{"id":3938,"date":"2013-03-03T13:55:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T18:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2013-03-03T14:56:54","modified_gmt":"2013-03-03T19:56:54","slug":"praying-for-improvement-reuniting-church-and-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/2013\/03\/praying-for-improvement-reuniting-church-and-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying for Improvement: Reuniting Church and State"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, February 28, the Christian Activities Council<\/a> in conjunction with Hartford Public Schools hosted a community forum \u201c… about the important role the faith community can play in education<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 Unconventional times call for unconventional measures.\u00a0 Despite the traditionally perceived threat of a merger between church and state, Dr. Christina Kishimoto calls upon faith based organizations to promote Hartford Public School initiatives to improve student achievement.\u00a0\u00a0 An event room at the Hartford Seminary<\/a> on Lorraine Street was two thirds full with community organizers, parents, and educators.\u00a0 Reverend Edwin Ayala, Executive Director of the Christian Activities Council and Dr. Christina Kishimoto<\/a>, Superintendent of Hartford Public Schools worked together to facilitate the discussion and respond to audience commentary.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Kishimoto took the floor, she gave a touching account of her childhood experiences in church.\u00a0 She grew up in a South Bronx housing project to immigrant parents, neither of whom had a high school diploma.\u00a0 Dr. Kishimoto recalls, \u201cFor my family, church played an important role in navigating schools.\u201d\u00a0 For her family, religion was a catalyst for academic success.\u00a0 She says that ultimately she, her mother, father, and brother attended college at the same time.\u00a0 She attributes her family\u2019s scholastic achievement to their strong ties to each other and to their church congregation.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m putting the Superintendent hat aside\u201d, she says.\u00a0 \u201cI am now speaking as a resident about how my faith shaped the way I see the world.\u201d\u00a0 She speaks passionately about the importance of prayer in her household.\u00a0 She confesses that what keeps her up at night is knowing that there are children growing up without strong values or family ties.\u00a0 Dr. Kishimoto asserts that those ties and values can be found in religious organizations.\u00a0 She asks the question of the evening, \u201cHow do we come together in an organized way to bring what faith based community can bring?\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reverend Ayala exclaims, \u201cAs people of faith, we are stories people.\u00a0 We need to share stories of success in Hartford Public Schools.\u00a0 We could preach and share signs of hope with our congregations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The room buzzes with excitement.\u00a0 Reverend Ayala<\/a> suggests that church leaders can promote academic success within their congregation by asking to see student report cards after church services.\u00a0 Dr. Kishimoto chimes in and volunteers to visit churches and speak with church members in middle and end of student grading periods.<\/p>\n

Captain Brian Thomas from the Hartford North End Salvation Army<\/a> makes a plea for more volunteers to help with homework during their after school program.\u00a0 He has only 3 or 4 volunteers for the 20 grade school children currently enrolled.\u00a0 A gentleman in the audience asks if churches would be willing to recruit congregation members to join Big Brothers Big Sisters.\u00a0 An idea is born and all seemed to be in favor.\u00a0 Dr. Kishimoto informs the audience that Hartford Public Schools is already in contact with Andy Fleishmann, President and CEO of Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters<\/a>, and she welcomes the churches\u2019 help in supporting their mission to provide Hartford Public School students with strong mentors.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the two and a half hour long forum concerns were voiced, ideas were spun, connections were made, and hope was sparked.\u00a0 Within the city of Hartford, religious organizations abound.\u00a0 Dr. Kishimoto is working with them to include Hartford students in their outreach efforts by providing support to neighborhood parents and services to their children.<\/p>\n

If Dr. Kishimoto and Reverend Ayala are able to garner the active support of Hartford\u2019s churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues, students will stand to gain tremendously.\u00a0 Religion may be a key to redemption for Hartford Public Schools<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n

Karen is a Trinity College IDP<\/a> student majoring in Educational Studies<\/a>.\u00a0 She is a graduate of Weaver High School and a Hartford resident<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, February 28, the Christian Activities Council in conjunction with Hartford Public Schools hosted a community forum \u201c… about the important role the faith community can play in education\u201d.\u00a0 Unconventional times call for unconventional measures.\u00a0 Despite the traditionally perceived threat of a merger between church and state, Dr. Christina Kishimoto calls upon faith based … Continue reading Praying for Improvement: Reuniting Church and State<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":356,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3958,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}