Reform Fairytales
Posted on July 25, 2013
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The sheer audacity of John White’s Louisiana Department of Education never ceases to impress me. They are more than willing to make any argument that suits their purposes regardless of the facts or previous arguments they have made. They are not afraid to lie to the media, parents, and even judges believing that no one will ever question anything they claim, regardless of how ridiculous or contradictory.
Take this very recent case. St Helena has been under a desegregation order/suit for the past 50 years. The state decided to take over the middle school, the heart of the school district, in the 2010-2011 school year. The previous administration in St Helena allowed this to happen, believing they had little choice but to comply, and that the state and RSD (Recovery School System) might have a chance of improving their school system. St Helena is the poorest parish in the state, and since performance is most strongly correlated with poverty, they also are one of the lowest performing. Drastic, radical, and unproven education laws and policies are geared toward punishing and overwhelming poorer districts. Rather than providing supplemental support to help poor districts overcome the handicap of endemic poverty, the state and Reformers prefer to
