Proverbial Monday 5/17/2010

Welcome to the second week of Proverbial Monday! There's about 30 minutes left in the day, lets finish strong.

Every week we'll start off with our "highs and lows" and get into some important societal survival skills and general goings on of the TwinCities and neighboring communities with news about the rest of the world here and there. Participation is simple. Just give us your highs and lows either in the comments of the article or on twitter by trending #ProverbialMonday or tweeting to me @ProverbTribune.

Highs: Enjoyed the Minneapolis performance of Monique's Spread the Love Tour! From the audience it is clear to see that Monique has a strong compassion for each and every one of her fans. Rodney Perry and that "other guy" were also hilarious!! (Sorry I can't remember your name "other guy")

Lows: Running low on energy, again! I have got to make a change in some part of my life!

***Charter School Success Story***

Urban Prep Academy in Englewood, Illinois enrolled their first freshman class of students in 2006. After four years the school finds itself with a senior class of 107 students who are all scheduled to be graduating at the end of the year. What makes this particular class of students stand out among others is the fact that each and every one of the seniors of the class of 2010 at Urban Prep Academy has been accepted to four year institutions of higher education.

A 100% graduation rate is how this up and coming high school will establish its reputation that is an incredibly extraordinary achievement especially for a high school, and especially for a high school that is 100% male and 100% African American. We are experiencing a time of amazing growth for the African American community and the success of these students is an awesome testimony.

This is great news especially at a time when charter schools such as Urban Prep Academy receive a great amount of scrutiny and criticisms from supporters of the public education system and government officials who feel that charter schools are a drain on economic progression. Sponsors of those charter schools at times receive special attention and even more scrutiny. Hopefully success stories such as this continue to surface as the mad dash for funding continues and charter schools struggle to stay afloat in an economy that has many anchored and/or sinking.

While this is great news for charter schools it is more of a call to action for public school s to do more for their students to be successful while simultaneously taking funding away from several programs. Budget crisis leave many schools wondering how they might be able to keep doors open, let alone develop an environment that breeds success. Graduation rates in Minnesota are often recognized as sub-par especially for students of color. This is one of the many reasons for the development of charter schools like Sojourner Truth Academy and Higher Ground Academy locally, in the Twin Cities, where curriculum is formatted to cater to the learning process, and other educational necessities of students of color in hope that those students will be more successful in an environment that is tailor made to fit their needs educational and otherwise.