Oct. 12, 2014

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The U.S. Department of Edu­cation is opening an investigation into a civil rights complaint filed in May by community groups concerned about allegedly discriminatory practices in the New Orleans education system.

The complaint contends that African-Americans have been disproportionately affected by school closures, and then not provided with adequate alternatives. The complaint also details admission policies described as discriminatory.

“John White called the complaint a joke,” said Frank Buckley, co-founder of Con-scious Concerned Citizens Con-trolling Community Changes (C6). “I’m glad to see the Office of Civil Rights saw it differently.”

Buckley spoke in reference to White’s response to the compliant in May, in which White also contended that the complaint was part of a national pro-union agenda.

The complaint was filed May 13 by C6 and the Coalition for Community Schools under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in the use of federal funds. The complaint was filed with the Education Oppor­tunities Section of the Depart­ment of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

According to the complaint, white students make up about 10 percent of the student population in New Orleans but about 40 percent of the population at most high-performing schools.

In addition, the complaint states that “African-American students comprise roughly 82 percent of all public school students in New Orleans, but are 96.64 percent of the students in the five schools slated to close.”

The schools that closed last June were Benjamin Banneker Ele­mentary School, A.P. Tureaud Elementary School, Walter L. Cohen High School, George Washington Carver High School, and Sarah T. Reed High School.

“Nearly all of the schools had shown consistent improvements in student performance,” the complaint states. In addition, several schools with higher than average white student populations that had low performance scores and/or fiscal mismanagement, but to which the RSD and BESE “turned a blind eye and allowed those schools to remain open.”

In terms of discriminatory admission practices, the complaint points out that the only two schools that give preference to nearby residents are high-performing schools located in majority-white neighborhoods.

And while the OneApp enrollment system is designed to provide uniformity, the complaint alleges that by allowing a handful of the city’s top-ranked schools to continue in their refusal to participate, OneApp instead becomes another tool of discrimination.

Critics have pointed to other forms of discrimination – such as a school like Lusher Charter School charging hundreds of dollars in fees. An itemized bill lists fees including an “enrichment fee” of $150, a “certificate of artistry” fee of $400, a “biology fee” of $20, $116 per Advanced Placement class, and $35 per “visual arts elective.”

Jadine Johnson, an attorney with Advancement Project, said that the next step will be an investigation and fact-finding mission conducted by the USDOE.

Advancement Project is a Washington D.C.-based organization that assisted in the filing of the complaint.

The three entities the federal agency will be investigating are the Recovery School District (RSD), the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

Buckley said it was necessary to take the complaint to the federal level because the concerns were dismissed on a local and state level.

“The charter movement is not about educating kids,” Buckley said. “It’s about a lot of people making millions of dollars on the backs of African American children.”

According to a statement released by RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard:

“Our system of schools in New Orleans seeks to protect the basic civil rights of all students to receive a quality education. In our city, students have made significant academic strides over the last nine years. In 2005 over 60 percent of students, nearly all African-Ameri­can, attended failing schools. Today that number is just five percent. Since 2011, African-American students have surpassed their peers statewide in performance on state standardized tests. “

But Buckley doesn’t buy the numbers. For one, Buckley said it’s not possible to directly compare pre-Katrina schools to post-Katrina schools.

In addition, Buckley pointed out that in order to take almost all of the city’s schools, the state had to pass legislation (Act 35) that changed the definition of “failing.” And subsequently, the state continues to change the definition and move the benchmarks.

Buckley also notes that the RSD itself is a failing district.

“In New Orleans there is a distortion of data that is occurring that at the end of the day is harming children, families, and communities, Johnson said.”

Dobard wrote that the letter received by the RSD from the USDOE notifying him of the investigation “clearly states that this process does not imply anything about the merits of their allegations.”

Buckley described the devastating effect the school closures have had on communities, and the damage incurred when students are forced to change schools every year, being sent from failing school to failing school.

“Neighborhood schools are community institutions,” Johnson said. They often act as community centers, she said, and with them comes “a sense of pride around the school, a sense of tradition and history, and a sense of community gets built up. They employ people from the community, and create a space where kids are accepted and heard.”

If a school is closed because it was failing, then that student should be sent to an A or B rated school, Buckley said, not another D or F school.

Labeling a child as a failure also hurts them, he said.

Too many people have been too quiet for too long, Buckley said. “That’s why we need the federal government to come in and see what’s really going on.”

Buckley says he sees hope for change in the other cities across the nation that are pushing back. Similar complaints were filed in Newark, New Jersey and Chicago.

“People on the ground are standing up for their own communities and saying ‘We’re not going to take this – we deserve better,’” Johnson said.

Johnson said that if the USDOE finds merit in the complaint, there then could be a settlement requiring policy change at a district or school level.

It is significant that all three entities will be examined in the investigation – RSD, LDOE, and BESE – particularly because of their “common culture of shifting blame, denying wrongdoing, and lauding each other with unearned praise,” Johnson said.