Q&A - Rachel McKinney, education coordinator in Louisiana |
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September 29th, 2005 - 11:32AM |
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From l. to r., Rachel McKinney with the IRC's Rebecca Winthrop and Sister Judith Brun of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) Photo: BRAF Meet Rachel McKinney, 34, an educational consultant for the International Refugee Committee. She has worked everywhere from Bosnia and Ingushetia in the North Caucasus to Afghanistan and Guinea in West Africa. She arrived in Baton Rouge two weeks ago as part of an IRC team of advisors to help with rebuilding communities after Hurricane Katrina. Q. What is your role generally as an education coordinator? A. Generally, we attempt to create the most appropriate and effective education programs for people affected by conflict and disaster. That task varies remarkably from one place to the next. In the Indonesian province of Aceh where I was most recently, my work involved assessing the needs of the entire educational system including students, teachers and administrators. In a country like Afghanistan, it meant working to insure the reintegration of refugee children into an established education system be it home-based schools or more government related programs. Q. And how do you see your role here? A. Here, I am working as a technical advisor to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and its network of education-focused institutions. What we've done is speak with education professionals here, learn what they perceive to be the needs of the affected community – that is to say both those who are displaced and the neighborhoods attempting to help them – in order to convey those needs. Q. How would you assess the educational needs of communities post-Katrina? A. There is a need for a more organized and proactive registration process for students who have been displaced. Instead of waiting for children to register for schools, the educational community needs to do more outreach to the children themselves to be sure that all those who can attend school are doing so. Q. I understand that there were big differences between the quality of education in New Orleans and institutions in other parts of the state. Can you speak about the needs of those students? A. New Orleans had a problem with its educational system. And that problem is compounding the issues of integrating the students here easily. They had a high drop out rate and many youngsters tested below their grade level. That makes their transition for them more difficult on two counts: not only do they have to cope with the psychological demands of being displaced, they also have to deal with the stress of having to come from behind in terms of their level of education. For those who can't easily integrate into the school system, some sort of provisions must be made for remedial tutoring. Q. What are your goals while you are here? A. We've begun a program in coordination with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation called 'Ready To Go,' which will allow children a space where they can gather, feel comfortable and develop the skills necessary to move forward in their lives. For those children who are in school, that means complementing their school activities. It is especially important, however, for those who aren't attending school. Those children will especially benefit from structured activities that will allow them to grow and express themselves. In the larger context I'm very interested in increasing our country's understanding of the minimum standards we need to have for children affected by disaster. Posted By: Greg Beals | Children & Youth, Hurricane Katrina Permalink |
