"School Choice and the Fear of 'Those People" #EducationPolitics

Rigid, compliant behavior is the main focus of many charter schools in poor neighborhoods. Photo Credit: johngirton.me via Compfight cc

 

Please read this provocative and informative essay written by Brett Dickerson about charter schools in light of the bill passed by our red, republican controlled, state legislature.

“School Choice” is more about the deep fear of “those people” than proponents will admit. 
“Those people?” They are The They – the ones who you fear will corrupt your children if they sit in the same class with them.
“Those people” are the ones who just can’t wear the same uniform or school colors as your son or daughter, because, well, if they do, they and your kid may start thinking that they are peers.
Can’t have that.

Para quoting an old saying, know who is driving the wagon before you hitch your horse up to it.

RedEye

I guess it depends on what the defintion of a success "IS" #HSVBOE

University of Alabama students demonstrate in 1956 against the enrollment of a black student. (Associated Press)

After months of behind closed doors court ordered mediation, the Huntsville School Board and the Department of Justice emerged to claim success.

The Huntsville school board and the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday made public a proposed joint consent order that, if approved by the court, would bring to a close their dispute on the desegregation of the city's schools. 
In the order, they tell U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala that the mediation was a success. The two sides have been in court-ordered mediation since last summer to determine the best way to rezone school zone boundary lines.

Actually this paragraph should read The Huntsville school board made public a proposed joint consent order after a 4 hour Executive Session on Friday disguised as a special call meeting.  I guess it depends on what the definition of success IS because from what I've read, nothing has changed.

Let's recap, U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala ruled the courts could find no evidence the school district was not operating a dual school system.  For those who don't know what a dual school system IS, it's a nice way of saying the school district is segregated.  For those who don't what segregated means, it means the the district is operating one system for black students, and one system for white students, separate and unequal.  Nothing, I repeat nothing, indicates the school district will cease to be segregated.

Judge Haikala slammed the Huntsville School board for their lack of transparency and community input. 

And she didn't accept the hurried "community conversations" as adequate community participation in the city's rezoning efforts. She wrote the meetings were held days before the plan was submitted and Wardynski himself acknowledged no changes were made as a result of meeting with the public.
"Thus, the Board provided little opportunity for meaningful community feedback after it announced its school assignment plan."

She accused the school board of trying to undermine the process  and dropped the hammer on HCS board member Laurie McCaulley's  little "community conversations" masquerading as "a citizens workshop on unitary status" .

Did this school board learn a lesson and change  the way they do business?  Heck no.  They continue to give the judge, and the public they are supposed to serve, the middle finger.

Parents will not have questions answered at three public meetings about Huntsville City Schools new plan to get out of the decades-old desegregation order.
The meetings are scheduled to start this Saturday.
These public meetings were originally called forums but they don't sound anything like a forum.
Parents can share their comments or concerns about the plan with an independent moderator at the meeting.
They can also do it online.
However, the only thing that moderator will do is record the message and give it to both the Justice Department and Huntsville City Schools legal teams.
Both sides will review the statements and decide whether the current agreement should be modified based on parent input.

Sound familiar? 

I must give credit where credit is due,  I was outfoxed (pun intended) by the Huntsville School Board of mis-education last Thursday.  Expecting a large crowd, I arrived at the meeting early in order to get a seat with the intention of signing up to speak.  I falsely assumed since the sign up sheet was not in its usual place it was not part of the required protocol.  Regular readers are familiar with the boards new policy requiring citizens comments be written on 3x5 index cards (which were available) and censored/read by the Director of Community Engagement.  Little did I know, there was a sign up sheet before there wasn't a sign up sheet, which I'm sure was just a coincidence. :)

For the record, nothing has changed, there is no community input, there was no community input, and there will never be any community input if this board can help it.   So here's the plan, if they can get their cronies to submit a bunch of statements saying that they like their plan it will look as though a majority of the citizens are in favor of the things that they want. Of course no one else will be able to check out what they submit to verify it's accurate and if is it above board.  Nod, nod, wink, wink.

Who says you can't do the same thing over and over and not expect a different result?  That's certainly the sentiment of this board, here we go again with a  proposed Desegregation Advisory Committee, a 12 member panel, chosen by the Superintendent, and a pair of students, chosen by the Superintendent, to advise the Superintendent and the court of progress.  Yeah right.   This sounds like the J.O.Johnson naming committee on steroids, and another Coup d'etat to me.  it's Deja Voodoo all over again.

Some of us tried to tell some of y'all mediation outside of the public eye was going to turn into a backroom deal that benefited the status quo.  Our only HOPE Huntsville City School Schools will cease operating a dual school system lies in the hands of Judge Haikala, where it should have been in the first place,  because this board ,  and this Superintendent ,are determined to ignore the United States Supreme Court. 

See picture above.

60 years after 'Brown v. Board of Education' it looks as if 'Brown v. Board of Education" never happened

In Tuscaloosa today, nearly one in three black students attends a school that looks as if Brown v. Board of Education never happened.

