{"id":1697,"date":"2011-07-28T12:14:31","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T16:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/school-consolidation-report-can-cause-irreversible-damage.html"},"modified":"2011-07-28T12:14:31","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T16:14:31","slug":"school-consolidation-report-can-cause-irreversible-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/school-consolidation-report-can-cause-irreversible-damage.html","title":{"rendered":"School consolidation report: can cause irreversible damage"},"content":{"rendered":"People ask me: why do the NAACP and the SCLC oppose school consolidation?\nWell, here’s some recent research that backs up their position, followed\nby their positions.\nMy summary: because it caused great damage last time, and this time would be no different.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nCraig Howley, Jerry Johnson, Jennifer Petrie wrote 1 February 2011,\n\nConsolidation of Schools and Districts: What the Research Says and What it Means<\/a>:\n

\n…the review of research evidence detailed in this brief suggests that\na century of consolidation has already produced most of the efficiencies\nobtainable. Research also suggests that impoverished regions in particular\noften benefit from smaller schools and districts, and they can suffer\nirreversible damage if consolidation occurs.\n<\/blockquote>\nIsn’t such irreversible damage what\n\nRev. Floyd Rose got Mrs. Ruth Council to admit?<\/a>\n
\n
\n\n<\/a>\n\n<\/a>\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\nRev. Rose: “…we were told about the world, where we came from, how we got here.”\n

\nMrs. Council: “I think we did receive a better education.”\n<\/blockquote>\nThey are referring to black schools before desegregation in the 1960s.\n

\nRev. Floyd Rose is president of the local SCLC,\nand here is a statement by \nLeigh Touchton, president of the local NAACP:<\/a>\n\n\n

\nWhat NAACP has advocated for is cultural competency from our teachers, this is not necessarily a black or white issue.\n
\n…\n
\nConsolidation won’t be the magic bullet that solves these problems,\nthere aren’t even any CUEE representatives speaking to these issues. To\nmost of our members, we think these issues will get worse rather than\nbetter if the two systems were to merge.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/a>\nAs former Valdosta School Superintendent\n\nSam Allen spelled out,<\/a>\nhe doesn’t think consolidation would help the children,\nand it would definitely hurt current Valdosta teachers and staff.\n

\nAs\n\nLeigh Touchton pointed out,<\/a>\nlots of people remember that desegregation resulted in many more\n\n<\/a>\nblack teachers being let go than white teachers.\n

\n“Right now, Valdosta City Schools probably has\nfewer black administrators that at any time since integration.”\n<\/blockquote>\nConsolidation seemed like a good idea back when it was called integration,\nbut it didn’t work.\nInstead, it produced different forms of segregation,\nwhile destroying local cultural competence.<\/a>\n

\nIt’s not just a black thing, by the way.\nOne reason so many people regretted the old\n\n<\/a>\n\nPine Grove Elementary closing<\/a>\nwas because it was the last vestige of local schools in northeast Lowndes County.\nOnce upon a time it used to be a high school, and it’s not clear to many people\nthat the current overly-consolidated situation is better.\nApparently it’s not even clear to the Lowndes County School Board,\nwhich plans to split Lowndes High School into two high schools.\n

\nWe don’t need to repeat a failed consolidation non-solution.\n\n<\/a>\nSam Allen of\n\nFriends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS)<\/a>\nsummed it up:\n

\n“It’s not about the children. It’s about somebody’s ego. They want to\nconsolidate these schools, and to take over our government.”\n<\/blockquote>\nKaren Noll of FVCS\n\nfollowed those dots:<\/a>\n
\n\n<\/a>\n“The end game is consolidating the governments of the county and the city.”\n<\/blockquote>\nCome on, CUEE, let’s hear you rebut that!\nCUEE has failed to carry the burden of proof for unification, or consolidation,\nor integration, or whatever they’re calling it this week.\nLet’s see if they can even bother to try to carry the burden of proof\nabout what they’re really up to, since it obviously isn’t education.\n

\nAs for me, I prefer\n\nto actually do something about education:<\/a>\n

    \n
  1. \nLet’s invest in early childhood education,\nwhich has been proven to improve<\/a>\n“educational attainment, socioeconomic status, job skills, and health insurance coverage as well as lower rates of substance abuse, felony arrest, and incarceration”.\n
  2. \nLet’s stop locking so many people up.\nWith \n1 in 13 Georgia adults in jail, prison, probation, or parole,<\/a>\nthe great majority of them black,\nwe need to end this\nnew Jim Crow<\/a> so parents can be at home helping their children learn.\n
  3. \nand let’s promote real industry such as solar for jobs\n\nin distribution, installation, architecting, and college research<\/a>\nfor parents and for children so they don’t have to go to Atlanta to find a job.\n<\/ol>\nThose things would actually improve education.\nWe know how to do them.\nLet’s do them.\n

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