[Durham INC] Proposal for Black Academy in Durham NC

[AllanLang at aol.com]

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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