[Peace-discuss] school board elections

[Karen Medina]

As the elections in Champaign get closer, NG op/ed conversation returns to the Unit 4 school district and the consent decree. 

Just to remind peace-discuss of the issues, here are sample comments from others and then my response (not that I am last word, but that I think the schools can do a lot better with a little consideration on the part of the middle class).

> Voters last year overwhelmingly rejected a bond issue 
> proposal to build two new schools, one in the Boulder Ridge
> subdivision in Champaign and another in Savoy 
[the author is implying that this is evidence that Champaign residents aren't willing to invest in the schools, but in reality, the proposed building sites were the point of contention. With the consent decree, the school board of the past had agreed to build a school north of University Avenue (meaning in the low income neighborhoods), and the current school board was saying that the Boulder Ridge site, which is west of Parkland College, in a subdivision that does not even exist yet, was fulfilling the North of University Avenue requirement by the letter of the law. The residents of Champaign knew full well that this was not following the spirit of the law.]     
 - -
> Champaign teachers are being forced to accept responsibilty > for every problem in our community.There is no school 
> district in the nation that has had so much blame placed on > it in such a clearly unfair manner.

My response "Comment" (not an op/ed) Saturday March 31, 2007:

Yes, there is racism in all US cities, and African American students have historically been neglected, and yes, the entire US needs to do something about it, but that does not mean that Champaign Schools are not responsible for its specific problems.  

If you get a chance, read all the documents of the consent decree. There are very specific ways that Champaign schools have neglected minority students. These areas of neglect can be changed fairly easily.

I am not saying that any particular individuals are racist, but rather that some of the decisions made by the Unit 4 school board, both past and present, have had hardest impacts on those least able to recover from them. The fact that there are not enough school seats in the poor neighborhoods and that the current school board proposed building a school out west of Parkland College instead of the true North of University is just one example. There are other examples, many of which are spelled out in the reports from the monitoring team.

Yes, the whole country would like to see more minority students graduating from high school, but just a few small things here could help our community raise OUR numbers. It may seem as if Champaign residents expect the impossible, but at least try to care enough to listen to the ideas of the African American community. Just one simple example, stop force bussing the poor kids out of their neighborhoods -- because this bussing means that they cannot participate in after school activities like band, sports, scouting, and yes maybe even tutoring. Bus the middle class kids and let their parents pick them up when they stay after school.

That is all I am asking, make decisions that will help the entire public school system in Champaign, and this means making decisions that will hurt the minorities and lower income students the very least. Champaign will be a better place, and maybe, just maybe the country will follow. 

-karen medina