Quick Thoughts on Fisher v. UT

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in Fisher v. UT.

I'm anxious.

Abigail Fisher claims she was rejected by UT because she was white. I think cases like this get at the heart of who is believed deserving or meritorious or entitled (a word usually used viciously against poor people of color, but Abigail Fisher certainly felt she was "entitled" to something).

Why do I say that? Because it doesn't particularly matter to plaintiffs in cases like this about any other source of perceived "unfair advantage." As Tim Wise noted some time ago,

[F]or every student of color who received even the slightest consideration from an affirmative action program in college, there are two whites who failed to meet normal qualification requirements at the same school, but who got in anyway because of parental influence, alumni status or because other favors were done.

But we don't hear about the unfairness of parental influence or legacy policies.

And, as noted in a brief from UT:

[Fisher] also was denied admission to the summer program, which offered provisional admission to some applicants who were denied admission to the fall class, subject to completing certain academic requirements over the summer. ... Although one African-American and four Hispanic applicants with lower combined AI/PAI scores than petitioner’s were offered admission to the 16 summer program, so were 42 Caucasian applicants with combined AI/PAI scores identical to or lower than petitioner’s. In addition, 168 African-American and Hispanic applicants in this pool who had combined AI/PAI scores identical to or higher than petitioner’s were denied admission to the summer program.

I doubt if Amy Fisher is worried about those 42 Caucasian applicants who got in because we are more likely to think they somehow deserved it. And what of the 168 students of color with scores identical or higher to hers who were denied admission? How is that explained?

No, it’s only an issue when a person of color is perceived to have gained something that rightfully should have gone to a white person. It is rooted in the belief that somewhere out there, there has to be a white person who is better qualified or more deserving or who “merits” more.

It’s the Jesse Helms “Hands” ad writ large.

Like Deborah Archer, I believe that,

Altough America has made substantial progress in race relations, there remains a systemic racial hierarchy that produces and perpetuates racial disparities in educational outcomes. Race-conscious admissions programs, like the one used by UT Austin, are designed to counter this systemic racism and create a vital pipeline to educational and professional opportunities for minority students. The proven success of these programs in increasing equal opportunity serves as compelling evidence of their value and counsels in favor of continuing them.

And, as a professor and a woman of color, it’s why I am anxious.

Just Edit the Bad Parts Out!

Ran across this: Tenn. Tea Party Demands Slavery Removed From Textbooks:

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

I vote that last sentence be included in upcoming dictionaries as a definition for "white privilege." Let's obscure "minority" experiences so the "majority" can come away looking angelic and declare that "the truth."

Please!

And this little bit about their rationale:

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds

Wow, wow, wow. Apparently, it is okay to dismiss the parts of history that make your heroes look... well... less heroic, to prioritize the image of some over the experiences of others.

As for "liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed," dude, your founding fathers' fathers were the primary reasons there was a notable shortage of liberty 'round these here parts.

They weren't all that revolutionary. They were a bunch of privileged white guys that laid out a system that supported their privilege as wealthy, white men. They did not and did not want to bring liberty to everybody.

This reminds me of one of my many issues with the idea of "colorblindness," that if we pretend not to see and refuse to talk about things, from skin color to differential treatment to patterns of inequity, that they will magically disappear. No one will have to be uncomfortable. No one will have to acknowledge the perpetuation of inequality and discrimination. And, oh, if you bring those things up, well, you're the racist.

Also, I am faintly amused by the way they use words like "truth" and "made-up."

Life in our post-racial world.

What I'm Reading

Good morning, sunshines! Back at it again. Thinking about blogging ideas and as I stick my toes cautiously in the water, my ever-faithful cousin sends me topics. I've read a lot about the so-called "slavery" math problems and the proposed boycott of the Girl Scouts/Girl Scout cookies by a cisgender girl and her adult supporters who are appalled that the Scouts accept transgender girls.

Read and SYDH along with me.

That Itawamba County School District is Really Something

Mississippi's Itawamba County School District has recently become notorious for canceling a high school prom rather than letting a lesbian couple attend.

Turns out this wasn't the first discriminatory, hostile act they committed with regards to a student this year. When a trans student enrolled earlier this year, he* was virtually kicked out after attending only one half-day:

[T]he next time [Juin] Baize came to school, according [to] Kristy Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi, Baize was given a suspension notice and sent home. When Juin returned to school after his first suspension, he was suspended again.

“Juin’s case was a situation where a transgender student wanted to attend school dressed in feminine clothing," said Bennett, "and the school district would not even let him attend school."

This school district seems to be in the business of teaching heteronormativity, homophobia, transphobia, the "appropriateness" of gendered clothing** and the need to maintain narrowly-defined gender expressions.

And yet, they accuse Constance McMillen and Juin Baize of distracting from the educational process.

