School Board Member Press Release

This press release was sent to me; I thought it should be posted. I imagine it will bring forth much discussion.

Thoughts/comments?

For Immediate Release:
January 28, 2007
RE: Brian Dey’s Neighborhood/School Choice Plan
Contact: Brian Dey
bdey@tds.net
262-681-0661

Over fifty years ago, Linda Brown was an eight year old black child that had to cross Topeka, Kansas to attend a school that was designated as an all-black public school, while her white friends were free to attend the neighborhood school, just a few blocks away. The decision of the Supreme Court, in their ruling regarding Brown v. Board of Education, made it unlawful to separate children by the color of their skin, and striking down the courts previous decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed separate but equal schools. Over fifty years later, there is a fear that a neighborhood school plan would return us to the injustices of the past.

I am offering a plan that assures that neighborhood schools won’t take us back to those injustices. The plan calls for all children, district wide, to be assigned to the school closest to their home. The District would maintain district wide school choice with bussing provided for students who receive free or reduced lunch. The plan also calls for all schools to be considered in the neighborhood school concept including our magnet schools. Magnet programs will be kept intact but may have to be moved to different locations. To attract talented teachers to inner city schools, the District will provide specific training and pay incentives. Additional resources should be provided to inner city schools for counseling and social services. Multiculturalism will be included in the curriculum district wide. Lastly, capture as much diversity as possible, while maintaining sensible contiguous boundaries. The School Board will monitor annually that all buildings are equitable and that resources are expended based on need.

Many communities, including Milwaukee Public Schools, have returned to neighborhood schools, realizing the benefits to students, parents, neighborhoods and taxpayers. The benefits to students include little or no time spent on buses, the opportunity to be more involved in after school activities and the ability to receive help with school work after school. The benefit to parents includes the ability to be more involved in their child’s education. The neighborhood benefits by increasing pride and concern for their community, and will hopefully lead to citizens and community leaders becoming more involved. For the taxpayers, savings should be seen by reduced transportation costs and/or more money going directly to the classroom.

Segregation, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, is the policy or practice of separating people of different races, classes or ethnic groups, as in schools, housing and public and commercial facilities, as a form of discrimination. Drawing boundaries by neighborhoods and allowing the freedom of choice is color-blind. Whether you are Black, White, Hispanic or any minority, all would have the ability to attend their neighborhood school and the ability to choose any school in the district.

This plan is similar to the Milwaukee Neighborhood Schools Initiative outlined in the 1999 Wisconsin Act 9. We might be able to petition the state to grant us the same provisions Milwaukee has, which include provisions for facility bonding and additional aid.

In the thirty plus years of RUSD’s self-imposed desegregation policy, the achievement gap has not narrowed significantly. It’s time we rethink how we educate children. It’s time to believe that all children have the ability to learn and succeed. It’s time once again to have the school be the center of the community, and that all schools will be great schools.