Johnson's Response to The Argonaut Article posted Sept. 6th

Response to Gary Walker:

• THE HEADLINE: When articulated to me, the headline was "Westchester parents forge bond in efforts to improve schools." Which would have been absolutely accurate. However, the additional wording "....through autonomy from L.A. school district" is not at all accurate.

Gary, you and I never discussed my views on 'autonomy'. I shared that the parent groups in Westchester are all working toward the common goal of 'improving' our schools, however, I also expressed that our functions and approaches were very different.

The assumption can not be made that, although our groups are NOT at war, that we share the exact same sentiments regarding reform. For the record, I am both in favor of and opposed to autonomy. Theoretically and conceptually, becoming autonomous seems to afford communities, schools, students and parents with a world of opportunity and freedom to provide 'excellent' educational opportunities - which is ABSOLUTELY wonderful; however, to date, 'autonomy' lacks structure. When the 'hard' questions are asked, teachers and parents are told that 'these areas are still being determined or figured out'.... (I am reminded of instances when track homes were being built on top of land fills and sink holes. The models looked 'beautiful' and 'wonderful'. Developers and marketers emphasized all the wonderful amenities and possibilities new home owners would be afforded by living in these 'new/innovative' communities. Then, weeks, months, even years later, the foundations began to crack, there were sewage issues, severe flooding during the rainy seasons, etc... )

My position as the leader of Parents Of Westchester With Orville Wright is NOT to 'persuade' or 'dissuade' parents. My sole responsibility is to insure parents are involved, informed and remain in a position to make their own informed, educated decisions.

So, in the very first paragraph of the article where it states, "two parental education advocates have joined forces to seek autonomy from Los Angeles Unified School District" is a false and misleading statement. Kelly and I agree that change needs to take place in order for our schools to improve - the jury is still out (from my perspective) as to whether autonomy is the ONLY solution.

• THE GROUP PICTURE contains, not Crissina Johnson of POWWOW, but Kelly Kane of WPEF and Kelly's group. Next to Kelly is Ms. Leslie Brag, the UTLA Chair for Westchester High. Leslie embraces both POWWOW and WPEF, yet is an official representative for UTLA.

• POWWOW DID NOT 'CONTRIBUTE' BOOKS - POWWOW parents distributed books according to William's vs. California. Our parents worked tirelessly this summer over the course of 3 weeks to insure textbooks were distributed to classrooms prior to the first day of school so students and teachers would be able to begin instruction from day one.

Gary, I would have loved to share my views with you regarding autonomy had you asked. Although the article hopefully laid to rest the rumors of discord between Kelly and I - it simply is inaccurate regarding my views on autonomy.

Have an amazing day and I do look forward to speaking with you soon.

Crissina D. Johnson
POWWOW Founder/Coordinator
POWWOW4Life@aol.com
http://www.powwow4life.com/