According to a new report just released by the Civil Rights Project called "Brown at 60," "Black and Latino students tend to be in schools with a substantial majority of poor children, but white and Asian students are typically in middle-class schools."
This double segregation doesn't just condemn these precious children to an often inferior education, it also strips them of their humanity and their dignity. Race and poverty shouldn't matter more than shared humanity.

 Today, however, the very states whose segregated schools, poll taxes, and Jim Crow laws necessitated federal intervention in Brown are once again limiting the educational opportunities for people of color. Rather than explicitly refusing to admit students of color into school, these states have found new, more clandestine ways to marginalize people of color. In this new segregated system, states disadvantage students of color by providing fewer resources to schools serving the highest concentrations of students who need them the most. By perpetuating this inequitable system and rejecting powerful and effective education reforms such as the Common Core State Standards, these states effectively reclaim their legacy of systematic racial discrimination.

 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?

A new secessionist movement, anchored in the South, provides yet another reminder that “separate” still means “unequal” when it comes to the racial dynamics of the nation’s public schools.
The small middle-class town of Gardendale, Alabama, outside Birmingham, voted on November 12 to secede from the Jefferson County school district and then to raise taxes on themselves to finance the solo venture. Then, in March, Gardendale’s 14,000 residents finally got their own Board of Education. Soon after his appointment, one new board member, Clayton “Dick” Lee III, a banker and father of two, said he aspires to build a “best in class” school system “which exceeds the capabilities of the system which we are exiting.”

 Freed from court oversight, Tuscaloosa’s schools have seemed to move backwards in time. The citywide integrated high school is gone, replaced by three smaller schools. Central retains the name of the old powerhouse, but nothing more. A struggling school serving the city’s poorest part of town, it is 99 percent black. D’Leisha, an honors student since middle school, has only marginal college prospects. Predominantly white neighborhoods adjacent to Central have been gerrymandered into the attendance zones of other, whiter schools.

 “We know that today in America, too many folks are still stopped on the street because of the color of their skin, or they’re made to feel unwelcome because of where they’re from, or they’re bullied because of who they love,” she said. “So graduates, the truth is that Brown vs. Board of Education isn’t just about our history, it’s about our future.”

We Shall Overcome One Day.

RedEye'sWeekly Rundown 5/9/2014

 

Reminder: Voter Suppression isn't coming, it's already here. 

 Alabama voters now need to have a photo ID to cast a ballot. Not having one could get you turned away at the polls.
Poll workers will get a long list of acceptable options, but if you registered and don’t have any of them, you still have a chance. You can apply for an ID to use for voting purposes only.
You will have to provide some documentation to get the free photo ID used for voting. A birth certificate is the easiest way to do it, though you can sign up without it if you were born in-state.
But don’t you dare register for the card if you have another form of ID, though. If you sign the Voter ID Card application and you already have a photo ID, it’s a class C felony.
So Lynda Hairston with the Voter Registration Office says, ” We want you to be very careful that if you sign it, you do not have one in your possession.”

Former Republican turned Independent, turned Democrat, Charlie Crist tells the truth and shames the Devil.

I’m happy for his soul, but I’m happier that someone had the balls to say what he did about Republican opposition to President Obama. Granted, it’s coming from a calculated politician who understands that he’s not nearly crazy and bigoted enough to be a factor in the Republican Party anymore, but I appreciate it all the same.

School Board Meeting Gone Wild, First Amendment thrown out of the door,  here, there, and everywhere.

Restricting access to school board meetings seems more an "intimidation" of critics than any intimidation critics may pose in recording board actions. And it's against the law.

Caught on Tape:  Did Police handle this properly? (Warning hard to watch)

The video shows the officer tackling Jaquora White, 15, and then handcuffing the girl while she is seizing. Jaquora is then left on the floor for an extended period of time while the officers and school officials attempt to clear the halls. Paramedics were eventually called and Jaquora was taken to the hospital.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire?

When a school system closes public schools and replaces them by funding private organizations like The Pinnacle Schools, the people, the community, and especially the students, lose. The district, the people, lose their ability to oversee and question even extreme examples of child abuse as seen in these pictures.

Why Michelle Obama joining the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign is Ridiculous

Firstly, it was absurd to see Michelle Obama holding up a sign with the #BringBackOurGirls hash tag considering that her husband, as Commander-In-Chief, oversees Seal Team 6, as well as every other elite military unit available in the world’s mightiest army. If Mrs. Obama wants to #BringBackOurGirls, then she need not hold up a sign with a sad faced frown. She should talk to her husband.

 Eye see you.

The DOJ said Huntsville's plan does not integrate the school system enough.
Mayor Battle disagreed, stating the DOJ's plan "actually congregates larger numbers of African-American children and underperforming children in a few schools than the plan offered by the Huntsville School Board".

Peace.

