State Senator leads clarion call over the Mis-Education of N.O. children
16th April 2018 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Shedrick Roy stood at the microphone, his voice steadily rising and his forehead beading with sweat as he addressed the 100-plus citizens and officials who gathered at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church last Thursday night (April 12) to discuss the status of education in Orleans Parish.
Voicing frustration with many of the city’s representatives in Baton Rouge and local leaders who he said are letting down the children of New Orleans, Roy’s anger almost boiled over.
“Our children are suffering and dying because our schools aren’t even up to third-world standards,” said Roy, a parent and self-described “native son of New Orleans.” “Or maybe we are in a third-world country here in New Orleans.”
Last Thursday’s community meeting included addresses and comments from State Rep. Joe Bouie, religious leaders, parents, teachers and other community activists who said they were fed up with and anxious about the ongoing unification process that’s bringing all post-Katrina schools back into the fold of Orleans Parish School Board.
The people who spoke and commiserated at the meeting voiced an array of concerns, from specific worries such as overly strict discipline in schools, the dearth of veteran minority teachers and the lack of bussing for many students and families, to an overarching belief that the move toward a completely charter-school system is dooming the future of the African-American population in the city – and that is also skirting the edges of legality.
Bouie said the process of placing all local schools under individually chartered and operated, profit-based system has been an experiment that’s unequivocally bombed.
“It’s the institutionalization of a failed experiment,” he said.
Bouie added that the failure and unresponsiveness of local and state leaders to the concerns of the populace has necessitated direct action on the part of citizens.
“We have to take to the streets,” he said. “We have to challenge the (Orleans Parish) School Board to do what the community wants to do. If we don’t do it, it won’t happen.
“We trusted the state,” he said, “and they deceived us.”
Cristi Rosales Fajardo, CEO of El Pueblo Nola and a parent, described what she called intimidation and retaliation by school officials against parents who have publicly spoken up and vocally expressed concern and criticism of the unification process and the direction the school system is taking.
Fajardo said children of activists are being punished unfairly or denied transportation, among other actions.
“It happens every single day,” she said. “It’s happening right now.”
Fajardo said she and other parents at Einstein Charter High School have filed a lawsuit against the school and the OPSB as a result of what they view as discrimination and inadequate education.
Another parent, Tashyra Marshall, asserted point-blank that racism and institutionalized neglect at schools are destroying the Black community.
“They do not want to see our children – Black and Brown children – succeed to the next level,” Marshall said. “They do not want us in this city. They are setting us up to fail. And when I say our children, I mean everyone in here, not just my children.”
One of the prime objectives targeted for action last Thursday was Act 91, the state legislation passed in 2016 that requires all schools that were placed under the control of the Recovery School District after Katrina must now be shifted back to OPSB control by July 1 of this year.
Act 91 also essentially decrees that every school that will now be back under the OPSB umbrella must be run as a for-profit charter facility, a fact that many in attendance decried, asserting that such a system promotes inefficiency, insularity and a crippling lack of accountability.
Some even questioned whether state and local actions – including Act 91 – taken regarding education since 2005 have even been legal at all.
“They’re drawing a very thin line between legal and illegal,” said Aaron Christopher, an independent researcher and former candidate for an at-large City Council seat. “They’ve [retroactively] enacted laws to make their illegal actions legal.”
By the end of the meeting, what began as a discussion had been brought to a steady boil and a clarion call for action. Plans were made to attend en masse the OPSB meeting on April 19 at 5:30 p.m. at district offices at 3520 General de Gaulle Dr., Suite 1050.
Bouie and others also urged attendees to read the laws, legislation and documents – including Act 91 – that have been enacted as part of the unification and charterization process, and several speakers urged the importance of using social media and generating petitions, both online and on the streets, to spur change.
Bouie summed up the meeting with some final comments.
“We’re not going to lie down,” he said. “This is how you start a movement. When people see us beginning to do something, they will join with us.”
This article originally published in the April 16, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
