Evidently attorneys from the Office for Civil Rights want to hear from parents and community members affected by the recent school closings. They will be meeting Wednesday, July 29 from 6pm-8pm at the St. Julian Divine Center on Cooper Street.
Fraser parents filed a complaint against the school district for racial discrimination when the district decided to close numerous schools in order to address their budget crisis. The only schools chosen to close were predominately African-American Title I schools. Fraser parents want to know why the burden of the budget crisis fell on only this group of students. The schools these students are scheduled to transfer to are also predominately African-American Title I schools.
According to their complaint, "The impact is falling disproportionately on black children in Charleston County creating a disparate impact."
I feel for the Fraser parents. Many of them simply wanted to wait until the Fall of 2010 to move when the new Sanders-Clyde building will officially be ready (We all know the new school is not going to be ready in December 2009 as promised).
It makes you wonder. What will the Office for Civil Rights do? Can they do anything? The schools are closed. The children have been forced to prepare themselves for attending different schools in a few weeks. Can the Fraser parents prevent this from happening to other schools? Will community members from other constituent districts finally rally together against CCSD? I guess only time will tell.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The NAACP was a no-show at our community meeting with the OCR despite the fact Dot Scott told us she would be there. Then she and Rev. Darby have a stupid press conference about the only decent school on the peninsula...the Charter School for Math and Science. The NAACP either doesn't have a clue or they're so deep in the Mayor's pocket, they'll never speak up for us.
The Charleston Branch of the NAACP is a disgrace. Does the national organization know or even care just how far off base this group is? We should expect better from this organization with the history it has. Maybe they've just grown too fat and happy while being wined and dined at the big table to know what it feels like on the front lines anymore.
Post a Comment