Today, Jitu Brown and the Journey for Justice will release a report on the steps of the Supreme Court about the continuing failure to enforce the Brown vs. Board decision of 1954.
Journey for Justice Alliance Releases Myth-Shattering Report “Failing Brown v. Board” that Exposes Deep Inequities in Public Education Across Race and Class
The Report examines course offerings in 12 cities revealing inequities that have remained since the civil rights movement, inspiring call from national organizations for a “new Brown v. Board” decision.
The Journey for Justice Alliance, a national network of community-based organizations in 31 cities, released its report “Failing Brown v. Board” which illuminates just how inequitable public education remains today, largely across racial lines. Through examining course offerings at high schools in 12 cities (and one elementary in Chicago), this report, which is backed by substantial research, shows how black and brown students are denied “access to inspiration” in comparison with their white, more affluent peers. “Failing Brown v. Board” was released on the first day of the “Poor People’s Campaign.”
“In America, inequity is ignored as children in the same city have two completely different educational experiences and the dividing line in many cases is race. Every American child and their family have the right to a high-quality neighborhood public school from grades pre-k through 12. We aren’t asking for a handout in this report, we are demanding a fair return on our tax investment,” said Jitu Brown, National Director of the Journey for Justice Alliance. “Without access to great equitable public schools, we are failing an entire generation of students and their families solely based on the color of their skin and their socioeconomic status.”
This shattering myth report, its findings, and multiple statewide educator walkouts have pushed national and local organizers to call for a “new Brown v. Board” initiative for educational equity. On Monday morning at the steps of the Supreme Courts, the Journey for Justice Alliance, in partnership with the #WeChooseCampaign and the Alliance to Reclaim our Schools (AROS), will release the report and outline planks of the nationwide campaign.
“As parents this report is true to our lived experience. We must have zero tolerance for inequity and demand justice for every child now,” Zakiyah Ansari, a New York public school parent and advocacy director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “We choose equity, not the illusion of school choice”
For members of the press who can’t attend the press conference in person, please email Richard Fowler (Richard@richardmediacompany.com) to schedule a one-on-one interview with one of the participants.
WHAT: Press Conference
WHERE: U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First Avenue NE, Washington DC
WHEN: Monday, May 14th at 9am
WHO: Jitu Brown, National Director, Journey for Justice Alliance,
Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers
Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director, Advancement Project,
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, President, National Education Association
And the following organizations: NAACP, Alliance for Quality Education NY, Alliance for Education Justice, American Federation of Teachers, Camden Parent’s Union, Dignity in Schools Coalition, Badass Teacher’s Association, Save our Schools
Read the report here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I found it difficult to find an organized list of the 12 cities. I have to wonder if any consideration was given to places such as St. Louis, where black population decreased by about 7 percent, due to real estate and charter school manipulation, some of it of questionable legality by Mayors’ offices.
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This report confirms that separate is never equal, illustrates the value of integration in a quality education, and shows that funding schools through real estate taxes is inherently unfair. We have known for decades that urban districts have been shortchanged, but there has not been enough political will to change how schools are funded. I wish this report had come out after the “Nation at Risk” propaganda. Instead, today we are caught in a political Pandora’s Box of privatization where groups dream up schemes to get their hands on public funds without consideration of the needs of students, and the schemes only serve to enhance segregation and inequity.
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Not surprising at all since people in education have noticed this from the beginning. The problem is that there is no desire for schools to be desegregated. Many ppl prefer segregated schools for a number of reasons. I would even say that today’s education climate does not care about students receiving a good education. Charters come to mind immmediately. So when the will is not there, it probably won’t be done.
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This was published in the Boulder Daily Camera today. It’s definitely worth the read. OY.
Boulder County schools
Data: Hispanics disciplined more
BVSD, SVVSD say they’ve made changes to address the issue of disparity in suspensions, police referrals for students of color
By Amy Bounds Staff Writer
Disparities in discipline rates for students of color are a longtime concern for local school districts, with a disproportionate ratio of local Hispanic students suspended or referred to police.
But officials in both the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts say they have initiatives in place to reduce both the disparities and dis- cipline issues in general.
The most recent discipline data from the Office of Civil Rights’ Data Collection, from 2015, shows that Hispanic students made up about 18 percent of Boulder Valley’s enrollment, but more than twice as much— 42 percent — of in-school suspensions.
The gap narrowed as the disciplinary actions increase in severity, with a 16 percentage point difference for out-of-school suspensions and a 13 percentage point difference for police referrals.
Boulder Valley in 2015 referred 88 students to police, with Hispanic students accounting for 31 percent of the referrals.
Steve Shelton, Boulder Valley’s director of student services, said the district believes the disparities in the discipline data are more of a socioeconomic issue than an ethnicity issue.
