[Durham INC] Proposal for Black Academy in Durham NC

[Pat Carstensen]

Why isn't one of those wonderful charter schools proposing to "create an opportunity" from serving the kids who would benefit from a different kind of educational setting?  (-:

From: AllanLang at aol.com
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 17:01:16 -0400
To: inc-list at rtpnet.org
Subject: [Durham INC] Proposal for Black Academy in Durham NC







Carl Kenney's blog (http://www.blogger.com/profile/08726120253716456109 ) 
looked at this issue in a different way and below is Tim Tysons's reply.
 

The back and forth 
bickering between members of Durham’s Board of Education could be the prelude to 
impassioned racial division.

The board is split, 
on racial lines, over a proposal to create an all-male academy to target black 
and Hispanic students. White board members are expressing concerns that the 
academy is too costly.  Black board 
members consider the approach essential given the current state of black and 
Hispanic male students.

The board will vote 
on June 27, and many feel the proposal will fail given the 4 to 3 white 
majority. 

The concerns of white 
board members are perceived as further validation that they don’t care about 
black students.  It’s an old cry 
that forged a wedge in Durham that landed the city the label black sheep of 
North Carolina by the Greensboro News 
& Record.  It was an era of 
extreme tension that resulted in people being arrested during school board 
meetings for protesting against an assumed racist 
agenda.

Things could get 
worse if the current board refuses to see beyond counting the cost related to 
the forming of an all-male school.  
If white board members want to make this about cost, they will reap the 
fury of a community disgusted with a lack of response to growing problems among 
black and brown boys.

White board members 
can’t hide behind the net of cost restraints.  The perception of racial insensitivity 
is the subject of a U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights 
investigation into whether Durham Public Schools disciplines black students and 
students with disabilities more than others.  The mounting of evidence suggest the 
need for an alternative approach, and the failure to consider the all-mail 
academy will send a message that will hamper the board’s ability to function 
beyond the assumption of racism.

The lawsuit against 
DPS was filed by the Advocates for Children’s Services, a project of Legal Aid 
of North Carolina, and the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights 
Project of UCLA.  The lawsuit 
alleges that DPS suspends black students at more than four times the rate of 
white students.  The complaint also 
claims DPS suspended 17 percent of all students with disabilities, compared with 
8.4 percent of students without disabilities.

The lawsuit addresses 
a 15-year old eighth-grader who started failing classes after being suspended 24 
days during the 2011-12 school year due to behavior linked to mental 
issues.

"At no point did DPS 
discuss or consider substantive ways to address his problem behaviors without 
resorting to the punitive measure of out-of-school suspension. The school also 
failed to provide (him) with any education services while he was suspended, 
resulting in his falling even farther behind," the complaint 
states.

An all-male academy 
could be used to offset some of the concerns stated in the complaint. 


“This is a very 
resource-intensive endeavor that would require more money than what follows a 
student,” Leigh Bordley, member of the school board, stated at a recent town 
meeting to discuss the proposal. “To be true to the success of these types of 
schools, we’ll need that additional funding.”

Bordley went on to 
claim the R.N. Harris Integrated Arts/Core Knowledge Magnet School serves the 
same purpose as the proposed all-male academy. 


“We are doing it,” 
Bordley argued. “We’re having success there and we’re not replicating it. I want 
our resources to go to our neediest children. It takes more than the funds that 
follow a student to make this successful.”

Bordley’s conjecture 
is rooted in the type of hyperbole that leaves one wondering if she lives with 
her head in the sand.  Discussions 
related to the education of black boys in Durham are held within a context that 
assumes black boys are playing on an equal playing field.  Something is wrong, and Bordley and her 
cohorts are making things worse by making assumptions that make it seem 
they have never taken a step into the world of black male 
youth.

Eric Becoats, DPS 
superintendent, stressed the importance of taking extra steps to assure black 
and brown boys don’t fall through the cracks. Heidi Carter, board chair for DPS, 
stated she needs more data before moving forward.  

Excuse me.  More data? Suspensions, dropouts and low 
academic performance aren’t enough data to support pulling your head from the 
sand to seek a way to rescue these boys.

The school board was 
handed extensive data that proves the success of all-male schools across the 
county.  Carter asked for more.  Why do black boys always need more to 
get a chance to succeed?

 Minnie Forte-Brown, the normally calm and 
reconciliatory board vice chair, almost busted a fuse when begging board members 
to think outside the box.

