New York - Congressman Charles Rangel was among the many smiling faces that welcomed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she visited Harlem's P.S. 154 on Monday, Oct. 1. The Secretary of State had accepted Rep. Rangel's summer invitation to the neighborhood school to see how parents and teachers, under the leadership of Principal Elizabeth Jarret, had improved test scores and created a learning environment of success for all children.
"I complain so much about what we are not doing in our school system that I thought our Secretary of State joining our Chancellor (Joel) Klein could see what we are doing from a very positive way," said Rangel.
P.S. 154 Principal Elizabeth Jarret, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Charles Rangel,
City Councilwoman Inez Dickens & NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein visit a fourth grade class.
Click here for more photos of the day. (credit: Wyzemenn Media Group)
Education and the important role it plays in lifting people out of poverty has been a special focus of Congressman Rangel since he became Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee this past January. Calling poverty the greatest threat to our national security, Rangel has been working to bring the private and public sectors together to ensure that children are provided the educational resources they need to improve both their lives and this nation.
It’s a message that resonates with the Secretary of State, both because of her current job as well as her past career in education. Years before she became a leader on the world stage, Rice was a instrumental in starting an after-school program in East Palo Alto. Located near the Stanford campus where she once worked, the Center for a New Generation has been helping middle school students move toward and beyond their college dreams since the early 1990s.
"There's a kind of bargain in America. It's a bargain between each individual citizen and this country and that is a bargain that if you work hard and if you take the opportunities before you, then you can succeed," Rice told reporters. "A learning center like this makes it possible for these children to have limitless horizons, makes it possible for these children to know that if they work hard and if they excel, then they're going to be able to go on to that next level and to have an excellent future."
Rangel praised the Secretary of State for her efforts earlier that morning, as they both met with a coalition of business leaders organized by the Partnership of New York. Her words, said the Congressman, would help enlist new participants in what he hope would be a new relationship between the public sector and the private sector.
"That when we say no kid is going to be left behind, we're talking about the love for this country and the need to provide for its security," said Rangel.
New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, on hand to welcome the pair, agreed.
"The racial and ethnic achievement gaps in America are the greatest shame of this great nation and in New York City," said Chancellor Klein. "We're taking that seriously. We are changing that and the kind of partnership that the Secretary and the Congressman are talking about is precisely the kind of partnership that we need to continue to take this effort to our next level."
The city's Department of Education was more than happy to showcase the gains made at PS 154, where 70 percent of the students are of African American descent and an additional 27 percent are of Hispanic descent. Since 2003, the percentage of students scoring at level 3 or 4 on ELA (reading) has gone up from 33 percent to 45 percent. In math, the scores have gone up higher, from 40 percent to 57 percent.
SPENDING TIME WITH CHILDREN & TEACHERS
Soon after arriving, Principal Jarett led Chancellor Klein, Secretary Rice, Chairman Rangel and City Council Majority Whip Inez Dickens upstairs to tour two classrooms. In the fifth grade class of Ms. Yvonne Laroche, student Amy Sissoko read an essay dedicated to Rice entitled "My Inspiration." Students also presented the Secretary of State with a book of illustrations organized around the theme of "Top Ten Reasons Why We Admire You." (Tops on the list -- 'You are an African American role model for young women.')
The visiting dignitaries then moved on to the fourth grade class of Ms. Amy Narus, where they participated in the tail end of an interactive computer social studies lesson. After answering some questions from individual students, the Secretary of State autographed a class copy of the "Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story." The class, in turn, gave her a framed copy of a group photo that they each signed.
After visiting the classroom, Rangel and Rice were greeted by a number of local and elected officials, including Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, City Council members Danny O'Donnell, Jr, Robert Jackson. Domenic M. Recchia, Jr.
Yet the highlight of the morning was the school assembly that followed, where Rice and Rangel also took questions from a select group of students. Among the questions asked was how it felt to be in such a powerful job, what she did was doing when she wasn't making decisions about the future of the country and what she thought the future was going to be like when they grew up.
"A lot of that depends on you. When you grow up and start becoming active in our country, start voting," she told Harlem resident Kevin Garcia. "…When you're 18 years old and old enough to vote, you'll have a lot of control over our future, too."
The students, not unlike some reporters, also wondered whether she would run for President. However, Rice repeatedly s mentioned that she was not interested in the Oval Office, wanting to instead go back to the education arena.
"There are a lot of things that we need to do in foreign policy and a lot of things we need to do to keep our economy strong," Rice told fifth grader Kimberly McMillian. "But I just want to say again that I think the first thing that I'm most concerned about and that when I leave this job I'll still be concerned about is that every child in America really has a chance to get a quality education."
Fourth-grader Nyle Salley managed get in a question for Chairman Rangel, asking him what he had wanted to be when he grew up. A congressman, said Rangel, was the furthest thing from his mind.
"I had no idea what I wanted to be," Rangel told the audience. "I didn't have parents to share with me a dream. It didn't happen in school. And when I got a chance to go back to school after the Army, I had no idea where I would end up."
REMEMBERING TO DREAM
That's why, both Rice and Rangel advised, they shouldn't let stereotypes or low expectations stop them from achieving all that they desired.
"I would say to each and every one of you don't let anybody underestimate you, " said Rice. "Don't let anybody tell you that you are less good at something because where you came from or the color of your skin."
The assembly concluded with the children serenading Rice with the school song and presenting her with a published book of some of the children's writings. It was a fitting way to end a day that Rangel hoped each of them would remember for always. The simple act of coming face to face with someone as important as Rice was something that could foster limitless possibilities. Knowing that someone who looked like them and who even sounded like them could be in such a highly respected position would give them the hope that they too had the potential to be someone great.
"You are indeed a part of a very few people in this country that have been able to say that you met her, you've seen her and you listened to her," Rangel told the audience. "You will never be able to say you did not have an opportunity to dream."
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Audio and additional photos of the Congressman Rangel's and Secretary of State Rice's comments are available upon request.