Students in poverty may be more likely to act out because of trauma, untreated mental health issues and family issues, he said.
He noted that Boulder Valley didn’t report any expulsions in 2015, and has rarely expelled students in the last five years because the district began using a deferred expulsion contract.
If students violate the terms of that second-chance contract, they’re expelled.
“We just felt that, philosophically, expulsion is not what’s best for kids,” Shelton said. “We try really hard not to go down that road.”
Boulder Valley spokesman Randy Barber said the district is looking at discipline disparities as part of its current equity work, as well as training all administrators in restorative justice
practices and adding counselors at elementary schools to better support students.
“We want to start on the low end, using the least possible consequence to change behavior,” he said.
The disparities for Hispanic students were smaller in St. Yrain Valley, but increased as the disciplinary actions become more severe.
St. Yrain Valley’s Hispanic students made up about 29 percent of the population and about 38 percent of inschool suspensions. That disparity increased to an 11 percentage point difference for out-ofschool suspensions and an 18 percentage point different for police referrals. For expulsions that year, there was a 28 percentage point difference.
St. Yrain Valley referred 103 students to police in 2015, with Hispanic students accounting for 47 percent of the referrals.
While a higher proportion of Hispanic students are expelled or referred to police in 2015, St. Yrain Valley spokeswoman Kerri McDermid said, the overall numbers are very small. Only 14 total students were expelled in 2015.
For the current school year, she said, just four students have been expelled so far, and one of those students was Hispanic.
For referrals to police, 76 students total have been referred so far, including 23 Hispanic students — less than 1 percent of the Hispanic student population.
“Our goal is to keep kids in schools,” McDermid said. “We have a lot of interventions to support students.”
Those include more counseling support for schools, increasing student engagement in the arts, athletics and other co-curricular activities, increasing academic rigor and providing more high-quality choice programing.
In Boulder Valley, school board member Richard Garcia recently asked for discipline data broken out by ethnicity and school. Those numbers include both the behaviors that lead to disciplinary actions and the actions taken.
Garcia said he would like to see the board talk about the disparities, and is hearing concerns from some parents about an over-representation of Latino students being suspended.
For Hispanic students, the top five reasons they got in trouble were fighting, hurtful physical behavior, disruptive behavior, marijuana and noncompliance or insubordination.
For white students, the top five reasons were hurtful physical behavior, detrimental behavior, bullying/ harassment, marijuana and alcohol.
On the discipline side, there were only small differences in the top three resolutions to behavior issues.
For Hispanic students, 22 percent of issues were resolved with a student/ teacher/parent/administration conference, 19 percent with an out-ofschool suspension and 13 percent fell in the “other action taken” category.
For white students, 17 percent of the resolutions fell in the “other action taken” category, 17 percent were resolved with out-of-school suspensions and 15 percent with a student/ teacher/parent/administration conference.
For both groups, 2 percent of behavior issues were referred to police.
Boulder Valley attendance advocate Christina Suarez, a previous Latino Task Force of Boulder County board member and currently a state attendance task force member, said poverty and mental health are the main factors.
“Schools educate and keep kids safe,” she said. “Some of the risk factors these kids have are way beyond what the school can address. It’s a community issue that needs to be addressed on a community level.”
Suarez said students who act out generally don’t have good coping skills and may get in trouble with a goal of being kicked out to cope.
“Keeping them in school is actually more of a punishment than suspending them,” she said. “And if you keep them in school, the staff has a chance to engage with them and turn them around.”
Manuela Sifuentes, president of the Latino Task Force of Boulder County, said teacher bias, even if it’s unintentional, likely contributes to the disparities for students of color.
“Not having not had the experience of growing up in a more diverse community, educators can be more clueless about their own bias and more likely to send a student of color to detention,” she said.
For students acting out because of mental health issues, she added, they may not feel comfortable talking to a teacher or school counselor who doesn’t share the “experience of being a brown body in a white school.”
Sifuentes’ recommendation: Hire a more diverse workforce, including teachers whose backgrounds mirror that of students — especially teachers who immigrated from Mexico or whose families immigrated.
“You want someone who matches the local culture,” she said.
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So, Yvonne, as per your excellent reference:
“Students in poverty may be more likely to act out because of trauma, untreated mental health issues and family issues, he said.”
I cannot believe that school districts, states, and the entire country, have not figured this out yet.
Fix the problems of poverty, and the schools and a whole lot of other things, would be fixed, as well.
All I can conclude is that they know, but just don’t care. 😦
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Once again they do not have the political will to tackle it. Or one vocal cynic said, “They had the war; poverty won.” I suppose this view supports the notion that these young people are not worthy of the investment of legitimate, democratic public education. Separate and unequal is the new normal.
