Public School Takeovers – When Local Control is Marked ‘White Only’
Do you like Democracy?
Then you’d better not be poor or have brown skin.
Because in America today we only allow self-government to rich white folks.
Sad but true.
American public schools serving large populations of impoverished and minority children are increasingly being taken over by their respective states.
People of color and people living in poverty are losing their right to govern their own schools. They are losing a say in how their own children are educated. They are losing elective governance.
Why? No other reason than that they are poor and brown skinned.
The most recent example is Holyoke Public Schools in Massachusetts.
Just two weeks ago, the state education board moved to place Holyoke schools in receivership.
So later this spring out goes the elected school board and in comes either an individual or non-profit organization to take over running the district.
On what grounds?
Well, Holyoke is a city of about 40,000 residents in the western part of the state. According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau figures, 31.5% of the city’s residents live below the poverty level – nearly three times the state average.
Nearly half of Holyoke students do not speak English as a first language and nearly 30 percent are English-language learners. Eighty-five percent of Holyoke students come from low-income households.
But those aren’t the reasons given for the state takeover. It’s poor test scores and high dropout rates.
The state board can’t just come out and admit it’s waging class and race warfare against its own citizens. Instead, out comes the racist dog whistle of test scores and accountability.
If those kids had just filled in the right bubbles on their standardized tests, freedom would continue to ring in Holyoke. If more kids didn’t become frustrated and drop out, the district would be a haven to rival ancient Athens.
Never mind that poor students almost always score lower on standardized tests than rich kids. Never mind that children trying to learn English don’t score as high as kids who have been speaking it since before preschool.
However, these “alarming trends” are actually improving – just not fast enough for the state.
The graduation rate climbed from 49.5 percent in 2011 to 60.2 percent in 2014. The dropout rate also has improved. However, when compared with richer, whiter Public School Takeovers – When Local Control is Marked ‘White Only’ | gadflyonthewallblog:
