A few days ago, a dear friend of mine asked for my "honest opinion" about Citizen Schools, where I work as California's Development Manager. Citizen Schools is a national nonprofit organization that provides Expanded Learning Time (3 additional hours of learning daily for all students) at low-income schools. Like me, my friend was once a teacher in a low-income public high school in the Bronx, and like me, she often feels disillusioned by years of education reform initiatives that seem to have amounted to constant change without much progress. With such a dreary picture in mind, my friend wanted know what Citizen Schools is doing differently. Her skepticism was understandable.

I laughed. "You do know that my job is to convince people that Citizen Schools is great, right?"

But she asked for my honest opinion.

So I reflected again on what makes Citizen Schools great, a question I address daily in my development work. I considered our Expanded Learning Time strategy: lengthening the school day for all students, thereby motivating a mass of students who might not attend opt-in after school programs. I considered our unique apprenticeship model: bringing subject matter experts and professionals into schools to teach what they are passionate about in project-based, engaging courses. I considered the exciting initiatives we are piloting this year: a partnership with Khan Academy to provide differentiated math instruction via technology; a SuperSTEM campus that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math education; an initiative for our teaching fellows to earn California teaching credentials, turning Citizen Schools into a residency program that builds a pipeline of qualified teachers into underresourced schools.

But this time, digging down for my honest opinion, I kept thinking about Wendy's fast food.

Let me explain.

Ask any teacher from the school I taught at in the Bronx to locate a student after the official school day had ended, and you'd get an immediate answer: the student was probably at Wendy's. Stepping into Wendy's between the hours of 3 pm and 8 pm meant stepping into a mass of hormonal 14-18 year olds. When I discovered this, I started going to Wendy's to recruit students to come back to school to study or do work with me. Sometimes, lots came. At the end of the semester, for example, my room was packed with students doing "make-up" homework before report cards would be sent home. But most days, only one or two students would join me after school to do the homework I had assigned, or read a novel, or study for AP biology, or just to chat with me. The rest would stay at Wendy's, some completing homework, many gossiping or texting.

The truth is, for my students, being at Wendy's was often better than not being at Wendy's. Wendy's is safe. In my four years' teaching, I saw countless students come to school with black eyes, broken arms, and broken ribs from neighborhood fights or muggings. Others were seduced by crime. I'll never forget the day my kindest student was arrested for selling guns to at least 20 other adolescents.

And earlier today, my friend's former student, just 19 years old, was shot and killed near the school I used to teach at.

"I have seen the alternative." I finally responded to my friend. "And it is unnacceptable."

The alternative is what motivates me to work every day to ensure that all students have access to high quality education in the afternoon.

My honest opinion?

We cannot allow Wendy's to be the only option for children who want to, and need to, learn more.


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