" There can be no public discourse"

The problem we all live with — by Norman Rockwell (1894–1978), depicting an incident in the American Civil Rights struggle of the early 1960s, when Ruby Bridges entered first grade on the first day of court-ordered desegregation of New Orleans, Louisiana, public schools (November 14, 1960). Originally published in Look magazine.

 Looks like Colonel Casey Wardynski and the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education have taken a play out of the Chris Christie playbook in their quest for "unitary status".   Despite the fact the Feds said there is no need for secrecy, the #hsvboe is doing all it can to make sure there is no public discourse,  and in their infinite wisdom, the  media is helping them.  We the peeps never know what's going on until the deed is done and they think there is not a darn thing we can do about it.

Case in point, who knew the location of the new J.O.Johnson Middle and High School is .06 miles from an active Rock Quarry?  Meanwhile residents on the other side of the Mountain voiced outrage and desperation at a public meeting last month, saying they feared the blasting, increased heavy truck traffic and defacing of the mountain would damage homes, worsen air pollution, endanger lives and lower property values.
State Rep. Wayne Johnson, R-Ryland, is trying to get a bill passed by the Legislature that would prevent a quarry from operating within five miles of a school in Madison County.

So, if State Representative Wayne Johnson was trying to get a bill passed by the Legislature that would prevent a quarry from operating within five miles of a school in Madison County, why would the Huntsville City Schools Boardof Education, with the approval of  Mark Russell,president of the Huntsville City Council and other elected officials, approve the building of a new school .06 miles from an active quarry?

Other elected officials speaking against the quarry were Mark Russell, president of Huntsville City Council, Madison County District 3 Commissioner Eddie Sisk, state Sen. Paul Sanford, state Sen. Shadrack McGill, state Rep. Wayne Johnson, Gurley Mayor Rob Sentell, Gurley Councilman Robert Wren.
Their concerns addressed environmental quality of Flint River and Hayes Nature Preserve, unsafe traffic with trucks crossing Norfolk Southern Railroad along a curve, heavy trucks sharing roads with school buses, air quality at two nearby schools and a lack of local governmental control of the quarry operation.

What about the air quality at the new J.O. Johnson High School?  What about the blasting?  Would you want your children/grand children attending a school that was located .06 miles from an active rock quarry? The Rock Quarry was there first, it can't be moved, why build a new school that may or not be safe for students, teachers, administrator, and support personnel,  in it's back yard?

What Dr. Robert Bullard, Environmental Justice Movement founder said:

No other community, rich or poor, urban or suburban, black, brown, red, yellow or white should be allowed to become an "environmental sacrifice zone."

Today's Must Reads

ALABAMA CONFIDENTIAL

The miss-education of black/brown/poor students in Huntsville,AL continues

The definitition of "unitary status" according to Casey

Brown, not Wardynski. 

So, Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski presented his demand, I mean plan, HCS  be released from the federal desegregation order because the racial composition of the schools is the same as it was in 1963 and it's just time.  He went on to say (paraphrasing) just because the federal government was dysfunctional didn't mean the school system couldn't run itself,  or something crazy like that.  The reason I say it's crazy talk is because prior to becoming the Superintendent of Huntsville City Schools,  he was Colonel Casey Wardynski. You know, one of them there dysfunctional government employees.  But I digress....

School Board Attorney J.R. Brooks said (paraphrasing) if the DOJ doesn't grant HSC unitary status by the end of the month we are going to take the matter to Circuit Court (Is that a threat?).   Now I'm not a hot shot lawyer like Mr. Brooks, but since when does the Circuit Court over rule the United States Supreme Court?  Maybe he's confused.....

Via al.com

Unitary status would make it official, meaning federal courts agree that Huntsville no longer shows signs of the old dual system.

And how does Casey plan to accomplish this?

The actions they are taking are pure segregation. You are merging every minority failing school onto one piece of land with schools with all black names," he said.

Does he really think that's going to fly with the DOJ?  Nope.  That's probably why they are going to take it to Circuit Court.

 5:10: p.m.: Mayor Tommy Battle and city officials gave closing remarks. Councilman Richard Showers requested more transparency with the district's plans. The meeting ended before citizens got a chance to speak. Citizens were visibly displeased.

Stay tuned.  More to come.

The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington-Segregation Then, Segregation Now, Segregation Forever

TheSkeptikOne: 

 50 years. Just passed my 63^rd birthday and I'm packing for DC. Going to the Anniversary March. Going to stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial with other like-minded people and remember the words of Dr. King. I am geeked about this trip because it's been a long time coming, but instead of total elation, my heart is heavy thinking about it.

Huntsville Sitty Schools Ignore the Feds to Ignore the Feds Redux

According to Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski the Feds instructed Huntsville City Schools to ignore the Alabama Accountability Act in favor of the Desegregation Order, which they are also ignoring. 

Despite Alabama law allowing all students to flee “failing” schools, Huntsville will not allow hundreds of requested transfers.
“Under the Alabama Accountability Act,” said Superintendent Casey Wardynski, “we don’t have to do any.”
In fact, district officials say Huntsville will grant just eight Accountability Act transfers this year, or one fewer than the number of “failing” schools in the city.

 Initially, Wardynski said Huntsville City Schools were expecting a couple of handfuls of transfers under the Alabama Accountability Act, but  the system rreceived 502 transfer requests under the Alabama Accountability Act and granted just eight.

Questions:  If "we don't have to do any transfers under the Alabama Accountability Act", why were  eight Accountability Act transfers granted this year?  Are you going to ignore the AAA, or not?

Let's recap:  The red, republican controlled, Alabama State Legislature, with all their infinite sleaziness, passed the so called Alabama Accountability Act under the guise it helped parents flee so called failing schools.  School Board President, Laurie McCaulley said, and I quote:

“We have a lot of parents who bought into the Alabama Accountability Act, and thought they had guaranteed rights that don’t exist,”

 Now why would parents/tax payers think they had rights that don't exist?  It's not like the state legislature passed a bill that became law or something.

Here's the rub, Huntsville still operates under a desegregation order that HCS has been ignoring for over 43 years. That order, based on constitutional claims, requires transfers based on student race.

“We’ve had to be very careful with respect to AAA transfers,” said school board attorney J.R. Brooks. “We can’t take any action which is resegregative.”

 There is only one problem with the school board attorney's statement...the HCS system is re segregated  and African American students aren't being allowed  to transfer on basis of race either.

Wardynski today estimated the system has granted about 200 majority-to-minority transfers for the coming school year, although figures aren’t final yet

 Two hundred granted, over a thousand denied.

In past years, Huntsville typically received 1,000 to 1,500 transfer requests under the desegregation order and other guidelines. The vast majority of requests came from black students in north Huntsville. The system usually granted around 500 transfers a year and rejected the rest.
Wardynski said this year some schools, such as Huntsville High, began the year over capacity and did not accept a single transfer. He said a longer list of south Huntsville schools, including Grissom High and Mountain Gap and Whitesburg, were able to take a small number.
For example, he said Grissom High had space for 10 children. The system allowed nine transfers based on the desegregation order and had space left for one based on the new state law.

Frustrated parents, who believe they have rights the school system has determined they don't have, are being told  if they haven't received written notification of a transfer request by the time school starts to take their students to their home school.

The court order does not say a student may transfer from a school where they are in the majority to a school where they are in the minority if there is space available, HCS added the if space is available.  That's how they ignore the court order and maintain a "resegregative" (sic) school system.

A dual school system is re-emerging in Huntsville, marked by race, separated by geography and sorted by income.

For the first time, blacks account for 43 percent of the students in Huntsville. That's an increase of four percentage points in five years. But what sounds like a high-water mark for integration is just the opposite.

Despite rising numbers, black students here increasingly attend school among themselves. In 1997, Huntsville had five schools where more than 90 percent of the students were black. There are 10 such schools now.

The racial divide is similar among teachers, principals, even janitors and lunch ladies.

 Attack Machine commentator  George has the solution to the problem;

 Why not consolidate the schools. HSV saw peak enrollment in about 1983 at 35k. Current enrolled is about 24k, and we about many more schools now.
It would be an order of magnitude cheaper than building another $50million high school.

 JOJ (J.O. Johnson High School) is at about 50% capacity, so there is no need for a new GHS (Grissom High School).  Buses are cheap and plentiful. Include BHS (Butler High School) and eliminate one school entirely and sell the property (and the other empty buildings) to get rid of the maintenance and utilities cost.
This could have included LHS (Lee High School) too, but that was really a urban renewal project and not a school issue.

This is a great idea, but of course it won't be done because then Huntsville City Schools would be integrated, and all students, regardless of race, gender, income, or zip code, would have equal access to a quality public school education, and parents wouldn't be forced to keep their students in schools they want to get them out of.  According to this commenter at AL.com Wardinsky is doing the job he was hired to do. Keep the public schools segregated and go around the tenure laws.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

 There is no right (pun intended) way, to do the wrong thing, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result.

What George said;

 The question is, do you want busing, or to be under a federal court desegregation order in perpetuity? Or is there some other way to integrate HSV practically all white and all black schools?

There is another way, which I will discuss in another post.

WARdynski on Public Education

The Problem Black Students Still Live With

Access to a quality public education for black/brown/poor students is under a well funded, well organized, and sustained attack in Huntsville, AL. under the capable command of Colonel Casey WARdynski.

Why is public education under attack?  Well, because it's PUBLIC education.  Meaning, every child has access, regardless of race, gender, income or address, which is the opposite of PRIVATE education.  The only reason some (not to be confused with all) black/brown/poor children have access to a quality public education is because the school district is under a federal court desegregation order.

