Genevieve DeBose leaned forward and spoke into the microphone: “We’re broadcasting from The Point CDC, here in Hunts Point, in the South Bronx in New York City,” she said. “And this show is all about education. State of Schools Radio. SOS Radio.”
DeBose, who teaches fifth grade at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts, responded to an email blast sent out by The Point that asked if anyone wanted to do a show on its low-powered AM station, WPNT.
One reason she started SOS, she said, was “to give more of an insider voice as to what happens day to day in schools.”
The show addresses the growing challenges teachers face as funding is being cut and teachers are being measured more and more by the performance of students on standardized tests.
When a flood at The Point made broadcasting impossible, DeBose turned to recording the show instead, and has completed nine since January.
For now, the shows have been heard only by the City Year crew and other people inside The Point, but have yet to reach a larger audience. Soon however, the material will be on The Point’s website, available as a podcast.
DeBose had no experience as a broadcaster, but she has had experience being broadcast. Eleven years ago, she was one of five rookie teachers in inner city Los Angeles followed for a school year by the Public Broadcasting System for a documentary called “The First Year.”
The producers described her as someone whose “enthusiasm for teaching is boundless,” and said that through all the trials of learning the ropes “she reaches out to her students and encourages them to explore their potential and celebrate their uniqueness.”
At a forum about schools and the media, DeBose heard reporters complain about how hard it was to gain access to classrooms. They said they focus on studies and test scores because they cannot access the voices of students, teachers and parents.
DeBose hopes to reach the general public, people who aren’t in schools every day. She says that “teaching can be isolating.” Seeking to bring a broader perspective to educational issues, she is trying to connect education to what is happening in the world on a larger scale.
For teacher appreciation week at the beginning of May, DeBose devoted some time to talking about Michelle Shearer, the high school chemistry teacher in Maryland who was named National Teacher of the Year for 2011.
To bring a student viewpoint to the show, DeBose recently enlisted Thais Gutierrez, a student in her class, to serve as co-host. Thais hopes to be a teacher when she grows up.
During a segment called student voices, DeBose and Thais read selections of poetry written by other students in their class.
The show also includes segments on community events, such as Sustainable South Bronx’s 5th annual Hunts Point Hustle 5K Run/Walk Race. Another segment highlights the achievements of community organizations, such as The Point’s Female Flava Women’s Health Conference.
DeBose’s colleague Rebekah Adamek, Thais’s fourth-grade teacher, has also made a guest appearance. Like DeBose, after graduating from college Adamek joined Teach for America, the national organization that recruits college students to spend at least two years after college teaching in rural or inner city classrooms.
Teach for America “melded a lot things that I was really passionate about, like schools, and our country, and the future of our country, and thinking about how we can change things to make it better,” she said.
Other guests have included a speech pathologist, and DeBose hopes to include parents on the show in the future.
When she reflects on the challenges of being a teacher, DeBose says it is often difficult to reconcile what you’re expected to achieve with the lack of resources in the city’s public schools.
Adamek says she loves what she does, but realizes that “it’s the hardest time to be a teacher right now,” harder than any other point in her teaching career, especially because of lack of funding.
“We’re going to see the consequences now, and then definitely generations after that, because we’re choosing not to put money into schools and not to allocate funds that are desperately needed to make sure that we’re educating the next generation,” Adamek says.
To listen to a clip of the show, click here:
sosradio
A version of this story appeared in the June 2011 issue of The Hunts Point Express.