Wendy Lecker: The fallout of school takeover laws
What does Colin Kaepernick have to do with public schools? By silently kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice, Kaepernick displayed the kind of civic engagement that is the goal of public education. Kaepernick’s actions inspired other athletes, at the professional, college and high school levels, to join in the silent, respectful protest. His protest sparked many to think about the true meaning of patriotism, beyond mindlessly repeating the words of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
This season, the NFL decided to ban these silent protests, under penalty of stiff fines. It is sadly not surprising that when African-Americans start to exert some influence, whites in positions of power attempt to thwart them. As Michelle Alexander pointed out in her book, “The New Jim Crow,” throughout American history, white society has reacted to any progress African-Americans made toward equality with attempts to repress those gains.
Takeover, a new book by Rutgers professor Domingo Morel, demonstrates that this pattern of backlash against African-American political empowerment has guided major education reform policy as well.
State takeovers of school districts are a favorite tool for education reformers. States swoop into impoverished school districts, declare them failures, strip districts of decision-making authority and often appoint an outside “expert” to turnaround the district.
As detailed in an earlier column,state takeovers are also a proven failure. In Detroit, Tennessee, New Orleans, and elsewhere, takeovers cause a great deal of disruption for teachers, students and families, but almost never result in any real CONTINUE READING: Wendy Lecker: The fallout of school takeover laws - StamfordAdvocate