Written by Larry Aubry, (Columnist), on 06-06-2007 23:57
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I am no fan of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) or charter schools but I realize many parents consider them a viable alternative to the pitiful education their children receive in LAUSD.
My criticism of LAUSD is of long and bitter duration, based on the district’s failure to educate Black students. Through the years, parents and community pleas (and occasional demands) for fair treatment of Black students have fallen on deaf ears: LAUSD has always treated our students as inferior.
My objection is not to charter schools per se, but the fact that their achievements do not benefit the total school district. Also, students “left behind”(non-charter schools) are disproportionately low achievers subjected to continuing inequities in LAUSD. Many of their parents are poorer, less sophisticated and less likely to marshal the political clout necessary to pressure elected officials, the school board, superintendent, etc. These students include those most in need and least likely to receive even an mediocre, let alone quality education.
Charter schools have the best of both worlds-substantial autonomy, funded with tax dollars, but not otherwise obligated to help improve non-charter schools. (LAUSD should mandate that charters’ positive results be evaluated and when appropriate, incorporated into district programs and policies.)
LAUSD’s history of educating Black students is a sordid one, aided and abetted by virtually all segments, including uninvolved, parents and school communities. Efforts to focus on Black students’ needs have been largely unsuccessful. The district’s current Action Plan for a Culturally Relevant Education that Benefits African American Students and All Other Students does not focus exclusively on Black students and is more a paper than actual high-level district priority. Failure to monitor this plan by parents and community is typical and serves to let LAUSD off the hook for perpetuating the onerous conditions these stakeholders themselves are protesting.
Caring is not enough. Parents and others demanding change in LAUSD must reach consensus on the purpose of the particular effort. This is a very difficult, but critical first step towards developing effective strategies and actions. To effect change means taking risks and most people are understandably concerned about their jobs, families, etc. However, challenging LAUSD requires being willing to fight despite the dangers.
An increasingly small number of people, largely without Black middle-class participation has waged the fight on behalf of Black students in LAUSD for many years. It seems the “hills and heights” (Baldwin Hills and Ladera Heights) have abandoned the inner-city schools struggle which is shortsighted, to say the least. As long as race is a factor, what happens in the inner-city affects middle-class as well as poor Blacks. Failing to acknowledge this is having a devastating impact on attempts to improve education for Black students.
Historically, all segments of the community worked together to improve education; this starting in the 19th century and continued through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1970s—“more prosperous times”—the self-serving individualism of conservative Whites was embraced by a growing Black middle-class. (The problem, of course, is that access to societal benefits were not, and are not equally accessible to Blacks. The chasm between middle-class and poor Blacks is greater than ever before and this significantly affects efforts to improve education for Black students. Middle-class Blacks were central in the education struggle but are longer participate. Their absence ensures that the fight will be harder, significantly lacking the people power indispensable for winning battles against LAUSD and other exploiters.
Middle-class Blacks are not the only ones who should step up to the plate for Black children: A whole gamut of folks has been sitting on the sidelines. The school board has failed Black students, as has the superintendent, administrative staff, principals and teachers- all are part of the problem.
And Black elected officials’ silence on the issue of educating Black children is reprehensible. Most important however, parents and local communities too, are complicit by failing to hold LAUSD accountable for educating their children.
A start-up strategy to deal with LAUSD might involve people identifying those sufficiently dissatisfied to take some action, clearly defining the group’s purpose and commitments to achieve that purpose. (The broader goal is a new paradigm for providing a quality education for every child.)
Concerned people must do things differently, together, increasing the likelihood of changing LAUSD’s policies and practices that continue to maim Black children.
