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“Students are being criminalized and they have no control over it.” That was part of the message shared through a video created by Delvina Johnson with the assistance of the Walk Your Talk group and presented at the board meeting by a group of parents. I had the chance to speak with Delvina and I asked her why she decided to make the video and she said, “I felt it was the right thing to do and I realized no one else was stepping up.”
Students have been walking two to three miles every day just to get to and from school. Back when this school year started the weather was fine to walk in but ever since fall began, the weather has been getting worse and lately it’s been cold and rainy. Some students walk on streets with no sidewalks, like the students who have to wade through parts of Childs Avenue to get to Golden Valley High School. Not only are there no sidewalks in some of these areas but also some parts are easily flooded when it rains. How are they expected to get to school on time or even make it to school? That is the question no board member nor the Merced Union High School has been able to give a clear answer to.
[pullquote_right]Students have been walking two to three miles every day just to get to and from school. Back when this school year started the weather was fine to walk in but ever since fall began, the weather has been getting worse and lately it’s been cold and rainy. Some students walk on streets with no sidewalks, like the students who have to wade through parts of Childs Avenue to get to Golden Valley High School.[/pullquote_right]
We ‘Ced Youth Media and BHC VOICES, a local group of youth led by Building Healthy Communities’ Youth Coordinator Michelle Xiong, got together as a team to create and distribute a survey to a portion of high school students, looking to get more information directly from students to get a better idea of how they are being affected. The survey was distributed to 328 students from Yosemite High School, Merced High School, Buhach Colony High School, and Golden Valley High School. According to the final results last school year, 33.3% of surveyed students rode the school bus, but this year it dropped by about two thirds to only 11.1%.
I think the Merced Union High School District has forgotten that education is our future and should be as accessible as possible. The sad thing is they know it’s happen- ing but the problem seems as if it will never be solved. In my eyes, this issue has to be solved immediately. Students struggle everyday trying to find a way to succeed. “If I don’t have gas money I have to wake up at 4 am to walk three miles to show up for zero period. So I sometimes skip zero period or school. Also while carrying my forty-pound backpack I had to run from a dog. So its pretty rough,” said a senior from Buhach Colony High School and a resident of the Beachwood Franklin area through our survey.
