Hodges: Scandal haunts KC Schools
EDITOR’S COMMENTARY
YEARS OF RACISM AND SCANDAL HAS CREATED UNCERTAIN FUTURE, By Wayne Hodges
“We’ve shown we can build schools and close schools. What we haven’t done is demonstrate we can educate kids.” – Eugene Eubanks, Desegregation Plan Committee Member
KANSAS CITY, Mo – On Sunday, June 6, Rick Montgomery of the Kansas City Star wrote an interesting article titled “Erasing a Tragic History.” The story chronicled both the past and present struggles of the Kansas City School District. Everything from racism to an $8,000 baby grand piano to $200,000 in mismanaged funds were addressed. While reading the editorial, a few key points stood out. Before I offer analysis, I’d like to pose this woeful question: Is it really necessary for children of color to be commuted to predominant white schools to receive quality education? Seriously, has it come to this? Because that’s the message I got from the article.
Allow me to begin by stating I’m not a taxpayer in Jackson County. But I’m concerned Kansas City Superintendent John Covington’s controversial decision to close an unprecedented 40% to 50% of the schools will ignite a venomous nationwide epidemic. Here’s what I find interesting: Most of us in agreement with Covington’s decision don’t reside in the neighborhoods directly infected. After all, it doesn’t require much sacrifice to babble from a distance. Those unfortunate souls on the front line, nonetheless, are catching complete hell and, unfortunately, they have no choice but to succumb.
*** Click here to listen to Wayne Hodges’ commentary on KCMO School Closings ***
“When I left (in 2006), we had 26,000 pupils. And now there’s 17,000?” said former superintendent Bernard Taylor. “Nobody loses students like that. Nobody.” Look, it’s easy to make scapegoats of past school administrators while citing a $50 million budget deficit and a nasty population decline as logical reasons for educational genocide. But for once, for the sake of our children, let’s take the hard road. Personally, I’m very disappointed the school board failed to exhaust all possibilities before closing the schools. What would I have done as superintendent? I would’ve created a “Save the Schools” campaign and presented it to state legislators.
I would’ve asked the governor for one more year to execute my plan for scholastic change. I would’ve asked my educators to work over-time on normal pay and eliminated the ones who were non-committal. Then, I would’ve created a series of public service announcements (PSA) and streamed them through various social media and Kansas City news outlets. This process would’ve included numerous Facebook and Twitter postings in addition to detailed conversations with executives from the Kansas City Star, KPRS Hot 103 Jamz, Magic 107.3, 95.7 The Vibe, local bloggers and any other network I could think of just to get my message across.
Finally, I would’ve challenged the parents of our community to “step up” their game and aid our attempts to secure accreditation and improve standardized test scores, or risk losing half the schools. Am I playing “Monday Morning Quarterback?” Hell yes. Is there a guarantee the campaign would work? Hell no. But, damn it, you’ve got to at least try. If parental involvement fails, you can always use contraction as a safety net. Give the residents and teachers credit. They fought hard until the very end. I’m just shocked more effort wasn’t given by administrators to preserve at least some of the schools. Shutting down 20 plus is too many.
Like Eubanks said, “We’ve shown we can build schools and close schools. What we haven’t done is demonstrate we can educate kids.” This is what made nonpareil educator Joe Clark so successful at Eastside High. The school board in Paterson, New Jersey gave Clark one year to improve academics. One year. That’s it. By implementing a mixture of unconventional methods and radical changes, “Crazy Joe” was able to reform his faculty, the parents and, most importantly, the student body. People, there are no “cookie cutter” solutions to stimulate urban improvement. To achieve positive change, school administrators must start thinking outside the box. Clark understood that. And it paid off big-time.
Keep in mind; the highly publicized population decline in Kansas City, Mo. is merely a byproduct of a greater economic problem. Rather than worry about the people who left, administrators should lend more attention to the reasons they ran off in the first place. Will the district benefit financially from the school closings? Absolutely. But, it would be nonsensical to ignore the socioeconomic impact this promises to inflict; including the loss of roughly 285 teaching jobs, 700 jobs total, the integration of younger students with older students, more crippling damage to an already sick real estate market, expected increases in resident defections, and the loss of scholastic tradition. Think about it. Some families look forward to attending activities and sporting events at local schools.
School mergers and contraction will ruin both history and tradition
With the closings, you can pretty much throw history and tradition out the window. As for real estate? Declining property values, suffocated by record school closings and a rueful housing market, will erode an already unstable tax base with no room for recourse. After all, how can city administrators ask for mill levy or tax rate increases when half the schools are already taken off life support? Less tax dollars automatically equate to less public services, fewer police, increases in criminal activity and more residents running for the border.
Even out-of-staters looking to relocate to Kansas City are aware of the reputation. “When they arrive here, many have already been warned by their work colleagues to stay out of the Kansas City district,” said real estate agent Stacey Johnson-Cosby. “Once that decision is made, you’re not likely to change minds.” As an agent and appraiser, I feel Stacey’s pain. I’ve been trying to sell homes in the urban community for years. Potential buyers are simply turned off and/or intimidated by the public school system. Can’t say I blame them. After all, as parents, priority one should involve providing our children with the best resources possible. Anything less would be a huge disservice.
In addition to hurting the housing market, the ‘Domino Effect’ of Covington’s plan also figures to retard commerce in urban communities as property owners will certainly look to invest elsewhere. 21 school closings mean 21 vacant buildings. I know the schools are for sale, but whose going to to maintain and service them in the meantime? Do law enforcement officials have the ‘man power’ to protect these venues against the shady tactics of vandals, arsonists, gang members and drug users? What about pest control? I guess we’ll find out the answers to these questions pretty soon.
Superintendent John Covington addresses parents and teachers
At the heart of Kansas City’s economic plight sits the infamous “Troost Wall” which some scholars have described as the unofficial boundary line for quality education, or lack thereof. Check this out. Montgomery’s article points out the tax base east of Troost has unraveled immensely since the late 1950’s as real estate agents capitalized financially by moving blacks in and whites out. This, my friends, is “blockbusting” in its purest form. The illegal practice of “redlining” was also a major issue during that time-frame as lenders refused to grant loans to African-Americans and Hispanics seeking residency in predominant white neighborhoods.
Half a century later, we realize we have a huge problem on our hands. People, it pains me to say. But there’s no question racism has finally caught up with us. Now we have to confront and defeat it. Running away and hiding won’t cut it anymore. Desperate times call for desperate measures. If officials believe Black and Hispanic students are incapable of learning in the inner city, our nation’s in deep doo. Speaking of desperate, by closing such a large number of schools, administrators (whether intentional or not) are sending the following disturbing message to urban residents: If you want a good education, it must be accomplished in the suburbs. Sorry, but I’m not buying that. There’s just simply too much evidence to suggest otherwise.
For example, around the time of the popular Topeka decision “Brown versus Board of Education,” students of Sumner High School, then a segregated institution in Kansas City Kansas, accomplished something not only unexpected, but improbable. Especially when considering the prevailing conditions of racial discrimination, low funding, as well as the lower educational and socioeconomic background of the population Sumner served. The school, which is now considered an academy, dominated all Metropolitan Kansas City high schools in awards for science presentations in the National Science Fairs program. People, it was no fluke. Sumner, a perennial academic power, went on to dominate top science prizes for much of the 1950s.
Sumner also won multiple state championships in the 1960’s; most notably in basketball. I raise these points because I’m convinced most people under the age of 50 have no clue this history even exists. To achieve greatness, kids must first be exposed to it. Tangible accomplishments of excellence inspire confidence and motivation. Myths, stories and folk tales don’t. I heard officials at Sumner moved the trophies and awards of the aforementioned championships to an isolated area near the back of the school, out of sight, where they can grow old and collect dust. Big, big mistake. The students, specifically African-Americans, need to see them. The faculty and administration of Sumner Academy should be ashamed of themselves.
Now the million dollar question: Why have so many people elected to move out the urban community? The reason is “Dr. Seuss” simple. Most people, to be candid, got fed up with all the crime, the dissolving business landscape and poor education. Once they raised the capital and resources necessary for relocation, they got the hell out. Everyone else is either stuck or apathetic. My friends, don’t be fooled. There’s a reason Covington’s plan is unprecedented. Different doesn’t necessarily mean better. A community, in my humble opinion, is nothing without schools. Nothing. This explains why the school board was split on the retraction vote, 5-4.
Closing in-city schools and busing kids to the outskirts is not the answer. The goal should be to lure residents back into the urban core. Abolishing half the academic institutions is 100% counterproductive to that. In conclusion, I’d like to point out this editorial is not a knock on Dr. Covington. The man has an impeccable service record and he was instrumental in turning around struggling school districts in Colorado and Alabama. However, to fix this mess, it’s imperative school administrators re-establish the belief urban students can and will receive the same quality education as kids living in the suburbs. Otherwise, we should just annihilate the term “urban” and consolidate the school and taxing districts across the KC Metro into one roly-poly community.
Wayne Hodges, an MBA from St. Mary University, is the Editor-in-Chief of “Mass Appeal News.” He is also a candidate for Kansas Senate District #7, an adjunct professor, and legislative intern with the Kansas Senate. Wayne welcomes your comments at whodges@massappealnews.com
June 6th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
the key word here is ACCOUNTABILITY
until we start making these corrupt administrators take accountability for they actions we will see more of the same. they dont give a damn about our kids learning anything. they just want to fill they own pockets. how much money did the white man give Dr Covington to shut down all these black schools???? black people are always doing the dirty work. Covington is from Alabama. if the s*** hits the fan he can pack up his stuff and go back home. we will be the ones stuck in this hell hole
June 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Wayne, I understand the frustration most people are experiencing with these school closures. But Dr. Covington did not have much choice. People are moving out of the urban core of the city and they are not coming back . The people who decided to stay are enrolling their kids in charter schools. The public schools are the big losers in all of this. Wayne, I agree with you. Nobody wants to live in a neighborhood that does not have schools. My husband and I bought our house 20 years ago. And the determining factor was we were happy with the school district. I can not imagine a worse scenario for Dr. Covington and his staff. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wish him luck!
June 6th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Preach brotha Hodges! Let them know whats up.
June 7th, 2010 at 7:05 am
hodge great article dogg. i had no idea Sumner used to be a black school. damn you taught me somethin. gotta agree KCMO is closin 2 many schools. the people n those neighborhoods are SOL. i feel sorry for them
June 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Lets give the plan a chance before we start shooting it down. Nobody wants to close schools but the district is $50 mil in the hole. what else can they do? I think we are headed to home school anyway in a few years. If the plan fails we can criticize the school board later but lets at least give them a chance to fix things. the district has been screwed up for decades.
June 7th, 2010 at 8:23 am
racism in KC strikes again…movin blacks in and whites out… how come nobody went to jail???
June 7th, 2010 at 9:13 am
Hey Wayne!
When I read the article about the KCMSD in Sunday’s paper,I thought about all the critics from Independence,Johnson County and everywhere else in the white community,I knew that it stemmed from a couple of things.
First,you had Rush Scumbaugh complaining that nearly 2 billion dollars on black children,as though black people don’t deserve a return on their tax investment in this country and you had white people parroting that.
Secondly,once the money came into the district,white people felt that only they could administer that money,and that their children were entitled to benefit from any improvements to the educational system.
None of this was ever about education,certainly not about educating black and hispanic children. This was about white doing what they’ve always done,”If I can’t have control,I’ll tear it up”!
The unfortunate thing is that you have a lot of black folk “house n’s”,who only listen to white opinion,and base their view solely on that.
These same black folk flee the district,and when they’re kids are victimized by the very white people who ran from them in the first place,then they want support from the very black people they left behind, in an effort to be accepted by white people.
I’m sorry,you can’t spit in my face and then ask me to help support you when the very people you want to identify with don’t want you.
We’ve had the warnings about what could happen to our community,now it’s happening before our eyes and we don’t know what to do?
I say let’s stop deluding ourselves and get busy!We’re the leaders we’ve needed all along.
Barry Jackson
June 7th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Wayne,
Back in the seventies,the late Bernard Powell used to say “Ghetto or Goldmine,the choice is yours”. The whole point in the saying was we had an opportunity to develop our community to be self sustaining,to create the type of community that we can all be proud of,or let somebody else create the type of community that will benefit someone else.
Well,this community made its choice and you see the result.
Yes,racism had a part in what has befallen us,but our collective apathy has added to the resulting lack of jobs,decaying housing stock,declining school system and cannibalistic crime problems that stifle economic development that has resulted in black flight and re-gentrification that we see today.The point is that in this day and age,we only have ourselves to blame,because there was many opportunities to stop this.
As far back as the eighties,when the state and city were working together to use eminent domain to knock down our community to build 71 highway (what about those traffic lights on a highway?,there were more people who gave lip service to efforts to save our community,yet no one wanted to adequately organize to save our neighborhoods. This community ultimately has no one to blame but itself.
Barry Jackson
June 7th, 2010 at 11:47 am
black people are TIRED of livin in the ghetto
you cant blame people for leavin and doin better
black people want they 40 acres and a mule to
these schools are horrible – i am glad they are closin – shouda been done a long time ago