Board President David Blair says the court order is holding back progress, preventing city schools from experimenting with a system in which students choose a school based on what they want to study instead of where they live.
"I would love to see us challenge the desegregation order," said board member Jennie Robinson, who represents south Huntsville.The Justice Department, which monitors compliance with the court order, recently refused approval for a second southeast high school. At Grissom, the only nearby high school, less than 4 percent of students are black.
The Justice Department's action limits growth near the Tennessee River, Robinson said. Plus, she said the court order ignores that there are more than two races here. Last year, Huntsville had almost 600 Hispanic students and almost 600 Asians. Most Asian students attended Grissom or its feeder schools.
She also said some studies show children learn better from teachers of the same race.
Board member Topper Birney said the city school board could better operate without federal approval for every new building.

The Justice Department told the School Board to not even think about being granted Unitary Status.  My Daddy says if you can't get in through the front door then go around to the back door.  Looks like the School Board has finally found the man with a plan to continue to ignore the United States Department of Justice.  Keeping them there black/brown/poor students in their place, I mean their zones.  Snark

In a three-page explanation to The Times, Wardynski said his sweeping overhaul of system leadership was designed "to promote strong leaders into larger schools and into schools for which their talents are particularly suited."
Two of those principal swaps, the transfer of Lynette Alexander to Westlawn Middle and Dawn Ashley to Dawson Elementary, are designed to help the district "restart" low-performing schools. A "restart" allows the district to replace about 50 percent of the teachers and bring in new school leaders.
Wardynski called Alexander and Ashley "two of our most accomplished leaders" and said he expected immediate improvements.
The move also allows a district to cancel student transfers to other schools and erase a school's test score history in an effort to give it a fresh start.

Looks like Colonel WARdynski is doing at least on of the jobs he was hired to do.

In case you missed it, tonight the board had yet another discussion about how to evaluate Dr. Wardynski. The board has proposed five goals by which Dr. Wardynski will be evaluated. These are:
Accelerate Learning at All Levels
Increase Flexibility in the General Fund Budget While Preserving Educational Programs
Build Bench Strength Though Strategic Staffing
Improve Capital Infrastructure
Meet Department of Justice Requirements to Deserve Unitary Status

Today's Must Read
Just how much of a bonus should Dr. Wardynski receive for his work this year? 

Which brings me to the Pinnacle fiasco.  Stay tuned.

Update~New Alabama education policy director to push for segregated public schools

Emily Schultz, Alabama education policy director appointed by Gov. Bentley. [Read her resume: Emily Schultz]

Gov. Robert Bentley's new education policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.
Emily Schultz, 28, began her job as Bentley's education policy adviser in November, with a top priority of getting a law allowing charter schools passed during the next legislative session.
Previously, the Birmingham native worked under Michelle Rhee, who became chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools after the mayor took control of the district.

Translation with links for clarity;
Gov. Robert Bentley's new segregation policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.
Emily Schultz, 28, began her job as Bentley's segregation policy adviser in November, with a top priority of getting a law allowing segregated schools passed during the next legislative session.
Previously, the Birmingham native worked under Michelle Rhee, who became chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools after the mayor took control of the district and cost him his job.

The Alabama Policy Institute definition of Charter Schools emphasis mine

Charter schools are public schools that exist through a contract with either a state agency or a local school board. The charter—or contract—establishes the framework within which the school operates and provides public support for the school for a specified period of time. The length of the contract granted varies by state, from one to 15 years, with the average length being three to five years. The school’s charter gives the school autonomy over its operation and frees the school from regulations other public schools must follow. In exchange for this flexibility, the schools are held accountable for achieving the goals set out in the charter, including improving student performance.

Translation- it frees schools from federally imposed school desegregation plans and allows them to hire non certified teachers, non Alabama Education Association members, fire them at will and to re establish separate and unequal educational opportunities.

This is a brazen lie from the Alabama Policy Institute, emphasis mine;

Charter schools are subject to the same state regulations as traditional public schools, including special education, bilingual education, academic standards and assessments, health, and safety. They may not accept any private tuition payments, nor does money spent on charter schools diminish the resources available for public education.

How can they claim money spent on charter schools doesn't diminish the limited resources available for public education?

Alabama history is headed before a federal judge in Huntsville, as civil rights attorneys argue that the state's method of funding schools purposefully discriminates based on race.
At stake are the state's property tax rates, the lowest in the nation. Attorney James Blacksher of Birmingham contends that tax structure violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, largely by limiting the ability of rural counties to tax wealthy white landowners.
"Because of the anemic property taxes available to most local school systems, low-income students throughout Alabama, who are disproportionately black, suffer from underfunding," contends the suit.
But the state argues that any forced change in tax rates would decrease all property values, injure all property owners who plan to sell, paralyze the commercial real estate market and cause "widespread havoc in Alabama's government and real estate markets."

Again, charter schools benefit the fortunate few but leave the masses behind. I maintain IF Charter schools are the answer, meaning they close the achievement gap and guarantee results, why not do what charter schools are doing in ALL public schools? What if Alabama Cared as Much About Education as We do about Football?

