Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Black Parents Considering Student Strike Over School Closings
Black parents met in the memorial room of the Martin Luther King Jr. Waterfall to stop what one city supervisor called the "death of black San Francisco" through the closing of dozens of schools in black and low-income neighborhoods. The decision by the San Francisco Unified board has been delayed until today January 19. Omar Khalif, one of the organizers of the Black Parents Together movement, urged parents to participate at the school board meeting, and says that a school strike may be possible. “Some people in the African-American community are mulling it over,” said Kahlif. “It’s the type of thing that could happen overnight.”
"Our schools and students have not been given the five year period of school improvement required under the No Child Left Behind Act,” said Khalif. “The district has not provided parents with the required outreach or the mandated percentage of Title 1 funding for parent development."
More than 30 percent of black students in the district face closings or school mergers.
Several education advocates, including organizer Liz Jackson-Simpson, explained the reasons a strike could occur. Simpson said the closings will place many students in danger due to gang boundaries and rivalries. She also noted that black students face such barriers as no working bathrooms in their schools, calling into question the rationales used by the school district to justify closings.
Pat Scott, director of Booker T. Washington Community Center, said the district is not providing information and resources for parents to know how to support their children, citing the news that the district is returning $750,000 in Title 1 funds, which are required to be made available for tutoring with students not meeting proficiency standards. The district has the lowest test scores for black students of any urban school district in the state.
Supervisors Sophie Maxwell and Ross Mirkarimi attended the Saturday meeting inside the second largest memorial to Dr. King in the nation. Maxwell emphasized the urgency that parents speak out this week to save schools in her 10th district in the southeastern part of the city. "The district did not give parents a meaningful opportunity to have input," said Maxwell.
Mirkarimi said, "I can't emphasize this enough -- nothing less than the future of black San Francisco is at stake."
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=2851#more
More than 30 percent of black students in the district face closings or school mergers.
Several education advocates, including organizer Liz Jackson-Simpson, explained the reasons a strike could occur. Simpson said the closings will place many students in danger due to gang boundaries and rivalries. She also noted that black students face such barriers as no working bathrooms in their schools, calling into question the rationales used by the school district to justify closings.
Pat Scott, director of Booker T. Washington Community Center, said the district is not providing information and resources for parents to know how to support their children, citing the news that the district is returning $750,000 in Title 1 funds, which are required to be made available for tutoring with students not meeting proficiency standards. The district has the lowest test scores for black students of any urban school district in the state.
Supervisors Sophie Maxwell and Ross Mirkarimi attended the Saturday meeting inside the second largest memorial to Dr. King in the nation. Maxwell emphasized the urgency that parents speak out this week to save schools in her 10th district in the southeastern part of the city. "The district did not give parents a meaningful opportunity to have input," said Maxwell.
Mirkarimi said, "I can't emphasize this enough -- nothing less than the future of black San Francisco is at stake."
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=2851#more
Add Your Comments
Latest Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Of $750,000 funds returned; Fascist Willie Brown; Need for Strike
Thu, Jan 19, 2006 8:58PM
do you?
Thu, Jan 19, 2006 3:11PM
racist
Thu, Jan 19, 2006 10:48AM
get over it
Thu, Jan 19, 2006 10:30AM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$330.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network