“separate but equal” school systems?
about a year ago, the MakeShift revolution was born of equal parts anxiety and creativity. anxiety and creativity are a likely pairing in most cases of forward progress, no matter how big or small. anxiety about the way things are leads to the creative resolve to make things new.
but on the subject of anxiety, perfect madness author judith warner suggests that many mothers are unwilling to be honest with ourselves and others about the sources of this natural maternal emotion:
“basically, it is acceptable to air all your dirty laundry about yourself, your husband, or your children but it is not acceptable to look beyond your family to suggest that there is something wrong with the world. it is not permissible to talk about policy, or economics, or culture… and this is because, i think, policy, economics, and culture are perceived as being things that we have no control over…. and so we fixate on those things we feel we can control — how our child holds a pencil, whether or not she eats gluten — rather than worry about what we can’t control: our economic futures, kids’ education, health care costs, whether or not we’ll ever be able to afford to retire….
the perversity in all this, of course, is that what we’re trying to control is precisely what one cannot control; you can’t shape and perfect human beings, pre-program and prepare them along the way. but you can — ostensibly — exert some control over what kind of society you live in…. you ostensibly have the power, en masse, to set the national agenda” (209).
i am often guilty of shying away from “setting the national agenda” in favor of setting our family agenda. but today’s post is a venture into a space where the personal and political are intertwined: the issue of educating the children of memphis and shelby county. below is an interview with gretchen stroud, a representative of friends united for school equality (FUSE). FUSE is a group of parents and grassroots activists in favor of the proposed merger of local city and county school systems. read below for a beautiful example of how the collective forces of parental anxiety and creativity are moving beyond the home and into the broken world.
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mary allison: please introduce yourself and let readers know why are you in favor of the consolidation of shelby county and memphis city schools.
gretchen: I am the parent of an Memphis City Schools (MCS) student in first grade. We have had a wonderful experience with MCS so far and are very happy with his school. However, I support consolidation for a few key reasons:
- If Shelby County Schools (SCS) were to obtain the special school district status (with taxing authority) pursued by its school board president David Pickler, this would cut funding for MCS and do away with the equitable per student funding that currently comes from Shelby County. In this scenario, Memphis would be responsible for educating approximately 70% of the county’s children with only 40% of the tax revenues. Taxes in Memphis would have to rise substantially to make up the difference.
- Although the money issue is concerning, the major reason I support the consolidation is that you cannot have “separate but equal” school systems, by law. We are creating a widening division between those students who come from middle and upper class families and those at the lowest end of the economic spectrum. This is immoral, unethical and will ultimately create great harm to Memphis and all the surrounding towns and cities who depend on Memphis as the anchor for our mid-south cultural and economic sustainability. Every single child has the potential to learn, and I can tell you from watching the children in my son’s school that every one of them wants to learn. It is up to the adults to figure out how to do that fairly and equally for all.
mary allison: what is FUSE?
gretchen: FUSE stands for Friends United for School Equality. We are a group of Shelby County residents (which means, of course, those living in Memphis and in the suburbs – we are ALL Shelby County) who believe that for our county to remain viable and competitive in the 21st century we must work together as one to provide quality education to ALL of the children in Shelby County.
mary allison: how did FUSE start? please describe how the idea emerged and how so many mid-south parents became organized and mobilized so quickly under the umbrella of FUSE:
gretchen: Well, it started as a group of MCS Optional School parents who came together on Facebook after Mr. Pickler started trying to scare people by threatening the Optional program. I think that he was hoping that our fear of losing this program would drive us to vote against the merger. However, he definitely underestimated us. We came together to start talking about consolidation and quickly realized that this isn’t just about our kids, it is about ALL of the kids in Shelby County. Every single one of them deserves a great education – not just the ones we are raising. And we talked about how we wanted to reach out to other parents from the county schools because we felt that there were more people like us out there who are committed to the concept that you cannot raise your children in a bubble of privilege. What is good for my child should be good for ALL children, and if it isn’t good for all children then it really isn’t good for my own child in the long run either. I think we have grown so quickly because our group is devoted to fostering kind, honest, and real conversation among parents and other “regular people.”
mary allison: what are some of the reasons that fuel opposition to school consolidation, and what do you to say to parents who are not in favor of merging?
gretchen: Fear and lack of truth. Honestly, people think that MCS are pits of danger and despair. I partly blame the media because they will run a hundred stories about teen pregnancy, a fight at a school, and an underperforming principal. But, I didn’t see a single mid-south news organization cover the news this summer when Memphis was named one of the 21 “overachieving” urban school districts based on a large study of urban school districts in the US. Not just one of the 21, but one of the top five! That is great news for Memphis, and NO ONE reported it. The report can be found in this Education Week article.
We had a group of Germantown moms send us a list of questions that they honestly wanted to ask (but were a little embarrassed and afraid to, I think). They wanted to know if our elementary kids in MCS have art or music or libraries. I was blown away! But, the sad fact is that the myths and stereotypes people have been hearing about MCS for years are in many cases their only exposure to the city school system. We were able to answer those questions in a non-threatening manner that encouraged further dialog. And, in case your readers are wondering, yes, MCS elementary students have art, Orff music, P.E., and library every week. And most elementary schools also offer foreign languages starting in first grade. In addition, the gifted program in MCS begins in kindergarten. They start instruments in fourth grade too.
What I say to parents who oppose the merger is, come and see what MCS is really about. Our kids are great kids who want to learn, just like yours do. We have wonderful, hard-working teachers, just like you do. Great things happen in Memphis City Schools every single day. Beyond that, I would say consolidation is the RIGHT thing to do. Shelby County cannot survive with this crazy us vs. them mentality. And, you aren’t creating the kind of place where your children will want to live when they grow up if the city that is the keystone of this entire mid-south area is left to decay and decline because we cannot come together as one community.
mary allison: what actions do members of FUSE take to affect change?
gretchen: We have some really great members! We write letters to the newspapers, and we are working with Stand for Children to host educational events for the community about the pros and cons of consolidation (although I should note that FUSE supports the consolidation and Stand is non-partisan on this issue). We had a very active email campaign to city council last week ahead of their vote. We contact our state legislature and the governor to try to give Memphis a voice in this process. We educate others about what consolidation could look like. We reach out to parents across the county to start the conversation now about what we parents want a unified school district to offer. Do we want smaller sub-districts? Do we want magnet schools? Do we want smaller class sizes? Do we want every child to get foreign language instruction starting in first grade? What do we think our children need to be competitive in the 21st century? I’m not saying that I have a position on all of these issues, but so far no one is asking parents what WE want in a new, unified district. And they should be asking.
mary allison: could you describe in layman’s terms the timeline and political process that is currently structuring the consolidation decision?
gretchen: Ha, ha, ha! If I could do that, I’d be rich! As of this moment, the city council has accepted the charter surrender, but Memphians STILL need to vote in the referendum (early voting begins Feb. 16). Shelby County Schools has filed a federal lawsuit against a whole lot of people, including (but not limited to) MCS, Memphis City Council, US Dept of Education, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, US Dept of Justice, Attorney General Eric Holder, Tennessee Department of Education, Education Commissioner Patrick Smith (and others). And, that is just the beginning.
But, and this is important, it is time NOW for all of us in Shelby County to seriously contemplate whether we want this issue tied up in federal courts for the next five to ten years. Who does that serve? Certainly not the children. It really just serves our fear and our prejudices. And, if we want to come together and try to figure out the best way to educate all of the children in this community in the best way possible, then we need to tell our elected officials that we want to come together and fix this now.
mary allison: how might others who are interested in FUSE become involved in your work?
gretchen: First, let me say that we would love to have anyone join us who is interested. You can find us at www.fuseshelby.org or on Facebook.
[source info for perfect madness is located on the bibliography page, which is listed on the sidebar to your right.]
Tags: anxiety, Arne Duncan, art, consolidation, control, creativity, david pickler, early voting, education week, eric holder, federal lawsuit, friends united for school equality, FUSE, germantown, gretchen stroud, judith warner, library, mary allison, memphis city schools, merger, mr. pickler, orff music, p.e., patrick smith, perfect madness, referendum, shelby county schools, stand for children
February 16th, 2011 at 7:42 am
Thank you for giving us this info in lingo I can understand. Pairing it with Steve’s sermon helps me to formulate a clearer image of the situation…THE Civil Rights issue of our day, indeed.
February 16th, 2011 at 7:43 am
This reminds me of a movie I watched last night…. “Waiting on Superman.” It details some very powerful ideas on the education system with more focus on failing inner city schools, but suburban schools as well. I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s in Red Box so only $1 for a good dose of thought.
February 16th, 2011 at 9:59 am
Gretchen and Mary Allison, this was the best overall synopsis that I have read. The deepest issues are indeed fear, and ignorance….not understanding all that is going on in MCS. Excellent job. Many thanks.
February 16th, 2011 at 10:48 am
In response to Gretchen Stroud’s commentary on the questions raised by “Germantown moms.” FIRST OF ALL, we are not necessarily opponents of consolidation. Just had to get that out there.
