Past Failed Governance Of The Community And Schools That Lead To The Present Flawed Remedy That Is Taking Place In The Criminal Justice System
The money that is going to be spent prosecuting the educators who are accused of conspiring to doctor the standardized tests to paint the picture of effective educational reforms should be invested in a system of more effective managerial controls WITHIN the 'Atlanta Public Schools System".
There is no greater story in our modern times in which Black Americans' "eyes have been taken off of the prize" than is the case with the schools that educate our children.
The adults inside and outside of the community scheme around their own interests on employment, service contracts and curriculum than they seem to be willing to promote the interests of PREPARING THE CHILDREN TO BE THE NEXT GENERATION OF "PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS", the pillars that allow their community to live up to its desired standard of living.
I am forced to place a greater portion of the blame on the insiders.
In their disposition in which they genuflect into a defensive stance FOR the interests of the children, in truth they seek to retain the status quo. They stand in defense of the employees and contracts they use as proof of "Black Power". In doing so they carefully avoid talking about the academic performance that is arrived at which often shames the "Civil Rights Heroes" who's names adorn the buildings.
In the ultimately slap upon the voiceless that they claim to represent - if the state chooses to intervene - AT THIS TIME they demand that the STATE show evidence of academic improvement among the Black kids during the period of "Emergency Management". Something that they lost their voice to ask their friends who were in power.
When their friends were in power their voice amplified the demand for more money from the state.
It is clear that they need a civics lesson.
While they argue that the state has no right to reach into the affairs of the school system (or city) which are chartered entities by the state, lest a "Voting Rights Act" violation be cast. The promotion of "voter choice" for leadership is not accompanied with the round trip mandate in the closed loop transaction - that the local franchises maintain a sufficient tax base that will allow them to do as promised: provide a better set of municipal services for their constituents than the previous unincorporated state of their land was able to afford them.
The Lack Of An Effective Governance Culture Trumps The Funding Challenges
After having read no less than 3 Jonathan Kozol books on the disparity in educational funding between "urban schools" and suburban schools" - it is clear that the educational activist would prefer to make this a conversation about "equal" state/federal funding for education than about the competency of the ecosystem that they wrested control over - in the preparation of their own children to take their place as community "operators" once they come of age.
It is true that all of the "Black" school systems in metro Atlanta ran awry with the "Southern Association Of Colleges and Schools" due to the problems with the governance from the adults than the academic standing of the children. What the activists don't care to mention is that while they sit in the gallery seeking to "de-fang" SACS from its ability to run the conspiracy against "Black leadership" - they aren't able to transparently appraise THEIR OWN favorable model of "Black Leadership" to prove that its present consciousness is not ALSO part of the problem.
My personal observation is that - in a school board of 10 people, for example, it is healthy to have maybe 2 "activists" who bring a perspective of "the voice-less". As we saw with Clayton County a few years ago - once the balance of the board are "activists" - appointed by their community but lacking any particular technical skill (public finance, public policy, management, or even an education background) then a bunch of infighting and egos consume the board's business.
While the NAACP promotes "voting rights" where the "people have spoken" on who their representatives shall be - they have a lawsuit against Fayette County School - and its "All At Large" voting scheme.
The provincialism that is created when board officials are elected into an arbitrary school district boundaries is countered by the "All At Large" voting practice, making the members accountable to the entire county. (Note: Fayette has each elementary, middle, high school assigned to district boundaries and a board member as its representative. Even though the entire county votes for each member). Fayette County schools are rated "9 of 10" in a system that is out of favor with the NAACP because they claim that it is "racist" in that "the Blacks" around the northern and western boundary of the county can't get a
Black Democrat representative of their own choosing. Yet the NAACP is silent on the OUTCOMES that the system produces in comparison to the other systems who's voting scheme is more in line with their expectations.
There is a governance and "technical competency" problem, more than a "race" or "funding" problem. It is a well known fact that election to the school board is often the easiest political office that can be obtained in a fledgling political career.
Ironically the management development consulting services that are desperately needed by Atlanta, Dekalb and Clayton County Schools - that are provided by the
AdvancED company - are seen as proof that there is a conspiracy to profit off of Black children by engineering a fake crisis.
If we agree that there is a GOVERNANCE crisis then it seems that the solution is to
, a sister organization to
SACS - the accreditation agency.
I am satisfied that there was a pattern of corruption at the hands of the educators in Atlanta that resulted in "test fixing". The ability of the court system to use "hearsay" and "circumstantial" evidence to obtain a criminal conviction is going to further splinter the community of adults that CLAIM to want to advance the interests of the school children.
I see several layers of culpability here:
- Teachers that directly altered tests/gave students answers should be terminated from the school system
- Principals that engaged in racketeering in which they orchestrated their staff to alter the tests should be fired and lose their teaching licenses.
- There are a few of these principals that have enough evidence to be criminally charged. The District Attorney should focus on these people
- The executive level leadership (Beverly Hall, etc) - who failed to implement sufficient controls over the testing administration should be fired. Their careers are forever tarnished with the news of this scandal.
Having worked a government job for 5 years in my past - the news that the leadership failed to implement sufficient controls - is not news. I don't believe that it is "criminal" unless the district attorney can prove direct initiative to induce cheating.
Beverly Hall and the "Atlanta School System" accepted the glory of the claimed success in reforming the school system per the results on the tests. We now know that many of these gains were manufactured.
Dr Hall announced several years ago her "We All We Got" strategy. No longer would she focus on what other school systems are doing. Instead she was to focus on working with the students that the district has to work with. This required more structured focus upon the schools.
The fault of Dr Hall is that she wanted to believe that the favorable results of the test scores had validated that her plan had worked.
She failed to implement and enforce a sufficient governance and control system to insure that the standardized test, the tool which allowed her management staff to receive "feedback" about the effectiveness of their operations, was administered in a credible manner.
The money should be spent in improving the governance of the schools, not on lawyers and court costs.
Everyone involved should ask themselves: "At the end of all of these proceedings - WHAT is the end result that we hope to receive? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? How will their cause be advanced in the process?"