The hostile environment that the school district is fostering is disheartening. McMillen speaks of it here and the article about Baize includes this description:

Baize's appearance and the fact that he, unlike Constance McMillen, was perceived as a trouble-making outsider made living in Fulton increasingly impossible. Beverly [Bertsinger] couldn't find work because, she believes, Fulton is a small town and people disapproved of her son. Juin was harassed when he left the house, according to Beverly Baize, so she stopped letting him go out alone and then stopped letting him go out at all.

“I’m so afraid for him,” Bertsinger told me last week. “I support him. I buy him the clothing to wear as a female. I just want him to be safe.”

The result is the continued isolation [and endangerment] of LGBTQ students, expressed so poignantly here:

Whether she intended to or not, McMillen has inspired others -- not just nationally but in her home state, said Izzy Pellegrine, 19, a student at Mississippi State University.

"I thought for a long time I was the only gay person in the state of Mississippi," said Pellegrine. (emphasis mine)

The ACLU is not pursuing Baize's case, in part because he has had to move:

“Juin not being in Fulton makes it difficult for us to pursue any kind of legal action here,” says Bennett. "And personally, I feel it may be a better decision for Juin to relocate and move on with his life.”

That last line leaves me particularly upset; people always suggest that we, who exist simultaneously as southerners and members of marginalized groups, should just leave and move on.

Sometimes, we can't. Sometimes, we have no desire to do so.

In any case, we shouldn't have to.
___________________________
*The article indicates that Baize prefers male pronouns for now.
**Remember, one of the issues in the McMillen case was the fact that she wanted to wear a tuxedo.

Constance McMillen Wins... Sort Of

Late last night, via a friend's twitter post, I heard that a federal judge had decided that the Mississippi school district that canceled prom rather than allow Constance McMillen and her girlfriend to attend as a couple had violated McMillen's First Amendment rights.

The school district does not have to reinstate the prom, however. Parents have planned a private prom, instead.

The Clarion-Ledger article linked above noted that "all junior and senior students would be allowed to attend, although it was not clear whether same-sex couples would be allowed to attend together." On other sites, I read that McMillen was not invited to the private prom.

If that is the case, the school board wins, too. They relied on an old southern tactic I described in a piece I did for The Guardian's Comment Is Free:

The prom cancellation is reminiscent of tactics from at least a half-century ago: rather than integrate public pools, parks, and schools, southern municipalities often closed them. Sometimes, in lieu of closure, they turned over such accommodations to private enterprises. In defiance of school integration orders, they opened private schools and segregation academies. Such acts allowed them to continue de facto segregation long after de jure segregation was outlawed.

If you're so inclined, please go check out the whole piece!

Kindergarteners, YOU'RE DOOMED!!!!

One of the things I most hate is hearing my younger cousins (always female, and I mean elementary school age) bemoan their "fatness" or their need to lose weight. I want to keep them from falling deeper into the pit of despair that is the fatphobic-and-dieting culture.

As of today, I think I have finally lost. I just learned, via the NY Times, that "Baby Fat May Not Be So Cute After All."

Scientists are worried that their efforts to "end childhood obesity" aimed at school-age populations "may be, if not too little, too late." Too stop the horrible, horrible curse-of-fat, we must begin at birth:

Things are starting to change: late last year an Institute of Medicine study committee was charged for the first time with developing obesity prevention recommendations specifically for the 0-to-5 set. The report, due in about 18 months, will look at the role of sleep and early feeding patterns, as well as physical activity.

I don't have much comment, except to note, there is always room to blame mamas:

Many doctors are concerned about women being obese and unhealthy before pregnancy because, as they point out, the womb is the baby’s first environment

[snip]

“The intrauterine environment of a woman with diabetes overnourishes the fetus,” said the study’s author, Dana Dabelea, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health. And that, she added, may “reset the offspring’s satiety set point, and make them predisposed to eat more.”

I think this could quickly take on class and color connotations as well, in a society in which the mothering of poor women, particularly poor women of color, is constantly assailed and called into question. One of the doctors quoted worked on a study that asserted "compared with their white counterparts, black and Hispanic children exhibited a range of risk factors related to child obesity."

One of the "solutions" suggested for lowering the "risk of obesity" was breastfeeding. Black women (in the U.S.), in particular, have much lower rates of breastfeeding than other women. This might be tied up in a number of factors like the fact that many black women have low-wage jobs which don't allow for purchase of expensive pumping equipment (or breaks to pump) or the historical stigma attached to forced wet-nursing. But this could fuel the sometimes-present argument in the to-breastfeed-or-not debate that mothers who don't breastfeed don't care as much about their babies' health.

Given the blame-the-fat-mother meme, we can expect the continued condemnation of poor mothers and black mothers, who are more likely to be fat than mothers in other socio-economic and racial groups. Also, poor mothers might be eligible for programs like Food Stamps and WIC (which will provide infant formula), putting them in a position in which many people feel that their food choices should be scrutinized and judged.

Obviously, this is just what we needed: another way to assess how horribly mothers fail.

And, another way to tell kids, at an even younger age, that they fail, too. It isn't as if schools or scientists or Michelle Obama are couching their programs or suggestions in any other terms. "Prevention," "risk," "epidemic," etc. Kids are not clueless--even the little ones know when they've been judged deficient. To be fat is to be bad and immoral.

How sad that they're getting that message earlier and earlier.

The Past Is Present

ETA: My best friend, who taught at our old high school, and my sister corrected me. The school did eventually sponsor off-campus proms, however, “tradition” meant that students quickly left (usually after taking pictures) to gather for their own separate (in terms of race) functions.

Dear Mississippians,

I find it amazing the type of symbolism with which y’all manage to imbue high school rituals like prom. I mean, some of you held on to racially segregated proms well into the 21st century—although some progress has been made there.*

Now I hear others of you would rather cancel prom than allow a lesbian couple to attend. This, just a few months after your execution of a flawless southern swoon at the idea of a high school senior challenging the norms reinforced by gendered clothing.

I don’t know if it’s nostalgia for the good ol’ school days. I don’t know if you're scared that Anita Bryant's predictions have come true and proponents of the radical homosexual agenda™, have infiltrated the schools and are recruiting your children.

But, really, stop. Time will not stand still. You cannot re-create your youth or what you envision as the glorious past through your children.

Your fellow southerner,

elle
_________________________________________
*My own Louisiana high school did not have integrated proms and, only shortly before its closing, did it stop the practice of having a homecoming court with one white and one black representative from each grade.

See What I'm Up Against?

Okay, you probably all know the stories of the Texas Education Board's attempts to change the state's social studies curriculum to "downplay the contributions of civil rights leaders, minimiz[e] an 'emphasis on multiculturalism,' and try to 'exonerate' Joe McCarthy." (Follow the links in that article for more details). The Texas Freedom Network has accused the board--comprised of 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats--of "blatant politicization of social studies curriculum."

Well, here comes a new highlight of their efforts:

What do the authors of the children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation have in common?

Both are named Bill Martin and, for now, neither is being added to Texas schoolbooks.

In its haste to sort out the state's social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children's author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

Trouble is, the Bill Martin Jr. who wrote the Brown Bear series never wrote anything political, unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, his friends said. The book on Marxism was written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago.

The Texas students subjected to years of what I call "only-white-men-and-war-battles-are-important" history are the ones I get in my surveys, fresh out of high school. A good portion of them will already question my ability, authority, teaching style, etc, because I am a woman of color. Combine that hostility with the fact that I teach the survey from a social and cultural history perspective and emphasize "shifting the lens"--viewing an event or era or concept from diverse perspectives--and you get a situation that makes me dread-until-I-am-sick walking into a classroom sometimes.

And this does not just affect elle, the historian. It affects elle, the mama, as well. Last week, I wrote on facebook and twitter about experiences my son was having in social studies classes. As one of a few black kids in fifth grade, he notices the other students look at him when black people come up during class (last week it was Harriet Tubman and Cinque of the Amistad). I'd point out that that is partially a result of teaching a history in which black people randomly pop up rather than being understood as an integral part of the story of this country. Of course, that is a reflection of a much larger scale erasure and othering--my son exists not as an individual, but as representative of a group in which one can easily stand in for another.

My son, big admirer of President Barack Obama, was also upset by the fact that his teacher talked negatively about "Obama Healthcare," telling the children that it was going to cost a trillion dollars and that even their grandchildren's children would still be paying for it. I already had an encounter with her when she sent out a short, snippity note about how our school district wouldn't be showing Obama's speech to school children a few months ago (ours was the only district here that didn't--probably speaks volumes).

From my position in the Lone Star State, I have to ask, that fear that conservatives had--that Obama was trying to indoctrinate their children--is that called irony or hypocrisy?

Because I'm really worried about what they're teaching--and not teaching--my son.

Again.

Another 11-year-old child, Jaheem Herrera, has hanged himself "after enduring extreme daily bullying that included antigay taunts."

This is how his best friend described Jaheem's agony to Jaheem's mother:

He told me that he’s tired of everybody always messing with him in school. He is tired of telling the teachers and the staff, and they never do anything about the problems. So, the only way out is by killing himself

Via

More than Words

Trigger warning

Via Maegan and Noemi on Twitter, I heard about this story:


11-Year-Old Hangs Himself after Enduring Daily Anti-Gay Bullying

An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year.

I am a former elementary school teacher. I am a current parent. Bullying is not just harmless words--that sticks and stones shit is for the birds, and I get pissed every time I hear about teachers and school officials ignoring it.

There are all kinds of excuses, of course. Children who bully are just being kids. There's nothing a teacher can do because it will continue out of our eyesight in the quiet corners of playgrounds and bathrooms. And all too often, teachers' disdain turns toward the victim of bullying: "Toughen up," "Don't be a tattle-tale," or "Get over it, people are always going to talk about you." (Re: that last excuse, I swear I heard this from teachers and parents: "They even talked about Jesus; why are you any different?")

The author notes that Carl did not identify as gay*, an effort to drive home the point that

[Y]ou do not have to identify as gay to be attacked with anti-LGBT language. ... From their earliest years on the school playground, students learn to use anti-LGBT language as the ultimate weapon to degrade their peers.

[snip]

Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2%) reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half (44.1%) reported being physically harassed and about a quarter (22.1%) reported being physically assaulted, according to GLSEN’s 2007 National School Climate Survey of more than 6,000 LGBT students.

Most of the kids who are bullied and harrassed never report.

They've learned that their teachers and administrators will not effectively address the abuse.
______________________________________
*Of course, there are many reasons that he might not have identified as gay--I don't mean to dismiss the possibility that he was. I am struggling with that part of the article. I get that the intent is to show the anti-gay bullying can hurt anyone, but I also get a slight, "This is even more tragic because he might not have even been gay" sense from it--not that I think it was intentional.

And there you have a peek into this meandering mind.

**See this from Petulant's round-up at Shakesville.

Fruity Friday

Of all the things my son could have volunteered me to make for his class party, he had to choose a damn fruit tray. Not a $2 bag of chips. Not juices or plates or candy.

A fruit tray, when I'm broke and not done Christmas shopping. And he told me all proud, "Guess what I told Mrs. F you'd bring?"

"What?"

"A fruit tray!"

"Did?!" I looked at him with one raised eyebrow and he went for flattery.

"I told her you do them all the time for weddings and stuff and you do a really good job."

So here is my hasty Friday morning fruit tray:


The fruit awaiting the cream cheese dip:


A close-up. The lopsided-ness is a direct result of the fact that a pint of itty-bitty strawberries was $4+, while grapes were about $1.70 a pound:


The cream cheese awaits a splash of milk, some powdered sugar and a little vanilla flavoring. It really is better to do it by hand with a fork or a whisk because a mixer makes it more like frosting than dip. And yet I mixed. File that under, "I don't know why I do the shit I do sometimes":


Done! (Well okay, after this pic, I went back and added/spruced up the kale).


Ready to go in a festive little bowl:


I'm ready for this winter break, I swear.

Thank You

We don't know if the donors came from this blog or from one of the other blogs that linked our request or simply from browsing the site, but mrs. o's proposal has been funded.

Thank you, so much.

Donors Choose

I learned, via Kevin, I believe, that a number of black bloggers were highlighting/sponsoring high-poverty public school classrooms listed with DonorsChoose.org. I wanted to participate and decided to get my two favorite teachers, mrs. o and my sister, to describe the needs of their own high-poverty classrooms.

mrs. o created a proposal here. If you would consider donating to her class, you'd be helping with the following:

I need basic supplies such as pencils, pens, paper, graph paper, and such. We are tutoring for state testing trying to get ready for benchmark tests, and I did not have enough pencils. I had to buy some to help my students. With these supplies they can focus more on achieving success rather than worrying about how am I going to take my tests and do homework or worrying about not having paper to write on... I am so hopeful that you will donate to my school. Making a difference in my children's lives would mean so much to them and myself.

Her initial request was for $468. If people will donate just $234, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match that.

My sister hasn't finished yet, but I know her kindergartners do a lot of computer work on two very old computers. I think she's leaning toward writing a proposal for a (relatively inexpensive) computer and/or age appropriate learning software. She bought a printer herself this weekend. I'll post as soon as she has her proposal up.

Please, please consider giving to this cause.

SAFER Launches College Sexual Assault Policies Database

http://www.safercampus.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Students Active For Ending Rape Launches Sexual Assault Policies Database
September 29, 2008--Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) is excited to announce the launch of the College Sexual Assault Policies Database. This online database archives sexual assault policies from colleges and universities across the nation. Developed in response to student requests for examples of thorough and effective campus sexual assault policies, the database will give students access to policies from a diverse array of American universities. The database, funded in part by a grant from the American Association of University Women, can be found by visiting SAFER’s website: http://www.safercampus.org/policies.php.
The policies are evaluated based upon how well they fulfill a number of criteria for sound and effective sexual assault programs and practices that have been identified by SAFER. Many policies have also been evaluated to determine whether they are in compliance with all relevant federal legislation relating to sexual assault. Students will be able to search the database to make sure their school fulfills all of the criteria. The database also allows students to comment on the application of the policies at their school, revealing any differences between what appears in school policy and what is actually implemented by the university.

SAFER acknowledges that every campus community is unique, and there is not one model assault policy that will work for every school. However, there are basic guidelines for strong policies: all students should have access to the policy; the policy should be easy to understand; policies should be created with student input and formal oversight; and all policies should include mandatory prevention education for all students, crisis intervention, and long-term counseling. Additional markers of a strong school sexual assault policy include a fill-time staff person dedicated to the issue and the on-campus availability of contraception and STD prophylaxis.
“The policies in the database have turned out to be a very mixed bag,” said Margaret Mikkelsen, director of SAFER. Some schools feature innovative programs, like the
University of New Hampshire’s bystander intervention training. Lehigh University and Columbia University are among the schools that offer online reporting forms. Other schools' policies “don't seem to acknowledge the extent or severity of the problem,” said Mikkelsen, with vague definitions of sexual assault, convoluted reporting procedures, and no discussion of consent.
The Policies Database is an important tool in SAFER’s larger effort to educate and train student activists who want to challenge and reform their university’s sexual assault policies. Currently SAFER offers student organizers a thorough manual on how to create change, a campus activist mentoring program, and organizing workshops for student groups. The Policies Database will further arm students with examples of how to revise policy and provide activists with strong points of comparison when approaching their university administration for change on campus.
Sexual violence remains a major issue on college campuses. Up to 25% of college women will be victims of sexual assault while they are enrolled in school, with an estimated 3% of college women raped each year. Campus sexual assault goes largely unreported—especially by male victims—due to uncertainty among students as to what constitutes rape and a lack of available resources for rape survivors. SAFER began in 1999 at Columbia University when a group of students organized a successful grassroots campaign to improve the school’s response to campus sexual violence. The group expanded across the country as other students expressed a desire to create similar movements on their campuses. To this day, SAFER is primarily run by students, graduate students, and recent graduates.
If you would like to learn more about SAFER, add your campus to the Policies Database, or find out more about organizing a SAFER event at your school, please contact: organizers@safercampus.org. All media inquiries should be directed to: margaret@safercampus.org or 347-293-0953.

Things Seen 7

Part of the flyer for "Freedom Week" at my son's school:


Firstly (what an ugly word!), I don't think they're teaching the kids anything about what freedom means, beyond U.S.A. = Freedom. Of course I want my child to be able to analyze and deconstruct that with his eyes closed. And I'm frightened to think about how patriotism will be defined.

Secondly, I'm bothered because despite my largely-wordless-but-obvious sarcasm, my son wants to participate. That's how most kids are--they want to do what other kids around them are going to do. That's why people who brush off objections to school prayer and recitation of the pledge are clueless (or don't give a damn)--it doesn't matter if you say kids don't have to participate, they don't want to stand out like that. My saying, "Patriotism and freedom are not about wrapping yourself in some colors," has absolutely no effect now.

Finally, "Freedom Week" is the week after Spetember 11. How many more ways can a legitimate tragedy be milked of all meaning to 1) make a political statement and 2) demand false displays of nationalism?

I know there are some things I have to accept, living in the South (and as I told my Texas students, you joined the Confederacy, you are at least partially southern :-), but damn, this is ridiculous.
________________________________________
P.S. What does it mean, to "support the flag?" That was strange to me.

Struggling To Meet the Standards...

I have been a teacher for the past eight years and I have come to one of many conclusions-It is a very thankless job. I put in ten to twelve hour days that involve dealing with my students in one aspect or another. Much of my time is spent trying to get them to realize the importance of education, getting them involved in extracurricular activities and then riding them like horses to keep their grades up to stay involved, trying to keep them from getting arrested or abused, both physically and mentally, or just watching them stretched out in my living room studying or getting help with homework because my house is a safe place. I do all of these things because I love my students regardless of their skin color, socio economic background, religion, sexual orientation or any other obstacles that many human beings use as barriers to keep from forming relationsips with each other. I also realize that barriers are more permeable than in larger areas-I know/grew up with my students' parents, am often kin to them, go to church with them, and everyone knows where I live or what my phone number is.

During my eight years as a teacher here in Smalltown, USA I have attended many professional development workshops and conferences where improving school scores is always at the top of the list. They give these grandiose ideas they have sat in their expensive offices and dreamed up in their world, which by the way usually does not reflect my student's world, and tell me that if I do exactly what they say, my school's scores will shoot up and all will be hunky dory at smalltown high school. I listen and try my damnedest to accompish all of the things the "SUITS" tell me and yet although my school's scores have improved every year it has not been enough for the higer ups in Baton Rouge.

