Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Education / Woods NAACP Lawsuit Blasts Metro Rezoning Plan as 'Segregationist Fraud'
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 8:58 AM
Tennessee state law requires free textbooks for enrolled students and has so provided since the early 1950s. Even during the ugly, harsh pre-Brown days, racially segregated schools for black students received textbooks (though out of date and battered). Now under the defendants rezoning plan in 2009, there are no textbooks for black students at John Early Middle School of any kind or nature. Despite the many promises by the defendants of extra resources and extra millions of dollars, John Early Middle School does not have textbooks to assign and give to their students.The girl's mother asked teachers why there were no textbooks. "One teacher said, 'we just don't have enough books so we won't be assigning them.' Another teacher said 'we were only given one set of books so we keep them at each desk for each class to use.' Another teacher said 'we pray for books but we only have a classroom set.' " When the school board voted 5-4 for this plan, officials promised extra money and extra resources for schools in the Pearl-Cohn cluster. They also promised parents could continue to send their children to schools in the suburbs even if they were rezoned. According to the lawsuit, neither promise has been kept. School officials so far aren't saying much about this, and we imagine they'll fall back on the old trick of telling the media they can't comment on pending litigation. But if these allegations are true, that won't work. Parents deserve an explanation now, and so does everyone in this city for that matter. As the lawsuit says:
The truth of what is happening at John Early Middle School exposes the Nashville rezoning plan as the segregationist fraud that it is. The failure of the defendants to take action to provide necessary and critically important school books at John Early Middle School is further evidence of their wrongful and illegal intent to re-segregate the Nashville schools.
Comments (28)
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This is a fucking outrage. Jessie, Karl? What do you two have to say about this?
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Holy shit. Just holy fucking shit. Dare I even ask how many text books the city could have bought with the money it paid MP&F?
...and we imagine they'll fall back on the old trick of telling the media they can't comment...
Another idea is to actually do some reporting. You have the lawsuit. You have what a mom said about books. Have you contacted the school? Does one school have more books than another? Are there different policies regarding textbooks? What is Bellevue Middle School's situation like? Have you contacted any school board members?
Why isn't the lawsuit in federal court likely to succeed?
This report upset poor Aunt B and will likely upset others but there is nothing substantive here. That doesn't mean there is nothing substantive out there but you have to go find it. Stop throwing crap against the wall.
we imagine they'll fall back on the old trick of telling the media they can't comment...
For the love of Pete. Have you tried to get a response? You have a lawsuit and a mom telling you what teachers said. What is the textbook situation at Bellevue? At Early? Are they different? Why? What did the local school board rep say to this?
There is nothing substantive here and you upset poor Aunt B and others like her. There might be something out there but you have to go bet it. You're supposed to report news and comment on it but first you have to get it.
"Under the plan, which is supposed to provide school choice, a sixth-grade honor student has been denied enrollment at Bellevue Middle School and forced to attend John Early Middle School."
Not quite. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was given a choice between John Early Middle School, located in North Nashville, or H.G. Hill Middle School, located on Davidson Road in the middle of West Meade. She chose John Early because, according to the suit, the school was academically better. (Until this year, John Early was a Paideia Magnet School and was ranked five out of five stars by parents.
The textbook issue at John Early seems appalling but note that, contrary to what Woods'story implies, the students all have access to textbooks (one for each desk) but can't yet take them home. It's not the first time that incompetent administrators in the Metro school system have made this same mistake which will presumably be remedied shortly. It has nothing really to do with the underlying merits of the lawsuit but, as the plaintiffs' very skilled lawyers understand, it makes for good press.
Is the Mayor's 2007 campaign commitment to good public schools on life support now?
My kindergartner is districted for John Early. Given the allegations of lies about more money and resources to the Pearl Cohn cluster and the growing perception of separate but equal school systems, we won't be sending her to Early when the time arrives.
The Mayor's Office should keep in mind that MNPS needs us more than we need it. As is, the system seems designed to manufacture a permanent underclass.
The students all have access to text books! Because there's one for each desk in the classroom! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Well, then, no worries! Everything's okay.
This is great. The kids never have to worry about homework and the parents never get to take a look at those textbooks to see if they have any problems with them.
What school administrator wouldn't love this? Shoot, I bet that, in no time, we see all the private schools in the area switching to the "one book per desk" system instead of the "one book per student" way of doing things, because it's clearly so awesome and nothing to worry about.
S-town Mike won't send his kid to K'garden due to allegations of lies? Don't feel obligated to check to see what the reality is?
Or are you looking for an excuse to not send her to a MNPS? Do you imagine a non-public school to be LESS segregated?
MNPS needs you more than you need it? You mean they need white folks who like to feign solidarity with blacks? They need people who get so indignant that they just pull their kid out of the system altogether? And that helps?
This is a common occurance in MANY MNPS schools. My kid went to Bellevue and didn't have a language book for a month and a Spanish book for over a week a couple of years ago. My other kid went to Hume Fogg for crying out loud and didn't have a physics book for an entire month two years ago. Is it right? No. Did it make me mad? Absolutely. But this happens due to many reasons (student population shifts, change in required course offerings) etc. Could the schools use better administration so this doesn't continue to happen - yes! But is happens all over, a lot. And by the way, John Early has an automatic feed into Hume Fogg that the families in Bellevue would to die for. This is just silly.
People will really brag publicly about how their kids didn't have books for a month? And run down the woman willing to sue over it?
Damn.
M. Kennedy:
My kid already goes to Kindergarten in a predominately African American K-4 public school. We are members of the PTO there and we have lived for her first 5 years in a predominately African American school district. Otherwise, I don't know what you are insinuating by the term "feigning solidarity," but it sounds like you are talking out of your ass.
Early is a middle school. I wrote that I would not send her to Early. I didn't say anything about pulling her out of Kindergarten. If we did find out that her current school is being neglected or that expectations for achievement are muted there pulling her out at the end of a term would be something for us to consider.
Our first choice is to send her to a public school. Our last recourse would be to send her to a private school (as the Mayor himself has done w/his kid), but if we have exhausted all public possibilities, then so be it. We are not looking for excuses; we are looking to help the system work.
Finally, what I meant is that MNPS needs families with bright, inquisitive kids and with parents invested daily in the education of their children, regardless of ethnicity or class. It needs families like ours more than we need it, because we are going work to place our kids wherever they can continue to excel.
Yes, the textbook shortage, while aggravating (and, after three weeks, inexcusable) is not germane to the larger issue of whether the Board intentionally assigned students to schools based on race. According to the suit, they did. Proving it is another matter. The Board, of course, couched its decision in terms of "increased parental involvement," neighborhood unity, keeping students together, etc etc. The Plaintiffs' attorneys marshall some anecdotal evidence of racial motivations (including pretty damning comments from Garcia), and the Board can't very well deny that the necessary consequence of having neighborhood schools is more segregated schools, but the suit is still a long shot.
M. Kennedy has a good point. Is there anything to the allegations in the complaint? We have no idea. This article does nothing to shed light on that question. Yet the city should be shocked into action? It would be to have an actual look into what is going on with the textbooks. More students enrolled than expected and so a late order for additional textbooks? Or actual indifference to this particular school? Is there any evidence of the promised additional resources for the cluster not actually be allocated?
Bullying is tragic and devastating - and it happens every day at every public and private school in this city. Is there some claim (and truth to any claim) that the school is ignoring this child's complaints about bullying?
Sorry, should have read: "It would be helpful to have an actual look into what is going on with the textbooks."
I wonder if Aunt B knows that Mike Turner was on the committee that recommended the "rezoning" plan and is definitely a proponant of everyone staying in their own backyard school, ie neighborhood? I guess that would just make her daily postings about him as Governor even more interesting.
S-town,
Sorry I got confused. You have a K student and you're threatening to not send her to the zoned middle school. You do realize that that is still years away don't you?
Look the private schools are full of people with your outlook... "would loved to have sent our children to a public school but I just want what is best for little Johnny." The transition often happens in the middle school years.
I'll save you time and anxiety. If you want to send your kids to a school with more affluent people, more stable families, and higher test scores then opt out. There will not tend to be significant differences with respect to teacher quality.
Here is what I don't understand: You challenge the mayor and mention how he sent his kids to non-public school. But, he has struggled to expand choice for all kids. He begged the state legislature to expand the number of charters.
As you noted, you have a choice. What fight would you be fighting if you, by virtue of your income, had no choice?
Another point in favor of rejecting the massive upcharge from the publishing houses for school textbooks and participating in the effort to create open, public-domain learning materials:
http://www.opentextbook.org/
http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org/
I'm actually contributing and editing several textbooks for this effort right now (Information Systems and Programming). The goal is to accredit in as many school systems as possible and provide the source material for free.
The Chamber of Commerce, among the most right-wing organizations in the country, has dumped huge amounts into the board of education elections in recent years. Is it any surprise the schools are in the shape they are?
Believe me, that textbook thing is happening pretty much everywhere. And I'm glad Henry pointed out that THESE KIDS HAVE A CHOICE! Seriously, you want your kids to go to school in the Hillwood cluster? Hey, great! Transportation is provided!
And the textbook thing? Let me explain. There are many, many things that go on at the beginning of the year. A lot of times, what happens is that the teacher will "check out" a set of books until they are ready to assign textbooks to students. So the class set thing? That's that.
I'm at Pearl-Cohn, and textbooks (and ID's) are being distributed this week.
My daughter has two classes in which they are currently working sans textbooks, which are not in yet.
I pay more to send her and her brother to this school than I do for food, shelter, and clothing combined.
The only logical conclusion is that Nashville hates Catholic people. Yeah, that's it.
It has nothing really to do with the underlying merits of the lawsuit but, as the plaintiffs' very skilled lawyers understand, it makes for good press.
Henry, the lack of textbooks is part of the argument for showing racist intent. The school system says, "we're not racist; we're inept." And the judge will decide whether he believes that. But there's no getting around this: Metro promised up and down to give these schools priority and then they let this happen. That helps the NAACP make its case that this rezoning plan is a "segregationist fraud."
"This is a common occurance in MANY MNPS schools. My kid went to Bellevue and didn't have a language book for a month and a Spanish book for over a week a couple of years ago. My other kid went to Hume Fogg for crying out loud and didn't have a physics book for an entire month two years ago."
Jeff, when the front doorbell rings, and upon opening the door you find a small paper sack fully engulfed, your first move is to stomp it out, right? ;)
However, I'm particularly intreagued by this quote: "Unsupervised students bully and threaten her to the point that she cries every day, according to the lawsuit. The girl is afraid to go the restroom at school 'because of the vicious threats against her.'" No kid should have to suffer through that. Which is why that statement pretty well sums up the reason behind the last 40 years of flight to private schools or out of Davidson Co altogether. Wonder what would have come of such a complaint if made by me when I was forced to go to John Early (the ooooooold building) from West Meade back in the 70's. Somehow, I doubt Judge Wisemann would have ordered the end of bussing for little ol' me. Besides, I got to like J.E. and made good friends there. It built character - so "last century" a thing to do.
No one can predict the exact numbers of students until the first week of school, especially in a new zoning/choice situation like this one.
All over Metro classes are being condensed and/or enlarged, teachers transferred (even at 2 weeks into school) from one school to another as class counts are finalized.
The school I'm at doesn't have enough textbooks for kids. I wonder who will file a lawsuit on our behalf.
The board want parents to be more involved in the school. I am a 74 year old grandmother who has custody of an eleven grade grandson. I have tried to talk to Dr. Register and Mr. Ralph for 2 months with no respond. As a matter of fact
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