Dr. Anika Whitfield, an education activist in LittleRock, Arkansas, wrote an open letter to State Commissioner Johnny Key and the members of the Arkansas State Board of Education. She appeals to their humanity, forgetting for the moment that the state of Arkansas is owned by the Walton Family Foundation:
Mr. Key and the Members of the AR State Board of Education,
Students, families, schools, and neighborhoods in the LRSD community are experiencing almost indescribable losses.
We have witnessed significant losses of students to charter and other school districts during your watch, as we have seen many school closures and observed more funding and attention being given to growing charter schools, primarily in and around the LR community.
We have also witnessed an untold account of the number of students who have been transitioned from the LRSD into a prison pipeline. And, to be clear, most of these students are disproportionately African American, Latinx, and students from low income homes and communities.
We know that many of these actions have not occurred haphazardly, unintentionally, nor unnoticed by most, if not all of you.
We appeal to your humanity and the spirit in which your position holds, to represent all children and all public schools in our state with equity and without discrimination.
We appeal to you even moreso as your more recent role has been to oversee directly the LRSD since taking over our public school district, January 28, 2019, to provide all of our students with access to meaningful resources and support in order to experience a world class public education.
We rightfully hold you accountable for the losses mentioned above. And, we consider these to be failures as a result of your actions or inactions.
We appeal to you, as you prepare to return the LRSD to the community of LR and to a democratically elected, local, representative board of directors, to provide and allocate the necessary resources to ensure that every Elementary school has a qualified, certified, school counselor that will well serve the students and schools in which they are hired, without demonstrating discrimination and without oppressing the students in which they are agreeing to serve.
Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.
Sincerely,
Rev./Dr. Anika T. Whitfield
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dr. Whitfield’s letter shows what happens in a society with tremendous income inequality. People have to beg the wealthy not to have their way with the public schools. The question we should be asking is a different one. Why aren’t all students entitled to an equitable, free public education? We know that separate is never equal. Yet, privatization does exactly what we should not be doing in a nation with civil rights laws. Charter schools deplete public schools and raid their funding. The charters then sort students according to some preconceived merit system that is often based on color resulting in enhanced segregation. This is a recipe for failure in a diverse nation that presumably prides itself on providing opportunity for all.
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Remember please:
“PRIVATE Charter schools deplete public schools and raid their funding. The PRIVATE charters then sort students
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I hope the “leaders” recognize this as the threat this is. “Appeals” like this are the last step of due diligence before civil disobedience happens.
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An incredible groundswell is happening in New Haven! Kids are rising up for public education and defending their right to great public school teachers!
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/teacher_budget_kimber/
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