How can the blind lead the blind?

University Place students sit for 2012 kickoff of Mayor Tommy Battle's Book Club. (Huntsville Times file) 

 Blind ambition has lead District 1 School Board member Laurie McCaulley to a deserted island.

 What's happening outside of court? This dispute has tapped into all sorts of local hostilities. Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison has blasted Superintendent Casey Wardynski for not meeting with black officials. Wardysnki ordered an audit of Harrisons' non-profit. Mayor Tommy Battle and the Chamber of Commerce and the PTA have written letters on behalf of the school board. Black ministers and all the elected black officials, save school board member Laurie McCaulley, have written in support of the Justice Department.

Like the dismissal of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Lawyer Norman J. Chanchkin, the tax payers are over due for another dismissal.

 Plus, she found Chachkin, who lives in New York, was out of touch with sentiments in Huntsville and that the Justice Department has done an adequate job representing broader concerns of black children in Huntsville.

Guess who else is out of touch with the people they are supposed to represent?

 Casey Brown said the decision to do away with J.O. Johnson High School was made in a "back room" and he is starting a petition today calling for the resignation of Laurie McCaulley, who represents the district on the city school board.
Speaking at a rally and march this morning to support keeping the name J.O. Johnson when a new school is built, Brown said McCaulley should resign because she has not properly represented the people of her district.

So much for the legacy of Dr. James I. Dawson and Fletcher Seldon.

During his almost 20 years representing north Huntsville on the city school board, Dawson "was a voice of equality and justice for all," according to the resolution. "Some thought he was abrupt at times, but admitted he had a servant's heart. He was an outspoken champion for diversity. Dr. Dawson once commented: 'If people don't like equality and justice, they can't like me.'" He died in December 2009.
Seldon was the first black person to campaign for and win a seat on the elected city school board in 1971 and served until 1980. He "aggressively worked to better the public school system at both local and state levels through advocating improved policies regarding problems in student discipline, improving teacher capabilities, implementing an effective program in school/community relations, and improving employee personnel policies."

Huntsville City Schools vs. The United States Department of Justice.

 What does Huntsville say? Huntsville says they desegregated two generations ago, people moved around and the courts have held that school boards can't control housing patterns.

But the city does control housing patterns.  Housing prices are tied to test scores of the neighborhood school.

 Why? On the most basic level, rezoning stands to influence neighborhoods and real estate prices within every high school zone. Big picture, that means this ruling could determine what this city will look like in coming years.

This residential isolation of the most disadvantaged children – a product of migration patterns and economic trends that have occurred since Brown -- points to one set of strategies that’s been given little attention over the last 60 years. What if we made a more concerted effort to integrate schools by integrating neighborhoods? What if we tried to improve the educational prospects of low-income minority students by breaking down barriers to affordable housing in the communities where good schools exist? What if we wielded zoning laws and housing vouchers as levers of education policy?

So what's the bottom line?  This is about protecting property values .

 Concerns over public housing can still draw a crowd, as almost 250 people on Tuesday gathered for the second meeting of the South Huntsville Civic Association.

"We need something in south Huntsville they've had in other parts of Huntsville for years - a cohesive voice," Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks announced from the stage at Grissom High School.

Brooks, one of two key speakers, said that the Huntsville Housing Authority has quietly used vouchers to send poor families south and plans now to single out south Huntsville for more.

In February, the authority surprised homeowners with the outright purchase of 50 units at Stone Manor near Chaffee Elementary. That sparked a raucous public meeting at Chaffee on April 6 and led to the creation of the civic association.

On Tuesday, the upstart group drew an influential crowd, including Republican Brooks, a former legislator; newly elected state Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville; state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur; and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne.

Going through the numbers at Whitesburg Elementary, Brooks argued that schools in south Huntsville have seen test scores drop "thanks in large part to what the Huntsville Housing Authority has done to us."

 This is what happens when property values are tied to student/school achievement, and vice versa.  A blind  person can see Huntsville City Schools are separate and unequal 60 years after Brown.

Even if we win, we lose.

The Wardynski Plan is a fool’s errand. We did not have to file it. And the public has had zero input into the plan.
So, after potentially years of litigation and expense, we will have accomplished absolutely nothing, even if we win.
Nothing except the following:

1. Wardynski has shored up support for himself in this town because he’s willing to fight the “evil” federal government.
2. Wardynski has improved his name recognition on a national level.
3. Wardynski has spent a ton of the district’s money that he should be spending on improving education at all of our schools. And of course,
4. We’re still a segregated system.

This is, in the Bard’s wise words, much ado about nothing.