A Special – and perhaps most important to date – Newswire
EDUCATION AS A VEHICLE FOR CHANGE
Dear Friends –
We, too, are saddened and shocked by the murders, the racism, the disrespect, the destruction. As advocates for education opportunity and excellence, we’ve always believed that education — if not “the” — is at least “a” great equalizer.
We’ve watched and read the many statements that continue to pour out to join with those who hurt, and to take a stand. We’ve contemplated what to do, what to say and didn’t want to just write something to say we did it, especially when so many other voices are more important, and more in need of being heard.
For 26 years CER has pushed the cause of all parents and children who desperately need a chance at a great future to the front of the line — prodding, cajoling, yelling and demanding equal access to opportunities for all that are normally reserved for the affluent. Life-saving education opportunities help students defy the odds, graduate, go to college, land amazing jobs, and live more fulfilling lives.
As CER Director David Hardy, founder of Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia often argues that without such opportunities in his native Philadelphia, most African-American boys are lucky to make it out of high school.
Donald Hense, another CER Director, founded the Friendship Public Charter School network precisely to equalize opportunity and elevate the change of low income students of color and he succeeded. We learn regularly from Donald, David, Kevin Chavous and hundreds of our friends and mentors who work every day to eradicate racism.
But this alone has not made our society more inclusive nor made the actions towards minorities live up to the ideals put forth in our founding documents. Our efforts to build a just society must indeed match our efforts to build a country of wealth. Education is not all that is required to ensure every person is treated with dignity.
As Jessie Woolley-Wilson of Dreambox Learning wrote, “I remain a strong believer that access to a great education for all is a civil right and an essential ingredient to cultivating learning and life success for everyone. Nevertheless, recent events demonstrate that education can only go so far in a society where POC are dehumanized, marginalized and victimized.”
Jessie and thousands like her have shared inspiring thoughts in recent days to spur action. Rather than add to the chorus, we’d prefer to share just a few of those that say it better than we could, and exemplify how we at CER believe we are best able to contribute to the cause of justice.
Condoleezza Rice, Former Secretary of State, professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business:
“Perhaps this is like the moment in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. Or perhaps this is like that fateful Sunday in September 1963, quite personal to me, when a bomb in a Birmingham church killed four girls from my neighborhood and shook our nation to its core. Some six decades later, perhaps all of us — regardless of skin color — are, to quote Mississippi sharecropper and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, ‘sick and tired of being sick and tired.’
“Our country has often moved forward and been made better through peaceful protests. But our cities must stop burning. Innocent people, including many minority and immigrant business owners, are watching their livelihoods go up in smoke. There is no excuse for looting and criminality, and offenders must be stopped. But a call for calm is not enough, either. This time, we must remain vigilant and maintain our determination to make a difference….So I ask my fellow Americans: What will each of you do? My personal passion is educational opportunity, because it is a partial shield against prejudice. It is not a perfect shield, I know, but it gives people a fighting chance. In my conversations, I want to discuss why the learning gap for black kids is so stubborn and what can be done about it. What is your question about the impact of race on the lives of Americans? And what will you do to find answers?”
Michael Horn, co-founder of and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation and senior strategist at Guild Education
“As a white person, I’ve been moved to sadness and anger in the days since Floyd’s murder… It’s served as a reminder of one of the reasons I work in education…Why my personal mission is to transform learning so that all individuals—regardless of their background and identity and unfettered by the biases of others—can build their passions and fulfill their human potential. So that all individuals can discover how they can best contribute positively to that world—and do just that. So that we can create the opportunity for all individuals to be inspired by others and make progress. And why I believe that we must tailor learning for each and every child so that we embrace and view each as an individual human being full of promise, not a widget in a factory-model education system….”
Alvaro DiVicente, Headmaster, The Heights School, Potomac, MD
“During the course of the past 48 hours I have written and erased multiple letters. Ultimately, this is not the time for explanations about cultural realities, philosophical principles, or even exhortations to healing divisions. Instead, this is a time when we, as a family of families, are called to grieve, empathize, support, love, and protect.
“To grieve, because a man died unnecessarily in a brutal manner. We must not forget to pray for the repose of the soul of George Floyd, and for the consolation of his family and friends.
“To empathize, because this is a dismally difficult time for black Americans. No man should be defined by the color of his skin. No man must suffer because of his race.
“To support, because our black students live with a keen awareness of the prejudice that presses in upon their childhood, boyhood, and youth. May the message from every Heights student, faculty, and parent to our black students be: ‘I stand with you. I am here for you. What can I do to help?’
“To love, because that is the most powerful force in the world and the only one capable of cauterizing the long-festering wound of racism in our country.”
Pope Francis:
“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life. At the same time, we have to recognize that violence is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost. Let us pray for reconciliation and peace.”