Friday we were informed we had become a school of choice. This means parents of our students can now send their children to two other local schools deemed more academically suitable. We missed our score by three tenths of a point. A school score includes your test scores, attendance, dropout rate, and how many certified teachers there are at your school. For each student that drops out you receive a zero for that students-we had eight students 9th-11th grade to drop out. We also have a problem with attendance. I am constanly amazed at the excuses parents give us when their children miss school. I have heard everything from "she had a hangover", "he doesn't like to get up in the rain", and one of my favories, "he/she needed a break from school." The parish I teach in is POOR! 82% of my students are the FIRST in their families(mothers, fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins included) to graduate high school. Out of 66 parishes we rank 61 in pay. So attracting highly qualified and certified teachers is a job in itslef. What we usually get are teachers who get hired in our parish, get certified throught the parish, and then leave to go to another higher paying parish.

I say all of this to say I AM SO UPSET, TIRED, DISGUSTED, and SAD because it seems as if no matter how hard I and others like myself who teach at smalltown high school work it is NEVER ENOUGH. I correspond classes with high risk studets through LSU in an attempt to get them out of school so that they do not dropout. I take them on college visits, senior trips, and do job shadowing with them, so that they can see how much the world has to offer them if they are willing to work hard for it. So I work hard for them and as I sit here writing this post I am crying because with all of the work I put in year after year striving to get my students into colleges,(because of course we have no high school counselor- so this is another task I do for free)I feel useless and defeated and sad because the state has decided that my school is not up to their standards which means the work I do is not good enough.

Above, I mentioned that the world of the department of education officials/curriculum planners is not that of my students. Let me give you a glimpse--we are a school for which there is rarely enough. When we run out of the most basic supplies--like bulletin board paper--we are told there is no money for more, but we are still expected to "make do." To finish my example, bulletin boards are required, whether the school provides paper or not. And reimbursements? Please!

Parental involvement is next to nil--not because parents don't care, but because they work jobs like poultry processing and are worn out when they get home. If I am honest, teacher morale is not what it could be, either. It's hard to face a class of 33 sixth graders in one room. It's hard to teach active fourth graders in a tiny, temporary building that is not well lit or particularly roomy. It's hard to meet the needs of 20+ kindergartners who all want attention urgently but there is no regular aide. Student morale is low as well, as many are tired and don't see the point. My kids are often expected to cook, clean up, take care of younger siblings, and supplement parents' income. School is not a priority.

As I get ready to start another school year on August 18th, I will wipe the tears from my face, and pray that this year be the year we meet our standards the state of Louisiana has set for us. There will be less money from the state and we will be expected to work miracle after miracle to see that little Johnny/Jane has that extra quarter or dollar needed for breakfast and lunch so they will not be hungry-because it is hard to concentrate on what is being taught when your stomach is growling--to help students with their FAFSA's, provide them with paper and pencil, and, in so many cases, to love them. I will pray for the strength and guidance I need to keep traveling down this road of hope that continues to be just out of my reach.

Rocky Road II

Judge Robbie James denied the D'Arbonne Woods Charter School petition. Basically, the crux of the problem seems to be that, under Cleveland v. Union Parish,

any new school that is opened must reflect the racial makeup of the other schools within the school district. The racial makeup of Union Parish public schools is approximately 50 percent white and 50 percent black. (source)

DWCS received 225 applications. Eight were from students considered minorities.

Further, out of 27 faculty applications, only one was from a non-white teacher.
I don't think the denial of the petition is cause to celebrate. I'm glad that it seems Judge James saw through these almost-transparent efforts.

But that we're still addressing these issues over a half-century after Brown? And knowing that the DWCS board is probably going to appeal?

No cause for celebration at all.

Rocky Road

Rocky Branch, Louisiana, is officially part of the parish seat of Farmerville. But the area very much has its own history. Black residents of Union Parish know it as a sundown town. My parents have always cautioned me that if I had to travel to or from Monroe after dark, take I-20 through Ruston. Do not, they drilled into me, take the "shortcut" through Rocky Branch.

Today, I asked my dad if he knew specific examples of why Rocky Branch was considered a sundown town. "No," he said, "My parents taught me the same thing. So when I thought I would be there after dark, I took my pistol."

***

Thirty-one miles northwest of Rocky Branch lies another Union Parish town named Bernice. The black students who comprised part of the class of 1970 at Bernice High School (BHS, also in Union Parish) call themselves the "lost class." I heard the story the first time at Mrs. O's mother's wake. Many of her classmates shared stories of their time together. Invariably, they alluded to the "lost class" story. Sometimes, they laughed about it. Other times, they sounded bitterly hurt. (continued under the fold)


The lost class story centers, in a literal sense, around a picture. Each senior class at BHS has a collage class portrait in the hallway of the building that houses the administrative office. BHS integrated, finally, during the 1969/1970 school year. One Friday, the black children at the segregated Westside High were told that they would not return there. Monday morning, they reported to BHS. The white senior class had already taken its portraits. The school refused to re-do it. Thus the first integrated class at BHS is represented by an all-white portrait.

