It's not that parents like herself are powerless. Far from it. What frustrates Baldwin most is that classrooms are overcrowded, teachers seem overwhelmed and parents are too busy to help out. Baldwin spends a lot of time at the school as a volunteer and mentor to 14 children in the Doorways program, a privately funded college scholarship for at-risk youth. She says it's a hard learning environment.
Some kids are blatantly belligerent.
The teachers try to teach around it, but it's difficult at best. Part of the problem, she said, is class sizes of up to 35 students, which makes it harder for teachers to manage behavior. This past summer, Baldwin and her mother considered transferring Nikkole to a private school. The child loses out anyway. Having to earn extra money would also mean giving up the volunteer work, something she was reluctant to do.