On Saturday, incoming Governor Robert Bentley told an education summit to expect across the board cuts in education funding.

LiA commenter archangelsk says it best;

AEA member and former organizer with the group I believe that I can give you a pretty good idea of why to support the AEA. The Alabama Education Association is the largest teachers "union" in the state. With around 105,000 members (K-12, Post Secondary, Support Staff) it is the largest public employees association in the state. The AEA today has its roots in the AEA and ASTA, in the late 60's the NEA (National Education Association) passed a resolution that required all states with more than one association with membership based on race to merge and in 1969 the two associations here in Alabama merged to one. While the AEA is not an AFL-CIO affiliated organization, the NEA is. There is a competing organization the American Federation of Teachers, that is AFL-CIO, however has been embroiled in some controversy regarding their violation of an agreement with the NEA not to poach members from its affiliates.

The AEA is at the front in defending education at all levels state and local, for teachers and students. It has recently been at the front of efforts to block, School Vouchers, Charter School laws and has had to defend professional rights like Tenure and Fair Dismissal for Teachers and Educational Support Personnel (ESP's) on a yearly basis. In a state where education is not a right, unlike many other states in the union, AEA is a defender. Without the organization you would see the continued segregation of schools, even more of the "segregation academies", the privatization of public schools.

The defacto segregation of public schools in Alabama here we come!

Charter schools are another way of supporting the privatization of schools. Lets use the segregation academy example, parents sick of paying $2500/mo can get together, obtain a charter to open a school from their LEA, create admission/academic/behavior policies that would ensure minority students either could not gain admittance or maintain admittance in said school, resulting once again in de facto segregation. Charter schools are not held to the same standards as traditional public schools are, in other states they are not required to follow stat or district tenure rules, for instance. Charter schools also do not have to necessarily align their curriculum with the state or school district. There is also the issue of running schools for-profit, like businesses. Would you like the quality of your child's education being determined by shareholders or the ability to maintain a bottom line?

As to the issue of education being a right, in order to keep from being required to educate African-Americans, the current Alabama Constitution (written in 1901), unlike other state constitutions, does not have education as a right to its citizens, now, this has been rendered moot by Civil Rights laws, but the fact that the language continues to be present in the constitution implies that Alabama does not value education like other states do.

What is good for teachers, is good for students. Students are unable to vote or participate in the political process and parents are often misguided and un-or under-informed about education of their children. Teachers are at the front line of education, in the trenches experiencing directly the effects of policy handed down by legislatures and school boards. Like any other workforce, happy Teachers are effective Teachers. So maintaining professionalism and having a say in the how education works is important to the AEA and its members.

Before the concern for poor, inner city children crowd cranks up, if Charter Schools helped poor, inner city children the red, republican, Alabama State Legislature damn sure wouldn't be pushing it.

I said it then and I say it again;
Poor inner city parents won't have the option of charter schools either.
That's a real reality. If you think the republicans are clamoring for charter schools to be put in "these neighborhoods" I've got some swamp land in Alaska to sell you. The republicans are clamoring for charter schools as public funding for private schools for them. Sure they'll open 1 or two charter schools in "these neighborhoods" so they can say they are offering some poor parents a choice, but the majority will be in "their" neighborhoods, no poor children allowed in "these neighborhoods".

Mo Brooks, one of two key speakers, said that the Huntsville Housing Authority has in recent years quietly used vouchers to send poor families south and plans now to single out south Huntsville for more.
Going through the numbers at Whitesburg Elementary, Brooks argued that schools in south Huntsville have seen test scores drop in recent years "thanks in large part to what the Huntsville Housing Authority has done to us."

Charter schools are NOT more likely to serve low income, black, brown, gay, special education students than conventional schools, because they don't have to accept low income, black, brown, gay, special education students because they are exempt from the state and federal laws public schools follow. This is a fact not a hypotheses.

I oppose charter schools , and why;

Public money for schooling is best used in the conventional public system. Those who don't want to use that system have the option of private schooling or homeschooling. And we also have magnet schools that work well. Charter schools will simply sap more money from public schools who desperately need it and who will face major cuts during this Depression.

If this doesn't wake up the sleeping Alabama Democratic Party, The Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Education Association I don't know what will. God help the children who are our future if they continue to sleep.

The Huntsville City Schools Broad Civil Rights War~ Update

Civil War Stories and Diaries

 Let's recap.

In a 3-2 vote, the The Huntsville City School Board of misEducation fired the previous Superintendent, Dr. Anne Roy Moore, replacing her with retired Colonel Casey Wardynski, fondly refereed to as The Polish Hammer by the dumbest human being ever allowed to have a talk radio show. But I digress.

According to comments at al.com Wardinsky is doing the job he was hired to do. Keep the public schools segregated and go around the tenure laws.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

Remember my post, How to tell if your school district is infected by the Broad Virus? Casey Wardinksy is a Broad Fellow.