St. Francis of Assisi
“Lord, make us instruments of Your peace.”
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In His good time He will indeed make us instruments of His peace. Until that time, we will continue to learn, to understand, and to do all in our power to provide quality education to those in our society who need it most. God bless you, your families, your schools and your kids.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education. We’re always delighted to hear from our readers…suggestions, questions and even the occasional complaint!
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LEARNING CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE. Love 
In May 1868, General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Union veterans’ group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a decree that May 30 should become a nationwide day of commemoration or “Decoration Day” for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the recently ended Civil War. It is to be designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country…” 
It is those individuals who gave what President Lincoln called, “the last full measure of devotion…to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
In New Mexico, A High Quality Charter School Gets Punished by State Regulators
Forbes | June 4, 2020
By Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of CER
It’s hard to believe, but an A rated school in Albuquerque, New Mexico for over four years – only one of 13% of schools in the state with that distinction – has been denied an expansion to serve the 1,000 students on the waiting list. Even in a time of Covid, and uncertainty over schooling, more than 1,000 parents trust that the Mission Achievement and Success Charter School (MAS) will serve their children well, no matter the environmental factors we face today.
And it’s no wonder parents want to send their students to MAS. In early literacy, MAS has outperformed the State of New Mexico, the Albuquerque school district and other area school districts by margins of 20-30% higher. They’ve seen similar results in math. Their student body is 90% minority and 81% economically disadvantaged. 100% of MAS students have graduated high school with acceptance to either college or the armed forces.
On the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress’ Nation’s Report Card, New Mexico students rated 46th in math proficiency and 48th in reading. In all grades charter school students outperformed traditional public school students. That’s not a blind criticism; it’s a fact. As difficult as that is for some to accept facts, there should be no reason that any governmental agency tasked with approving and overseeing the creation and expansion of charter schools – it’s sole reason for existence – would deny families for whom education is the great equalizer the lifeline and opportunity they deserve.
Enter the Public Education Commission (PEC), the state authorizer for charter schools. An elected body (never a good idea in charter school laws, but that’s another story), the PEC listened to “neighbors” of MAS complaining that the traffic generated by the school was inconvenient for them and a possible safety hazard. After changing the rules for the hearing to allow hours of testimony from previously unknown opponents, Commission Chairwoman Patricia Gipson personally read every email from the neighbors who were “inconvenienced” by traffic. She refused to read the letters of support for MAS – hundreds of them! – from students, staff, parents, and the community, including the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. There were over 150 staff members, parents, and students in attendance at the PEC Zoom meeting on May 22nd.
The Public Education Commission also received a petition with 2,117 signatures from family members, students, waitlisted families, and community members supporting the cap increase.
When the NM Public Education Department Transportation Bureau inspected the school earlier this school year, they had no issues with safety and found arrival/dismissal to be one of the safest they had seen. The school’s insurance carrier also inspected for safety, saw no issues and indicated the arrival and dismissal procedures were fully compliant. MAS also asked for local law enforcement from both the city and county to observe and neither noted concerns.
With more than 1,300 students in grades K-12 spread out over two campuses. Most of the neighbors love seeing a successful, safe, mission driven school in their area. But a vocal minority complained that MAS refused to make the arrival/dismissal area of the school a school zone, with flashing lights and a prominent crosswalk. The PEC accepted that at face value when in reality, the school has been asking for precisely that for years and has been denied and told it was not necessary.
Minutes after the PEC voted to deny the enrollment increase based on perceived claims about safety issues, MAS’s leaders asked what they could do to prove the school was “safe” in the Commission’s eyes. PEC said they couldn’t say for sure, and maybe MAS could check the record, even though they had voted on this very issue literally minutes before.
Educational excellence obviously wasn’t on the agenda for the PEC, though it clearly should have been. Nobody disputed the fact that MAS was giving thousands of Albuquerque kids an education superior to what they could get elsewhere in the city. Nobody disputed the fact that by doing so MAS was increasing the lifetime earning potential of these economically disadvantaged kids by hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of dollars. The Commissioners clearly had wanted to protect the status quo, perhaps to ensure their reelection on June 2. That’s why politics shouldn’t be part of the education process.
Shame on the PEC. Isn’t there enough hostility and tension in the world today? Isn’t trauma from Covid and racism doing enough harm to our communities? The only antidote to ignorance is education. MAS is doing its part to ensure that low income families have an opportunity to become productive citizens that we can hope will drive a better tomorrow for all people. This is not the first time the state has tried to hamper this schools’ work and attempts to do its job.
It’s time for the public to say enough – peacefully. It may be too late to throw the PEC out of office this time, but the people can influence the make-up of the state legislature to make changes in law that ensure that those who oppose equal educational opportunity for all never have the privilege of serving in public office again.
Follow Jeanne on Twitter or LinkedIn or some of her other work here.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.