Union Parish had resisted integration quite successfully. In 1960 the school board resolved that it would refute any efforts at "race mixing," reassuring white parents that it stood for complete segregation.* Parish residents sent a letter to Governor Jimmie Davis, urging him to "use every power at your command, including the Legislature, interposition, or any other means to retain segregation."** Both The Gazette, Farmerville's newspaper, and the Bernice News-Journal posted an essay, above their headers, about the "Tragedy of New Orleans" school desegregation.


As late as 1969, judges included Union Parish in the following description:

Fifteen years after Brown, school boards in the Western District of Louisiana are still unwilling to face up to the prerequisites to effective desegregation. These prerequisites are the transitionary short steps which must be taken now and the planning for the long steps that must be taken to effect lock-stock-and-barrel desegregation. More than two years after Jefferson this Court is still not able to get the message through to these school boards that the standard for determining the effectiveness of a desegregation plan is an objective one: Does it work?

The answer, in Union Parish, was no.

Union Parish had a "freedom of choice plan" which allowed students to choose which school to attend. During the 1968-69 school year, only .4% of black children in the parish attended formerly "white" schools. In May of 1969, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit noted:

We do not abdicate our judicial role to statistics. But when figures speak we must listen. It is abundantly clear that freedom of choice, as presently constituted and operating in the Western District school districts before us, does not offer the 'real prospect' contemplated by Green, and 'cannot be accepted as a sufficient step to 'effectuate a transition' to a unitary system.'
(snip)
We are urged by appellants to order on a plenary basis for all these school districts that the district court must reject freedom of choice as an acceptable ingredient of any desegregation plan. Unquestionably as now constituted, administered and operating in these districts freedom of choice is not effectual.

And so Union Parish, among others, finally learned what all deliberate speed would be.

***

But the issue of school desegregation was not decided in 1969 for Union Parish. By 2004, BHS was overwhelmingly black. And Rocky Branch Elementary, a K-8 school, had 2 Latin@ students. The rest of the 160+ students were white.

Segregated schools were not the only problems faced in Union Parish. The school district is quite poor--I often tell the story of how, when I taught there in the late 90s/early 00s, we were still using purple, ditto copies. There was never enough of anything--the playground had no equipment. Our textbooks were outdated. We were underpaid. Saving money was always priority.

But how do you save what there is so little of?

And so, the school board proposed another solution. Union Parish, in terms of land area, is the second largest parish in Louisiana. Transporting students to so many locations was expensive. But full consolidation meant that many students would spend hours a day on a bus. The compromise was to close three schools. Rocky Branch Elementary was one of the three.

Our first reaction was, "Please. They are not going to let their kids go to school with ours."

And many Rocky Branch parents didn't. They relied on the old standby in this area, the private Cedar Creek School. Some sent their kids across parish lines to Ouachita Christian, the legality of which is questionable. They swelled the enrollment at Union Christian Academy.***

But most significantly, they began to press for a charter school, D'Arbonne Woods. Insistently.

Initially, they were turned down as Union Parish residents spoke out about "Rocky Branch and its history as it relates to race." The Union Parish School Board refused to sponsor them as did the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

The D'Arbonne Woods board kept pressing. So much so that the UPSB's new superintendent briefly considered re-opening Rocky Branch Elementary. The tide began to turn for the charter school board. In 2007, the Louisiana legislature issued resolutions supporting the creation of the charter school. Finally, last December, BESE approved their request with contingencies.

And one of those contingencies is the reason I began this post with the two stories I did. On July 11, D'Arbonne Woods Charter School must demonstrate to a federal court that they comply "with the same federal desegregation order by which most districts in Louisiana still operate under." The board has been careful to portray the school as a public charter school open to anyone. The board's executive director, Corie Williams, claims that

We have gone above and beyond in our efforts toward minority recruitment. We have a board level minority committee that is charged with that very thing, to make sure that we are doing more than everyone else in actively recruiting minorities.

I have no doubt that they've done what will look good on paper. But as my sister asked when we were discussing this, given the not-so-distant history of Rocky Branch, who among us will be willing to let our children go?

I should note two things here. First, I have mixed feelings about charter schools, especially in economically poor areas. I've already noted that funding for public education in Union Parish is atrocious. ****Update below**** Union Parish could lose approximately $453,000 to D'Arbonne Woods. They would want to use the Parish's bus system and would occupy, for this first year, the property owned by the school board. Also, D'Arbonne Woods has a stated mission of serving at-risk students, a group which includes children with special needs. But Louisiana charter schools haven't been too successful at meeting these children's needs.