The Broad Superintendents Academy was started in 2002 by entrepreneur and philanthropist
Eli Broad to transform urban school districts into effective public enterprises. The Academy is a program of The Broad Center for the Management of School Systems.

The Academy identifies and prepares prominent leaders—executives who have experience successfully leading large organizations and a passion for public service—then places them in urban school districts to dramatically improve the quality of education for America’s students.

The Academy is run like an executive training program. Participants attend extended weekend sessions over the course of 10 months, while continuing to work in their current jobs.

Are Davis Hills Middle School teacher Jo Ann Thompson, Grissom High School Football coach Keith Henderson, and Hampton Cove Elementary School Principal Fillis McGhee, the first casualties of the Broad Civil Rights War? I report. You decide.

Principals are treated like pawns by the superintendent, relocated, rewarded and punished at will.

A rash of Astroturf groups appear claiming to represent “the community” or “parents” and all advocate for the exact same corporate ed reforms that your superintendent supports — merit pay, standardized testing, charter schools, alternative credentialing for teachers. Of course, none of these are genuine grassroots community organizations.

Culture of fear of reprisal develops in which teachers, principals, staff, even parents feel afraid to speak up against the policies of the district or the superintendent.

Ballooning of the central office at the same time superintendent makes painful cuts to schools and classrooms.

Superintendent attempts to sidestep labor laws and union contracts.

Superintendent lays off teachers for questionable reasons.

Your school board starts to show signs of Stockholm Syndrome. They vote in lockstep with the superintendent. Apparently lobotomized by periodic “school board retreat/Broad training” sessions headed by someone from Broad, your school board stops listening to parents and starts to treat them as the enemy. (If you still have a school board, that is — Broad ideally prefers no pesky democratically elected representatives to get in the way of their supts and agendas.)

Davis Hills Middle School teacher Jo Ann Thompson is a victim of the Huntsville City Schools calendar. About nine years ago, someone had the big bright idea to build a "fall break" into the school calendar instead of instituting a year round school year, so the affluent could take a vacation,creating an unnecessary hardship for parents and teachers. Per LiA blogger countrycat

When this fall break business first started,
I had just stopped working full-time.
And I remember thinking at the time "What the heck will families with two parents working full-time (or more!) or single parent families do?"

Previously, my husband and I would trade off vacation days during spring break and school holidays - or send our daughter to some local camp or museum program for half days.

BUT, that worked because we both had relatively flexible work arrangements that included generous vacation time (I got 3 weeks and he had FOUR!) and we could afford the day camps.

Lots of people work full-time without vacation benefits or even sick leave. I have no idea how they cobble together child care arrangements for short breaks like this. I really feel for them.

Public School teachers and public school parents have the same problem. . If Huntsville City Schools had year round school, or, if all schools in the state had the same start date tax payers wouldn't have this problem scheduling vacations,  child care, etc.

This is an example of political parental involvement. The politically involved parents are the ones that pushed the Fall Break agenda, AFTER they fought a recommendation that all Alabama public schools have the same start date and end date. I guess they were against it because AEA was for it.

I'm surprised school board member David Blair voted to fire Hampton Middle School Principal Fillis McGhee based on allegations of falsifying documents in light of the fact during his previous tenure on the board he moved from the district he was elected to represent and lied about it. Looks like Fillis McGhee is a victim of Fall break too.

District 2 suffered low voter turnout for the runoff, with just 14 percent of the 29,737 registered voters in the district casting a ballot.
By 2 p.m., more than halfway through the 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. voting period, just 150 people had voted at the polling place at Covenant Presbyterian Church.
"I expected it to be slow, but not this slow," said Nick Leone, inspector at that precinct. "I'd anticipated about 500 voters."
Leone said he believes area schools' fall break played a part in the low voter turnout.
"The timing was bad," Leone said. "You have fall break, and a lot of people just aren't that interested."

If anyone believes the firing of Fillis McGhee is about falsifying documents, I have some swamp land in Alaska for you to buy. Lest we forget the Hampton Cove school was built and opened without a clearance from the DOJ  because  it just skipped the mind of the school board attorney.  Snark  In exchange for this little faux pax the School board agreed the school would be 20% African American.

He pointed to Hampton Cove Middle, another new school in a white neighborhood. There the school board agreed to aim for a student body that is 20 percent black. The black transfer students will bus in from north Huntsville.

FACT,The Huntsville City School system is under a federal court order to desegregate the school system.

In 1970, a federal judge ordered the official end of a dual school system in Huntsville. The order said no school in Huntsville should appear intended for students of a certain race. Yet, in 2003, 10 city schools are more than 90 percent black.

FACT, this is how the majority members of the present HCS board feel about desegregation.

David Blair says the court order is holding back progress, preventing city schools from experimenting with a system in which students choose a school based on what they want to study instead of where they live.

"I would love to see us challenge the desegregation order," said board member Jennie Robinson, who represents south Huntsville.

The Justice Department, which monitors compliance with the court order, recently refused approval for a second southeast high school. At Grissom, the only nearby high school, less than 4 percent of students are black.

