Time to BREAK THE CHAINS! School Reform is Not Civil Rights
By:   Dr. Mark Naison

All over the country, inner city parents and teachers are being deprived of their rights to have community input into management of public schools, while their children are moved from pillar to post by school closings, and then pushed into charter schools which often impose zero tolerance discipline policies.

That this is promoted as Civil Rights is a travesty. It is in fact the opposite. Here are some of the consequences of Reform policies pursued in Chicago, Newark, Philadelphia and many other places

1. Community voices smothered. Parents mocked and silenced for trying to have input into management of schools

2. A sharp reduction in the number of teachers of color, especially Black teachers

3. The proliferation of charter schools that impose zero-tolerance discipline policies that strip students of their basic rights, marginalize and occasionally expel Special Needs students, and create a prison like environment that inhibits creative thinking and challenges to authority

Taken together, these represent nothing less than collective socialization of poor communities and communities of color to a subordinate position in American society-heavily monitored, heavily policed, and condemned to more of the same in years to come.

Time to BREAK THE CHAINS! School Reform is NOT CIVIL RIGHTS