Planet for their interest in the Student Support Center.

SFP Editor: What aspect about student learning are you most passionate about?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: I am most interested not so much in the learning but in the questions. An education is built upon questions that need to be answered. Listening to the questions students ask, is fascinating. They want to be a sponge for knowledge, it is simply getting that knowledge to them, and overcoming the variables that is difficult. We aim to help them feel they have everything in place to ask the questions and absorb the answers.

I also enjoy seeing a student who may not excel at a subject matter, improve on something that at a point in time seemed impossible for that student. It is a great feeling.

SFP Editor: What are current charter school trends in the US and Washington, DC?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: I can really only speak about the District. In my opinion, people do not understand what charter schools are, and in fact, many people do not even know they are public schools. You often hear someone who says I like charter schools, or I do not like charter schools. That is fine, everyone can have an opinion. The problem is that many people simply like or dislike the word charter schools without knowing any facts. If you ask some of these people, why they do not like it (and we will leave politics out of it) they usually cannot give concrete evidence to support their opinion. The fact is that in Washington, DC 42% of all students are in Charter Schools. That is a significant number. I could care less where the students go to school. I want to help them better themselves. That should be what people care about. Are they able to achieve great things? Regardless of where they go to school, helping a student is helping a student.

SFP Editor: How can parents get more involved in their child's learning experience?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: This is a great question. Here are some things parents can do to take a more active role in their child's education:

• Visit your child's classroom. A visit will give you an idea of what your child does at school and how he or she interacts with other children.
• Volunteer to help in the classroom as an assistant. Listen to children read, for example, or serve as an aide for a couple of hours.
• Support student events and performances by attending them and helping to prepare. For example, you might sew costumes or paint scenery for a school play.
• If your school has a parent center, drop in to meet other parents or pick up information and materials.
• Participate in workshops on child development or other parenting concerns. Consider helping to plan such workshops.
• Take advantage of opportunities outlined in parent-teacher contracts. For example, the contract may encourage you to read with your child for a certain amount of time each night.
• Ask your child's teacher for materials to help your child at home and to supplement homework.
• Be a part of decision-making committees about school issues and problems.
• Make choices, when available, about the classes, programs, or schools your child attends.

SFP Editor: What are the major challenges faced by teachers in the current US school system?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: I feel that the biggest challenge for teachers is communicating with the student. Many teachers go to excellent schools for their education. They know how to teach, they understand the material, and they are motivated to be in a classroom. The problem that really is epidemic is relaying this information to the student. If you cannot relate to your student population be it demographics or anything else, they will not learn. Communication is critical, and when a teacher can effectively communicate the message, the student succeeds.

SFP Editor: As a community, what can one do to help improve the DC school system?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: Embrace all forms of education. People want to dislike something. I don’t like charter schools, I don’t like private schools, I don't like this or I don't like that. They need to spend that time, that they are talking about what they don’'t like about the system, and change that to the student. The rest of it does not matter. It is the student that should come first and right now, the student is not first.

SFP Editor: How can interested folks use the SSC website and Chat feature?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: The website is going to be completely new in the second week of February. One of the things that prompted this was ease of use. We want everyone to be able to find information efficiently. There will be a complete listing of our services, our resources for parents, schools and students, and complete information about our projects. The chat feature will enable people to discuss schools, ideas, and any thoughts they have that they can get feedback for and provide feedback to others. I recommend people to use the site a tool to learn about what we do, and pick up ideas to share with others. Using our resources can bring excellent topics of discussion to parents, schools, and students regardless of the school they attend.

SFP Editor: What types of programs does SSC offer to raise awareness of charter schools?

Jonathan Y. Anderson: We in fact do not raise awareness of Charter Schools. We work with them to overcome obstacles so that the students succeed. That is why gaining new funding will help with the increasing demand that students need and want.