The Justice Department's action limits growth near the Tennessee River, Robinson said. Plus, she said the court order ignores that there are more than two races here. Last year, Huntsville had almost 600 Hispanic students and almost 600 Asians. Most Asian students attended Grissom or its feeder schools.

She also said some studies show children learn better from teachers of the same race.

Board member Topper Birney said the city school board could better operate without federal approval for every new building.

Resegregation is a new word for a new circumstance.

"I don't see a problem with the demographics so long as they are the result of the unfettered exercising of freedom of choice," said Mo Brooks, a member of the Madison County Commission. "I don't think it's a case of east or south or west Huntsville excluding minorities so much as it's a case of minorities wanting to live in close proximity to their centers of influence, those being Oakwood College and Alabama A&M University."

Stay in your zone is code for stay in your place

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- A leader in the Madison County Republican Party has written a letter to federal officials stating that disparities between white and black students in Huntsville's school system exist because "life is unfair."
"If there is unfairness, it is because life itself is unfair. The unfairness is not manmade," said Hugh McInnish, at-large member of the county's Republican Executive Committee.

This is war.  Let us march on until victory is won.

Edit~ The Huntsville City School System is Hopeless

The motto for the Huntsville City Schools  used to be Education is the Hope of the Republic, but after attending a recent Save our schools, Save our Neighborhoods meeting I've come to the conclusion there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools, so they should just close all of them. The powers that be aren't interested in educating ALL children, they are interested in educating SOME children.

Based on a the findings of a so called demographic study the school system is closing 9 public schools with the majority being guess where...the African American neighborhood.

Have you ever heard of a demographic study with no data?

Several questioners — in particular, Dr. Roger Richardson of Alabama A&M – demanded to see the data, methodology, and assumptions behind the study. Said Dr. Richardson: “If the board paid $75,000 for this study, it should demand its money back.” He went on to explain that in his professional capacity, he would give no credence to a study that did not explain where and how it arrived at its conclusions. One lady who was at the microphone later said to the panel: “You’re in a town full of engineers and other technical people, and they’re going to want to see the data.” Answered Wilson: “Yes, I’m finding that out.”

Psst Dr. Richardson, they don't have to give you no stinking data because they are the HSC BOE. You know, the same BOE that ignores the United States Supreme Court.

Remember over 50 years ago when the Supreme Court ruled separate but equal public schools were illegal in the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka decision? Evidently Huntsville City Schools didn't get the memo because it's deja vu all over again.

The District’s 2007-2008 overall student enrollment was 43.1% black and 48.7% white. However, the majority of the District’s 47 schools were racially identifiable black or white due to the composition of their respective student bodies.

The school closure/consolidation plan is supposed save money but as Ben points out that dog won't hunt.

One of the more enlightening moments of the evening came near the end from, of all people, Ann Roy Moore (assuming she knows what she is talking about, and in this case, I believe she probably does). Given the recent Huntsville Times article reporting that the city is still paying gobs of money to maintain the schools it shut down last year, I had been wondering why the system didn’t just dump the properties for whatever low ball price someone was willing to pay, just to end the upkeep costs. Moore explained that according to state law, the school system is not allowed to sell any property for less than its appraised value. The state can grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis, but only if a property fails to sell in a couple of years or so. Another option would be for the system to demolish the school building and sell the land. But in poor neighborhoods, even the land isn’t worth much.

In other words, if the system closes the nine schools currently on the chopping block, it will have to pay for all the costs associated with combining schools, buying more buses, etc., but it will also have to maintain the shuttered campuses for a couple of years or more until they can be sold. Or it will have to pay to demolish the school buildings. The more I hear about this, the worse it sounds.

So here's the deal,  if you are affluent, you have access to the best public education your tax dollars can buy your property values are safe.

If you are middle class/ low income, you don't have access to the best public education your tax dollars can buy,  and your  property values aren't worth much.

I repeat

Back in the day ALL of the Huntsville City Schools were excellent schools. There were no identifiably black and white schools. All the teachers taught all the students, and all the students learned. Back in the day it didn't matter where a student lived because the quality of the school in the neighborhood wasn't tied to property values. Fast forward to the present and the reverse is true.


As long as the quality of public education in Huntsville is based on parental income and property values there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.


As long as those in positions of power believe it’s a silly, unrealistic, line that every school should be as good as Grissom, there is no hope for Huntsville City Schools.

As long as those in positions of power believe them uppity coloreds and sneaky Mexicans would receive an education only white, god-fearing, clean, and law-abiding children deserve, there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.

As long as black parents aren't politically involved to the same extent as white parents there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.

I don't care how many Superintendents, clueless consultants and school boards are hired and fired, there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools as long as people with racist beliefs have the power to exercise racism.

One would think a school system whose motto used to be Education is the Hope of the Republic would make an effort to educate ALL students regardless of race, gender, sex, or address for the HOPE o our Republic.