“We know that we have 
children who are drowning. But what are we going to do to help them?” 
Forte-Brown said. “I want you to think and stop being scared. You’ve got to step 
out on faith. We’ve had kitchen table conversations, but we’ve never had the 
community that’s before you today.”

Amen!

Forte-Brown asked the 
board to do something. “If it works, it works. If it fails, it fails. But to not 
do it is unconscionable.”

Board member Omega 
Curtis Parker asked members not to discount the plan based on 
cost.

“We can’t stop living 
or educating these children because times are hard,” she said. “It’s our 
responsibility to do what we can for our constituency. It’s been presented to us 
and funds have been identified. But there is a particular segment of our 
community that needs to be serves, who tend to be minority. Why are we so much 
against what’s good for our children?”

Becoats continues to 
emphasize the money is there to support the all-male academy, and that money 
will not be pulled from existing schools.  
He says the school will mirror the Durham School of the Arts and City 
Medicine Academy in offering small classes with themed 
instruction.

It hasn’t been enough 
to sway white board members to consider what the black community has been 
feeling for years.  From Bill Bell, 
the mayor, to countless black community leaders – something has to be done 
before it is too late.

It may not be racist 
for the white board members to vote against this proposal, but, if they do, it 
will be virtually impossible for the black community to ever support their right 
to speak on the behalf of black children.

Look for the turning 
back of the clock.     Carl 
Kenney

This is Tim Tyson's reply to 
Carl Kenney blog on Proposed Black Academy

 
"Forty years of scholarly research since the 1966 Coleman Report, most 
education scholars agree, has at least one clear and central finding, which is 
that mixed schools serve our children best, according to more than fifty years 
of scholarly research since the Coleman Report. Schools with a middle-class 
majority set a stronger tone of achievement. At a certain tipping point of 
impoverished children, who already shoulder too many burdens, schools sink into 
misery and failure. Every single one of the failing schools in NC reflect the 
ravages of re-segregation by race and socioeconomic class. 

The arguments 
Rev. Kenney makes here do not refer to any sifting of evidence. Red-hot rhetoric 
is not enough: "It may not be racist" to disagree with him; "Why are we so much 
against what is good for our children?" and "Why do black boys always need more 
to get a chance to succeed?" 

Is the school board majority opposed to the 
well-being of black boys? Is it true that the race and gender of these children 
causes board members not to care what happens to them? Stomping your foot and 
implying that somebody is an enemy because they disagree with you is not 
persuasive.

The "extensive data" that Kenney refers to goes unexplained. 
This assertion certainly does not represent any consensus of the scholarly 
literature. People of good intentions can differ. But to pretend that the 
research shows a deafening roar in favor of academies segregated by race and 
gender are unjustified. To insist that anyone who disagrees with you doesn't 
care about African American boys tells us nothing. If this reflected careful 
sifting of the facts, there could be no objection. Even though I support Brown 
v. Board, I understand that its implementation was tragically flawed. But my own 
moral beliefs and the NAACP's position aside, I would fight for any policy if I 
thought it would help close the chasms of race and class. 

Attacking the 
intentions of board members without any acknowledgement of the complexities here 
is not thoughtful; to do so without evidence borders on demagoguery. In my 
assessment of the scholarship, the case for mixed schools is clear. At the very 
least, that case should be carefully considered. Those who accept it, which 
includes not just Durham's evil school board majority but the NAACP and most 
education scholars, should not be hooted down as a sign of malevolence. 


To advocate such schools without reference to the damage of 
re-segregation in our public schools is an odd position. If you think the 
downside is outweighed by the upside, okay, make your case. You can't just 
pretend you are not abandoning Brown v. Board or ignoring the vast scholarship 
that shows re-segregation wrecks school systems.

Re-segregation also 
wrecks local economies. According to a 2007 Brookings study of 300 American 
cities, re-segregation is the single most common cause of economic blight in 
America. It is not a coincidence that the twenty most economically depressed 
cities in America are also the twenty most segregated by class and race. The 
best places to live and raise a family in this country are headed in the other 
direction. Durham's future and our children's best interests do not seem 
well-served by schools segregated by race and gender. That this assessment of 
the evidence means that I don't care about the well-being of African American 
boys is certainly an odd conclusion"

Tim Tyson
State Education Chair, 
North Carolina NAACP
 
 
 
 
Allan Lang


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