Insight With Sylvia Maus 070223 Harrisburg Families United

"The uniting of Harrisburg families behind school choice has resulted in much better outcomes for students." www.hbgfamiliesunited.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi, I'm Selvia Moss, andthis is Insight, a presentation of iHeartMedia
where we really do care about ourlocal communities and all our listeners who live
here. You know, I knowone thing that we all agree on,
and that's it. Every child shouldget a good education. However, that's
not always the case, especially withkids in inner city schools. These kids

(00:20):
face situations that a lot of otherkids don't, things like drugs, shooting,
bullying, and on and on andon. And experts tell us that
what happens during our childhood determines thedirection of our lives. Today's students,
especially those of chylor, often facethe trauma associated with poverty, violence,
low expectations, and early involvement inthe criminal justice system. Listen, how

(00:42):
can any child succeed in an environmentlike this? And they say that if
you want something right, well,you better do it yourself. That is
the case with my guest today.After she and several other parents became totally
frustrated with what was going on intheir inner city school, they took it
upon themselves to change things, andthe boy making things a whole lot better
for kids in our area. I'dlike you to meet this lady. I've

(01:03):
been talking to her a few minutesbefore we started. She blows me away.
Her name is Nigima Robertson, andmy apparentounced your name right, right,
Okay. She's the founder and directorof Family Harrisburg Families United. I
don't even order to start with you. I think we covered in our conversation
before, but before we talk aboutyour organization, tell me and your experience

(01:26):
and what you went through and whatpeople that you know who had children in
your school district went through. Whywould a parent want to pull a kid
out of a school district and sendthem someplace else? What was your experience?
Well, thank you for having meresolutely. A parent may want to
pull their children out of the schoolbecause not just you know, children,
It could be staff, it couldbe teachers. My initial reason was to

(01:49):
help my son. My son hadall types of issues at school, bullying,
violence. I got calls daily fromthe school saying, you know,
he was in trouble, he's gettingsuspended. You know, we needed to
put him in school suspension or onething or another. But it sort of

(02:10):
did not make sense for me.Well, do something. Your child was
on the autism spectrum. Correct artistsand for starters, you should have people
in school that understand that situation orare educated about kids with autism. Right,
So was he put in a generalpopulation with the rest of the kids
were how was it? Yes,ma'am, he was in general population?

(02:31):
Yes, oh boy, yeah.So I mean it's hard enough for kids.
Kids are kids, but a childthat has issues like autism, how
can they expect him just to surviveeven is the word? I mean that
must have been really tough for him. So you had issues with him,
But then what happened? How washe outside of school? Outside of school?

(02:53):
He was the perfect child? Um, he played football, he played
soccer, he played lacrosse, heplayed he played everything. And I never
had an issue with him outside ofschool. And again, these were programs
that he attended that I would notI was not there with him. I
would drop him off. So inorder to help me get my son,

(03:14):
of course, because parents don't haveaccess to their student record, right Okay,
And I knew these things were goingto go on his student record and
there was nothing much I could doabout it. But I decided I was
going to reach out to all ofthose programs that he attended outside of school
and get letters of recommendation, sowhen he went on to a different school,

(03:34):
we would not have them holding himback because of what the previous school
had pretty much lied about on hisrecord. Well, you know, I
think right now is a very veryimportant place to say this, and is
you have to advocate for your ownchild. You were on your own.
You're going to come up against opposition. But thanks to you and people like
you, that's changing. Because Ishared with you earlier that I had a

(03:59):
similar situation. My son was verybright when he was little and went to
school and was this happy little boy. Came home cry mommy. You know,
he was sad and teacher didn't wantto call him, and he was
a well behaved kid. I endedup taking to professional to find out and
she said it's not the child's fault, it's the teachers who don't know how
to deal with children like this.This is a brilliant child. And they

(04:24):
said the child belongs in a giftof program. Well, the gift of
program was a joke because it wasgiven more of the same stuff. So
I ended up my husband and Iended up picking up and relocating our whole
family to another school district. Sothis kid could get it, could get
what he needed. Yes, andthat stuff goes on all the time,
whether your child has learning disabilities oris bright. They've tried to put a

(04:47):
lot of school districts try to putthe kids in the same little block.
Well, guess what. It doesn'twork, does it? No? And
I'm sure anybody listening out there,if they're not going through this, they
know somebody who is. And thankgod you're here to tell them they don't
have to get all been out ofshape about it. It's going to be
a tough journey, but you decidedto do something about your starting an organization
called Harris Burke Family's United. Howlong when did you start this? I

(05:12):
started this in two thousand and twenty, Okay, And tell us about your
how the journey? How you startedwhen at one point do you figured this
is bologna? I got it mychild and we can all as parents say,
I don't care how all of yourkid is, if they're two or
if they're ninety, that's your baby, right, no matter why. You
look out for your kids. Sowhat were your first steps? What did

(05:32):
you do? Honestly, Sylvia,I had no idea what I was doing.
I listened to the news and theysaid, you know, we have
these vouchers, we have these scholarshipsfor children to get out of you know,
a Title one school, a fellingschool district. And I went to
my school district and I'm you know, I'm asking questions and they provided me
a bible of policy in order forme to be able to do this.

(05:56):
But they, you know, gaveme discouraging words. You're not going to
be to figure it out. WhatI actually did. Oh, how insulting
I actually did. I figured itout. I was able to put all
three of my kids into three differentprivate schools to individualize their education. Okay,
at that time, I still didn'tthink I was doing anything, but
organization reached out to me, CommonwealthFoundation, yes, to let me know

(06:19):
that I have figured out the goldHow about that? Oh, you dumb
voming. You go back and goback to the watch right even nowadays.
Sorry, but that's how a lotof women they're treated that way. It's
a shame. Yes, it's ashame. So I figured it out,
and I said, if I cando it, I can definitely help other
parents figure it out. Okay,So if you have a parent out there

(06:42):
who is going through this here weare. You know this can happen anytime
during year. What should a parentfirst do? Should they have a plan?
Do they come to you? Fromwhat I've understand about your organization,
you even find a school for them. You help to find school. So
it does a child have to betested before? How does it all work?
And you know, if you'd explainto our listeners how when you're in

(07:03):
a certain school district, how themoney goes from school to explain that you're
looking at Allow to explain that tothis so um a lot of you know
where you live at determines what schooldistrict you go to. Pennsylvania offers school
choice options where that is no longerthe case. We are able to assist

(07:26):
children who are in a failing schooldistrict to go to a private school and
assist with tuition. Depending on yourincome, the families were able to pay
full or majority of the child's tuition. Where does that money come from?
That money comes from actually your community, so your small businesses and banks in
the area, they're able to donateto the kitty, which is called the

(07:50):
e TC program. And then wehave another one called the OSTC program.
I know about what is the occupationyou okay, that is our occupation.
New special tax credit well eicholarship,I'm sorry. Scholarship well for ei TC
that focuses on training and education,and that pretty much basically is any business

(08:16):
in the area who wants to givemoney to this fund to support your efforts.
What will happen is they had agreat tax break. It's coming that
to me, that's a no brainer, right if it's amazing and we have
a lot of organizations that donate.Harrisburg Families United has now made it to
the list. We are now ascholarship organization. So thank you Pennsylvania.

(08:39):
We are here. We are ableto hopefully it gets to the point where
school districts will start to accept thefunding to allow you to go from one
school district to the next without havingto move. Okay, now, why
would they not accept the funding?Good question? Oh boy, A lot
of people that are in the districtassume because they haven't done the numbers that

(09:03):
school choice funding takes from the childrenwithin the district. Now let's make it
make sense. Okay, if mychild no longer goes to the school district,
why should my school district receive anyfunding for me? Okay, even
though they do your school district,when you pull your child out of that
school district and you still live there, your school district still gets twenty five

(09:26):
percent of your child state and federalfunding. Okay, we are pushing to
allow the money to follow the childcompletely, no longer follow the school.
Parents should not have to pick upand move to another community to get their
child the education that they need becausewe have rights in our rights say we
are supposed to get a proper education. Where along the wine do they forget

(09:48):
about the kids? I just Ireally believe it was when I was in
school. That was the last timeI can remember that the schooling system and
the parents were a marriage. Yeah, okay, Yeah. When I got
home from school, if I didanything wrong, around about six or seven
o'clock that night, that teacher wason the phone with my mom explaining to

(10:09):
her what I had done wrong,and I was in a corner. There
was nothing I could do, youknow, teachers on the phone. Mom's
here, I'm gonna have to tellthe truth. That's right. We don't
have that anymore. Well, theysay the teachers are overworked, and we're
not really this program to beat upteachers because there's a lot of wonderful teachers
out right there, but without sayingit's not our opinion. Doesn't matter whether

(10:31):
they are or not overworked, butthey deal with a lot more. But
shouldn't that money be given to schooldistricts? How can I put this?
Shouldn't it be given to fix problemsrather than to be worried about who gets
equal chairs of things? Correct?It doesn't make any sense, does it
now? You know the judge justsaid a few months ago that Pennsylvania is

(10:52):
funding educational system is unconstitutional? Isthat right? I didn't know that many.
So we have a lot of issuesin our education and at this point
I am working with a free schooldistricts in the area. Hopefully harrisburs School
District will be coming along. Butsince you Dolphin has been very forthcoming,

(11:15):
they are looking to work more withparents in order to fix some of the
issues not just parents are having,but the schools as well. Okay,
Harris Burr family is united, willbe so listening. We will be head
for this program here, but wewant to make sure that we're providing the
children additional services that will help themwhen it comes down to walking through the

(11:39):
school doors. Okay, so atone point your parents feel it's time for
me to do something to get help, get help from my child. Just
like you just said, you hadthat experience with your son. Yeah,
he was a you know, happychild, and then all of a sudden,
it just it was a click.You know, when you see that
in your child, when you whenyou hear from the school that you know

(12:00):
your child is a different person atschool, what you know of them,
it's time to reach out. Youdon't have to have the plan to call
me. I will help you setthat plan up. I will help you
get into the services that you needto help you with the barriers because a
lot of us in our black community, we do have different barriers that are
keeping us from being more involved inour children's education. Okay, so this

(12:22):
isn't really a racial thing. Imean can't. I mean, you help
support all parents, all parents inPennsylvania. Your major focus is in Central
Pa. But you've helped get peopleacross the state, right yes, and
boy if they need you across thestate. So okay, so I realized
my child, I won't like childto be successful. And is it necessary
to see if there's issues with thechild before you go forth with something like

(12:46):
this. The parent, you knowyour children child. Okay, you know
your children. Don't let someone thosecome in and tell you about your child.
Okay, you're with these kids everyday. You go off your best
instinct. Okay, so I meanschools district A. It's not working out.
I come and see you. What'sthe process like for me and for
my child? How does it?I ask you what type of school are

(13:09):
you looking for? Do you havingan idea of a school? If not,
I provide you a list of schoolsin the area that will accept your
child. I ask you if youhave issues, if your child has an
IEP or five or four plan.So the point is to help this child
have an individualized plan, So welook for that type of school. We
also make sure that the parents understandthat going to right now is just a

(13:33):
private school. The private schools actuallyoff as parents to do a little bit
more. You have to volunteer,you know, some hours or schools or
that way, whether it's a publicor private, Yes and no, um
so, but it may pick upfor them. Okay. We want to
make sure that the parents understand thatwe're still here to support them as far

(13:54):
as their roles in order to keepthe child and the private school as well.
We have tutor ins services to helpthat child do the transition because usually
you're coming from a lower curriculum andyou're going into a higher curriculum and you
want to bridge that gap. Sowe're here to assist all the way each
process. Even if that child doeshave some some mental issues, we're able

(14:16):
to provide some referral services and walkyour hand in hand and you go along
with people. We go along everyway. Even if you want to keep
your child into school that they're in, but you want to have a meeting
with the parent or the principle.The teachers call me. I am in
the meeting with you. You crackme up. You're amazing. I just
love this. Where are you attwenty thirty years ago? I needed you?

(14:39):
Okay you. This must have beenquite a journey for you and you
must have gotten some opposition. Iwant to talk to you about. There
is no concern for parents to worryabout where the funding is coming from.
That's what you guys do. Sodon't worry, and don't think you're gonna
have to worry about kick getting yourcheckbook out or working five jobs to pay
for this that he comes from frombusinesses that are willing to donate it for

(15:03):
a tax credits, but for them, so that's not an issue. What
your Most parents that come to you, one of their biggest concerns is that
one of their concerns or maybe they'llpick on my kid if they this or
that. I mean, you haveto worry about everything nowadays. Actually a
lot of parents come to me andthey're they're like you. They're like,
huh, I can take my childand go to a private school. They're

(15:24):
more excited, they're not worried atthat point. You know, Um,
if the one thing that may comeup is transportation, Okay, okay,
how do we provide transpitation to getto this other school? As long as
you're still living within that district,your district has to provide your child transportation.
No, ken, I don't thinkpeople know that either. Yes,

(15:46):
they have to provide the transportation,so you will have transputation to that private
school. Let's talk about us.Since you said twenty twenty that you started
this as far as and it's difficult, we got to get more businesses out
there to add to like you calledthe kitty to donating the fund and that's
always open all the time. Butwhat would you like to see? I

(16:08):
mean, as far as you've beenbecause of your efforts, there have been
other programs that have been established,like after school programs parents. I mean,
this is a godsend for parents.Isn't talk more about those programs that
are including what you're doing. So, Harrisburg Family Is United. We have
some services that will be coming uphere within the next thirty days or so.

(16:30):
We are starting a twenty four hourchildcare center that will be located in
Harrisburg on Union Deposit thirty eight fortysix, about two doors down from Big
Lots, and we're going to beusing it primarily for our school choice parents.
We have some parents that do nothave children in school, but they're
worried about their child's education or they'reworried about their child's quality and the childcare

(16:53):
centers that they're in. Now,what about safety and schools. That's been
everything that's been going back that reallyscares Yes. So we are partnering with
Justice House of Hope, Okay,and they will be teaching children about school
safety, Okay, stranger danger,gun safety, all of these things play

(17:15):
a role in how your child feelswhen they step through the door. It's
right. How can people not knowthat? If? I mean, God,
the kids see what's going on.They watch television, they see about
all these children out the school districtsare around the country that are being murdered,
and it's it's horrible. Parents mustbe I mean, thank I thank
God that my well, I havethe grandchild. But I think to myself,

(17:36):
if I were a parent these days, I'd be going out of my
mind worrying that if my little onewent to school, or my team went
to school, they won't be comingback. In this country, it's really
tough, and that's why we havea lot of parents just pulling their kids
out of brick and mortar period anddoing an online portion, which my kids
are in now. Well, that'sanother thing I wanted to let people know
about. It's not just pulling yourkid out of a public school. If

(17:59):
you want that kid another public schoolor learning from home, whatever, there
are many opportunities out there for you. You're it's not just going to a
private school, a ritzie private schoolthat I can afford type of thing.
It's all over. You have thatchoice. How difficult is it? For
schools in our area for parents asfar as these schools accepting these children,

(18:21):
believe it or not, when theyhear my name, I don't usually have
an issue because the schools know thatmy organization fully supports the child. So
some schools are smaller and they maynot be able to usually accept the child
with the IEP report, but Ilet them know the services that we have

(18:41):
that will accommodate that child. Whatlegislatively, where are we in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania as far as providing whatour children need? As far as education?
Whoop, oh boy, we arepushing the Lifeline scholarship. Yeah right

(19:02):
now. We are hoping and brainthat the House approves it. We are
looking for it here. We needit, and the Lifeline Scholarship will accommodate
the current school choice funding that wehave now. So helping with transportation,
helping our children, let's say,bridge the gap from COVID to have tutoring

(19:23):
services. We really are pushing forall funding to follow the child. We
want to get parents to have accountslike FSA accounts, so that way they're
able to spend the money properly onthe child's educational needs. The parent knows
best not to school. Yeah,yeah, yeah. What I also wanted

(19:47):
to ask you for is what haveyou seen since you put this whole program
in place? What changes have youseen in children that are in the transferred
to the schools. Now, I'mgonna say it like I tell everyone else.
There are no bad children. Okay, And if you look up and
you dig a little bit into myhistory as a child, you understand where

(20:07):
I'm coming from. There are nobad children. So usually I get sent
what they call the trouble child,and within days this is a completely different
child, completely different because they wantto learn. But you have to meet
the child where they are. Youcan teach through their hobbies. There are
a lot of ways you can meetthat child where they are and completely turn

(20:32):
them all the way around. SoI'm getting happy kids. I'm getting Hi,
Miss Chiama. Hi. You knowthey want to come to our programs.
They want to be around us becausethey understand that one structure equals love
to a lot of our children.You know what that's that's not just through
a lot. I remember talking tosomebody who said, well, my mom

(20:55):
and dad would say no to meonce in a while. Maybe I feel
like they love me exactly exactly.They need it, they want exactly.
Yeah, And I was that child. I was that child that acted out
so much to the point that youknow, I look for structure. I
was going to sign myself up inarmy until my adoptim said, oh no,
we're not doing that. No,no, no, you know,

(21:15):
but children equal its structure equals loveto them. When you provide that child
in structure, you get a completelydifferent child. There's no more issues.
You know what we talked about teachingout there and there's a need for teachers.
What will you tell teachers to considerbefore they get into that career field?

