Groups behind civil rights complaint call for resignation of state’s school superintendent
Two community groups that recently charged the state’s Recovery School District with discrimination against African-American students called Thursday for state education chief John White’s resignation.
An open letter penned by the groups — the Coalition for Community Schools New Orleans and Conscious Concerned Citizens Controlling Community Changes (also known as “C-6”) — condemns White for not taking their concerns seriously.
The state superintendent of education told NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune in May that the civil rights complaint the groups filed against the state and RSD was factually “a joke” and a “political farce” prompted by two national teacher unions trying to get a toehold in the area.
The complaint decries school closures and alleges that the RSD, which White directed before becoming state superintendent of education, disproportionately closes low-performing schools with higher black populations. It also criticized the RSD, claiming — erroneously as it turns out — that the district let the city’s highest-performing schools bail out of the citywide enrollment process, OneApp, and continue with admissions requirements that complainants say shut out black students.
“As Superintendent, you should take seriously and investigate any charge of discrimination that harms students of color in Louisiana,” the letter to White reads.
“Your comments are reprehensible and prove you are not fit to be Louisiana State Superintendent of Education.”
The letter is signed by Frank J. Buckley, a John McDonogh High School alumnus, and parent advocate Karran Harper Royal, both long-time and highly vocal critics of the RSD.Though not mentioned in the complaint, John Groups behind civil rights complaint call for resignation of state’s school superintendent | The Lens: