From The Chair

By Mark Slavkin

As we reflect on the holiday season and look ahead to 2007, I want to express my deep appreciation for your involvement with KOREH L.A. Together we are making an important difference for kids across Los Angeles.  We are giving the gift of literacy and, just as importantly, the gift of a caring adult in their lives. 

This engagement of the Jewish community in the pressing issue of public education is vital for the future of our City.  Indeed, the entire Los Angeles community needs to come together in common cause to improve educational opportunity for all kids.  The time for finger-pointing and placing blame has long past.  We should not be lining up with one side pitted against the other, each claiming a more sincere commitment to the children.  The stakes are too high and too urgent for political gamesmanship.

Much of the public debate around education surrounds the politics, as played out on a fairly grand scale.  Yet you and I know the tangible aspects of teaching and learning take place on a very intimate scale.  In the case of KOREH, it is the one-on-one interaction between a supportive mentor and an individual student.  It is the power of each pairing that is making a difference, one student at a time.  Supportive public policy is important to help broaden and sustain this work.  So we must press our political leaders to go beyond the rhetoric and get specific – how will this or that proposal touch the individual kids we see in KOREH?  How will they receive the attention and support they need to be successful all the way to high school and beyond?

I expect the politics swirling around our schools to play out for some time.  In the meantime, the work we do every day becomes more significant.  Our commitment to social justice must be measured by our actions, not our words.  I hope you will continue your invaluable commitment to KOREH and continue to lead by example.  It is our obligation and these kids deserve no less.