(21:37):
You have to be I mean,they all go in with an attitude.
I want to make a difference ina child's life. Realistically, how
do you make a difference in achild's life. You have to be one
or two people. For me,you have to be a person who absolutely
loves children, or you have tobe a person who despises people who hurts

(21:57):
children. Okay, yeah, I'mboth. I am both. You cannot
be in this field and not haveone of the two. Children learn.
They feel, They thrive off inmotion. They can feel and see everything

(22:18):
you're you think. They don't seeand hear from you. Yeah, that's
right, and that's how they feelabout you. That's how they will come
to you. So it is yourenergy that has to be bright and opening
and loving in order for that childto be able to feel safe with you.
How do we get more teachers inthis field who have the same commitment

(22:41):
to children that we think they shouldhave, believe it or not. More
recently, I have had a fewteachers reach out to me, and what
I'm hearing is a lot of ourteachers are scared. They're being told by
officials that they are not allowed tospeak to parents. There are many things
there are not allowed to say,so they're whispering on the phone. I

(23:03):
don't know what I can say toyou. You know, I'm scared,
and it really is a shame.These are adults, they're not children.
They should be able to speak toappearance. Yes, there should be some
type of rules, but to completelystop that communication, that's where we're falling
at. Don't draw attention to myschool district because as you do, it

(23:25):
reflects badly on me. I maylose my job, or I may lose
funding or things like that. Theykeep forgetting about and in reality, it
actually looks bad on all of us. Yeah, it actually looks bad on
all of us. I want totalk about one of the things that you
really support is called break the Pipeline. If you don't think that things can't
be turned around, talk to usabout that. I know that you know

(23:45):
we keep We know that if thebehaviors are repeated generation after generation, whether
it's drug and alcohol abuse or violence, whatever it is, and if we
don't change that, that's what breakthe Pipeline is all about. And a
lot of kids in inner city schoolsthey come to school where there's violence.

(24:06):
They're at home, wa there's violence. Not just in inner city schools.
There's all you think. People livein beautiful developments and everything is happy,
go lucky, the oh boy,that's a a lot of trouble if they
just they're better at keeping it quietthan people in inner city schools. But
talk to us about that organization andwhy that's so important. We have to

(24:26):
pay attention to how our schools todaymimic what a jail looks like. Okay,
and today's society, our inmates andjail have more services than our children
in school. My god, Okay, many of our public schools today.
They have no science fairs, theyhave no field trips, they have nothing.

(24:49):
Okay, when you look at theschool and you see it all you
know security, and you know youhave cops here, you're getting wind down
here. You know it's metal detectors. It really looks like a gail.
You have bars up on the walls, you know, on the windows.
It's it's scary, okay. Andthese children feel like they're already in jail,

(25:11):
so it's easy for them to stayin that in that mindset as they
move forward. Break in the chainmeans we have to start with our children.
We have to make sure that oureducation schools are not looking like the
jail, especially when you can goto jail and get a degree today,
when you when you can get ona video call at jail today, when

(25:34):
you have books at jail. Today, children don't have books. They don't
They have to turn in their laptopsover summer. So then what are we
doing about it? Then we havea lot of organizations that do back to
school drives. We need to bringthose back to school drives up to twenty
twenty three. These children need tablets. It's really cheap to get a tablet.

(25:56):
They need space, they need youknow, those little dis things in
order. You know, they needmore electronics, they need more services up
today that can help them in school. This is how we break the flight.
But how can you expect them toget that one the in certain school,
certain school districts, the way thingsare divvied up, there's no money
for that right And a lot oftimes there are some wonderful teachers say they

(26:19):
go out and buy this for thekids. So the first step, the
first absolute step. If you're listeningto this program and you want to know
how you can change their things whereyou don't have to put up with this,
your first step is to get intouch with my guest and she how
do where's your website? Tell usabout your website. Our website is HBG

(26:41):
Families United dot com. Okay,and you have a phone number. Where's
your office located? My office isstill located on your in deposit Road thirty
A forty six, Harrisburg, PA. And on your website you sometimes you
have lives that you do. Sometimesyou explaining everything so you know you can
get on there and there's no chargefor your services. Everything is free everything.

(27:03):
I mean, how can you beatthis. This is wonderful. I
mean, I can be sure I'mgonna be telling a lot of people about
that, because there's a lot ofthings that kid have to face that we
never had to think about exactly.And this is a different world. So
please, if you listen to thisprogram, please tell people about this.
My guest today isn't a gym andRobertson. She is the director and founder
of Harrisburg Family Belies United. Onemore time, what is your website addressed

(27:26):
here? Ours is HBG Families Ie s United dot com. Oh,
we're going to be hearing about herand she's coming back in and see where
we are with her and not toolong from no, thank you, thank
you so much for coming in.And if you can't catch Insight when airs,
I'm one of our ten iHeart stationscatching anytime on your favorite podcast app.
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has beeninsight. Thank you for listening.

(27:48):
See you next week.