Second, Union Parish is a struggling school district. Louisiana gives schools a ranking from one to five stars. Six out of seven Union Parish schools earned one star for the 2006-07 school year. Test scores are overwhelmingly below state average. Intervention and alternatives are definitely needed.

But I would note that the people of Rocky Branch had no problem being part of Union Parish School District as long as their children were allowed to remain in their 99% white school.

There is a petition circulating in the parish, the text of which is below.

The Honorable Judge Robbie James

As residents of Union Parish, we, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the adverse affect D'Arbonne Woods Charter School will have on Union Parish public schools and the future of our children and communities.

Given that the school would be free from many laws and regulations governing public schools and has a not-so-clear admission policy, and the known history of Rocky Branch's racial disparity in education--Eric Cleveland v. Union Parish School Board--we strongly feel D'Arbonne Woods Charter School, located in Rocky Branch, would undo all efforts put forth by BESE to guarantee racial balance in our schools and academic equality for all students.

We furthermore feel those precious dollars taken from existing schools to support D'Arbonne Woods Charter School would cause additional financial hemorrhaging to those already suffering schools and communities.

We believe a quality education is every child's inheritance, but that it does not have to come at such a large cost to children and communities.

We are encouraged you will rule on what is just, true and fair for a secure future for our children and their future.

Repsectfully,

Union Parish Residents, Parents, Educators, Students, and Community Leaders

I'll keep you updated.
__________________________
*“Board Reaffirms Stand on Segregation,” The Gazette, 15 December 1960.
** “Local Citizens Back Governor in Segregation Fight,” The Gazette, 10 November 1960.
***Buses for Cedar Creek and UCA come to our town, too. They pick up children in the parking lot of this church, as Mrs. O noted, that has segregated gym nights.
****Update**** That is, if local school boards are required to fund a portion of Type II charter schools.

Black Students and Self-Expression (My Belated Blogging for Justice Post)

First, Yobachi has a roundup of bloggers who participated in the Day of Blogging for Justice.

There is so much that bothers me about the Jena Six case, but for this post, I'm going to focus on one aspect: How threatened school officials in Jena seem to be when black children stand up for themselves and against what they perceive as injustice or maltreatment. Remember, when black students protested against the nooses hanging from the "white tree" (and the hanging of the nooses being dismissed as a prank), DA Reed Walters sought to end their protest by threatening, "I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

Now, the fact that the school felt the need to call in the district attorney says a lot--how else can his presence be explained except as a threat? I've never encountered a DA being called in because of what is perceived as a behavior problem. The message is clear: you act in ways we don't like, we involve the (in)justice system. Black children are not given the benefit of the doubt ("Oh, it's just a prank") automatically extended to white children.

Jena school officials' responses are, of course, indicative of much wider problems that manifest themselves in schools. There is an almost obsession in this country with making black children "appropriately" deferential, polite, soft-spoken, willing to take the shit that will be dished upon them in the roles that too many of them will occupy--in low wage labor, in the prison industrial complex, in unremitting poverty. Schools have become perfect places to shape non-political, status quo observant, non-individuals. As Kameelah notes,

I have been convinced that many large public schools function like factory systems. You pop in one student and with the appropriate manipulations, the necessary conveyor belt rides and some pedagogical alchemy and you get the school product: a depoliticized consumer who is more prepared to select the next game system to buy then to think critically about the social context that shapes his financially struggling neighborhood.

As an example, Kameelah writes about a new Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) report that found that

teachers tend to view the behavior of black girls as not “ladylike” and therefore focus disciplinary action on encouraging behaviors like passivity, deference, and bodily control at the expense of curiosity, outspokenness, and assertiveness.

And, as Ann Arnett Ferguson suggests in Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, schools' discipline systems, in which black boys spend a disproportionate and inordinate amount of time, are often a way that racial order is perpetuated. Ferguson argues that public shcool officials frown upon and punish black boys' self-expression and try to humiliate them into "acceptable" behavior. When that doesn't work, the boys are marginalized and labeled as troublemakers.

For black children, schools become little more than a medium for social control and for instilling and rewarding behaviors deemed fitting based on race, gender, and socio-economic class.

So, imagine my non-surprise, when I watched the Monroe KNOE news the other night and saw a segment discussing the banning, by Jena school officials, of the "Free the Jena Six" t-shirts. The reported noted that the superintendent claimed to have had no problem with the message of the shirts, but felt they were disruptive.

Who, I wonder, did they make uncomfortable?

And why have the students who wore them been put in a defensive position, having to assert that they just wanted to make a statement, not cause trouble?

The Free the Jena Six shirts are banned, according to the superintendent, because they threatened the order of the campus. His claim is a bit narrow; apparently, the self-expression and protest politics of black children threaten to upset the much broader (racial) order of society.