Part time Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Michelle Rhee invites Memphis to Charter UP with Stand Up
Stand Up for Great Schools, the pro-school choice network that challenges African-American “grass tip” leaders to take charge of their children’s education, held its first “policy summit” in Memphis Thursday.
The pro-charter school message at the Hamilton Eye Institute on the University of Tennessee campus was a spirited call to action from Sacramento Mayor (and former NBA player) Kevin Johnson and Roland Martin, national broadcast personality, as they spelled out what they think is wrong with the current state of public education.
“We are sitting here, defending, allowing and assisting the current system to disenfranchise our children, and we are accepting that as the status quo,” Martin said.
“We are so caught up in defending a building in our neighborhood, but no one is asking what is happening in that building,” he said.
Roland encouraged the audience to align with Republicans working to extend charter schools in the state, saying they don’t have to agree on all the issues but must start working with the power brokers that share their interest in charters.
“Either the issues and the kids matter, or your party matters,” Roland said. “You are going to have to pick your team.”
Johnson, who is married to the former Michelle Rhee, aligned himself with Stand Up’s mission in 2009.
The event included a panel discussion with Michelle (Rhee) Johnson, former chancellor of public schools in Washington; Eric Mahmoud, founder of Seed Academy & Harvest Preparatory School in Minneapolis; George Parker, former head of the teachers union in the Washington schools; and Connecticut state Rep. Charlie Stallworth.
Besides Sacramento, Stand Up is working in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Birmingham, Alabama; Nashville; and Atlanta to help community leaders exert control by running their own charter schools or taking charge in other ways.
“Now, we are in Memphis,” Kevin Johnson said. “We’ve been to each of those cities twice. Now you guys have to do something yourself. You have to create a steering committee, create an agenda and then get back to us so we can continue the conversation. These are our children all over the country.”
Stand Up said it invited 65 people to Thursday’s summit. About 50 were present, including former Memphis Schools Supt. Carol Johnson and Rev. Kenneth Whalum.
Mayor A C Wharton stopped in briefly.
Alexis Gwin-Miller, executive director of Momentum Edge Coaching and Consulting, said she had heard good things about Stand Up’s work in the other cities.
“We have to take the same kind of stand in Memphis. I think we have begun to tackle that in ways by looking at the real results of students from economically impoverished backgrounds in Memphis. Teachers need help. The students need help. The parents need help,” she said.
Memphis has more than 50 charter schools with a total enrollment in excess of 15,000 students. More than 95 percent are African-American.Charter advocate Stand Up invites Memphis to join - The Commercial Appeal: