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| Aldama Elementary School, Highland Park |
My heart grieves for Courtney Everts Mykytyn, only 46 years old.
Instead of avoiding the public schools of Los Angeles Unified School District, she sent her kids to public schools and founded Integrated Schools, a national organization with the slogan "Families Choosing Integration."
By staying in these schools and working to improve them, privileged parents can improved public education, promote an integrated society, and give their own kids the benefit of exposure to other kids and their languages, primarily Spanish.
"Working with school district officials, she and other parents were the driving force behind creating and sustaining a dual-language program, which paired English-only students with native Spanish speakers to make all students fully bilingual," writes Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times. Thank you for your obituary of Courtney
I care about Courtney and her work because in 1992 I too placed my children in a public elementary school, now called Edison Language Academy, so that they would learn Spanish and grow up in an integrated setting.
My two younger daughters speak Spanish fluently and have used their bilingual skills in the workplace. The oldest was already ten years old when we moved to Santa Monica and not eligible for Spanish immersion.
A few of their Latina friends in grades 1-5 and 6-8 have continued to be friends into adulthood, such as Marie's friend Cindy S. Keyvus. Others have become professionals who helped them with legal issues, such as one of Ellen's high school friends, now an immigration lawyer.
One of their classmates became a gang member and is now in jail for the shooting he did a few blocks from here. He was a sweet kid who came over to our house a few times. Knowing all kinds of people is part of being in an integrated school and its PTSA.
What can you do in memory of Courtney? Enroll your kids in public schools. Work for integration and equality. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/100443324098011/ on Facebook.
See also:
http://laschoolreport.com/an-interview-with-courtney-everts-mykytyn-on-her-quiet-movement-to-integrate-schools-in-l-a-beyond/
Aldara Elementary School, Highland Park, Los Angeles
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