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Yes, exactly. And very sadly.
Then they blame the kids who, through no fault of their own, went to schools without appropriate resources and overcrowded classrooms, and no counselors, etc, because they are not doing well.
{{Sigh}}
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and allow teachers, who get to know their students, to be fully free to reach out to any student in a non-standardized, non prescripted manner
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And this one, too. Holy cow. This country is going backwards.
Understanding that white culture is not the best or the best way is important. Good grief. Seems being AGGRESSIVE and SELFISH are rewarded in this country by far too many.
Teens’ experience shows campus reality for Native Americans
Police called for quiet behavior
By Mary Hudetz
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The teenage brothers — both shy and Native American— had just entered a recreation center on a tour of their dream university when a parent in the group stepped away to call 911.
“Their behavior is just really odd,” she said from the Colorado State University campus. “They won’t give their names …. They just really stand out.”
The teens’ quiet disposition and dark clothing were unnerving, the caller told the dispatcher. Campus police responded by pulling them from the tour, patting them down and asking why they didn’t “cooperate” when others asked them questions.
Yet for many Native Americans, much of 17-year-old Lloyd Skanahwati and 19year-old Thomas Kanewakeron Gray’s reserved conduct followed cultural norms often expected of youth — especially those taught in their schools and communities to be humble, as well as thoughtful about how and when to draw attention to themselves.
“Students who are quieter are taking information and processing it and thinking about information before they speak,” said Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, who is Oglala Lakota and a counselor for high school students at the Albuquerque Academy. “That shouldn’t be an indicator that a student isn’t fully engaged in the process.”
The teens’ April 30 encounter with police has been met with shock and outrage nationwide, as one of numerous examples of racial profiling to make headlines in recent weeks. At Yale University, a white student called campus police last week about a black graduate student sleeping in a residential common area. The graduate student fell asleep while working on a paper.
In the Gray brothers’ case, the discomforting interrogation also highlighted the complicated cultural circumstances Native Americans often must navigate in mainstream settings. That includes universities where they are likely to encounter students, professors and parents unaware of tribal value systems and how they differ from their own.
In some tribes, for example, it’s considered a sign of respect when youth avoid eye contact with adults during conversation, while non-Native Americans may interpret such conduct as dismissive. Listening also can be of greater value than talking in Native American communities.
“It’s not uncommon to have the students being really intent on listening to somebody as a means of learning and means of respect,” said Kara Bobroff, who is Navajo and Lakota, and founded the Native American Community Academy, a charter school in Albuquerque. “It’s not a value to put yourself out in front of everybody, necessarily. It doesn’t need to happen to define success.”
On campuses, Native Americans typically make up a sliver of the student body. They comprise 1 percent of U.S. college students. Once enrolled in a four-year institution, fewer than half finish, according to a 2016 report by the National Center for Education Statistics.
It’s incumbent on higher education institutions to take responsibility for improving those numbers, Bobroff said. The isolating experience of campus life — from admission tours to graduation — is eased when schools plan a welcoming environment, taking into account the communities and cultures students call home, she said.
“They might be stepping onto a campus where they are going to be one of the only Native students,” Bobroff said. “So trying to build a strong community around them is really important from the moment they interact with that school.”
Her charter school takes measures to prepare students for life after graduation, including sending faculty members to accompany groups of students on campus tours, she said. Afterward, they debrief.
The Gray brothers were alone on their Colorado State tour in Fort Collins, which is a seven-hour drive from their home in Santa Cruz, N.M.
Since they arrived late, they hadn’t been a part of an initial group introduction. But the older teen still introduced himself and his brother to the guide during a stop in the library, he said.
Their mother said Fort Collins was the farthest they had travelled together from home on their own, and they had saved money for the trip. They also registered in advance for the tour.
Police required the teens to provide an email confirmation from the university as proof they signed up before releasing them.
The brothers are Mohawk. Originally from upstate New York, they recalled attending cultural gatherings in which as children they kept quiet out of respect. Those experiences continue to influence how they conduct and carry themselves, especially while participating in an organized activity, they said.
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I admire the effort but the specific proposals leave much to be desired. They do not question the current standards ( more than 3,500 are on the books), they do not question the mish-mash list of subjects in ESSA, or the problems in getting “subject matter experts” to identify opportunity to learn standards (wishlists were made in 1994-1995 and ignored) and much more–including the idea that arts education might be outsourced to community arts organizations so students can get credits for graduation.
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It is the NAACP, Alliance for Quality Education NY, Alliance for Education Justice, American Federation of Teachers, Camden Parent’s Union, Dignity in Schools Coalition, Badass Teacher’s Association, Save our Schools (and I’m sure there are a few others that should be on the list) vs. ALEC and the Kochtopus.
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