The Root: NAACP Lawsuit Shifts School Debate
Lynette Holloway is a frequent contributor toThe Root. The Chicago-based writer is a formerNew York Times reporter and associate editor for Ebony magazine.
As states grappled with ways to reinvigorate the flagging public education system, charter schools were offered up as an attractive alternative: a way to break outside the mold and offer the kind of innovative learning environment and accountability for results that is more often associated with private schools.
Some critics fear that this alternative is now crowding out the public school system it was meant to supplement, creating a two-tiered system that leaves children in more traditional settings with fewer resources and options. That argument is the crux of a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the United Federation of Teachers against the New York City Department of