I think it is unfortunate that the gist of the question about library time, computer, music, PE, and art class was misunderstood. It was not about whether or not MCS has these programs; of course they do. It was about the frequency of these classes. (5. How will art, music, physical education, curriculum materials/books, libraries, and other programs be affected? To what extent and with what frequency do they exist in MCS right now?) Perhaps the words “to what extent” were poorly chosen, but they are legitimate questions. How will they be affected? To what extent do they exist right now? These programs cost money and if they don’t already (as my GES 3rd grader does) have PE 3X a week, and art, music, computer and library class once a week, but perhaps have them less frequently, it would cost more to have them that often for everyone.
The question about school assignment wasn’t about forced busing; no one asking about school assignment was thinking of this in terms of racial integration. It WAS about whether or not families who live equidistant or near what is currently a city school or another SCS school will have to uproot their children from their current schools or whether school assignment will remain the same for their street address.
As for whether or not people are embarrassed to ask the questions, I would say no. I did not tell them they would remain anonymous, just that I was putting together a list of concerns and questions. I was the one who wished to remain out of the fray; I just wanted to get some questions & answers flowing. Your suggestion that they might have been embarrassed to ask these questions seems to come from your perception that these people have something to be embarrassed about. They don’t. They are open-minded about consolidation, but feel that there has been little information of a practical nature relayed to them. They work full time and don’t have time to investigate; they watched the debate and felt that David Pickler seemed to have more in the way of facts (which was not what they were expecting as we don’t feel he represents us) and that those facts weren’t sufficiently refuted; maybe something was missed, but that was the impression left by the debates. That is where I came in. I agree that there is a lot of misinformation out there; there is a lack of understanding among people in the suburbs. But I think there are just as many preconceived notions about suburban residents as evidenced by your reading of the question about art, music, et cetera. Perhaps you didn’t mean to be condescending to these “crazy” people, but much as my list of questions may not have conveyed their intended message, your tone may not have conveyed your intended message.
HERE are my original words:
“I do not wish to comment publicly on the FUSE page, but want to offer the following through you, if you don’t mind; feel free to copy and paste it and label it as from a friendly, but anonymous source, if you like. I just do not want to enter into the fray–but I wanted to give FUSE some insight with regard to garnering support in the county. These questions are based on conversations with GES parents who embrace diversity, but who are hesitant to speak at the risk of being lumped together with all the crazy county folks who make unfortunate comments in the Commercial-Appeal. We see the world’s nuances and don’t think that all poor children have uninvolved parents any more than we think that all affluent parents are involved. These are the questions/concerns of “liberal” Germantown folk which could be addressed by groups like FUSE and prospective future board members of a consolidated system. It might make a good FAQ page/Fact Sheet to hand out.
1. Has all of this basically been caused by the fact that Mr. Pickler and company failed to say, in legally-binding writing, that his intention in seeking SSD is NOT, in part, to pull any funding from MCS? Is this largely a funding issue? And speaking of funding, how does consolidation, beyond ensuring continuing county financial support, affect federal and state funding, if at all.
2. How will consolidation actually help on a day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts basis, the children in what are currently MCS schools? What is the vision and how does it come to fruition? I, for one, am not concerned if my property taxes need to be a bit higher to help fund the schools; recalling the spirit of the slogan, “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance,” it’s either schools now or lots of working poor (not good for the spirit of the community) and welfare and prisons later (to put a fairly broad and blunt “point” on it) but don’t want to throw money at problems that can’t be solved with money, but perhaps need some money PLUS innovation. For example, I would love to see Reading Recovery/more specially-trained educators in at-risk schools, if not all schools. If you don’t catch the “Learn to Read” bus, it’s hard to make the connecting bus to “Reading to Learn.” I hesitate to use the word “we” in this polarized environment, but speaking at least for those I know, we are very interested in ALL children receiving a high-quality education and having the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. We are interested for idealistic, altruistic reasons, but also for reasons involving our security and prosperity as a metro-area, a region AND as a nation. ALL the children matter. Every one. So again, beyond the rhetoric, how will consolidation actually help the CHILDREN? Our eyes have not yet been opened to the answer.
3. A lot of people already felt that SCS was too big at 45,000 and were considering the municipal school option NOT as a “head for the hills” option, but as a move for more local & controllable management. The prospect of a school system of 150,000 seems like a plan to fail at a management level. Mr. Pickler cited a study/studies stating that we were already at the top end of what is generally manageable. How would we address the gargantuan task of administration of such a large system? Warren’s plan seems like the most reasonable plan of all the consolidation plans. The prospect of consolidation has people wanting to ensure the localization of operations management, the easing of red-tape issues when it comes to things like gifted education, special education services, and the like. The wait is long enough in a system of 45,000. How will that be affected?
4. One of the biggest concerns people have, and the most personal, is school assignment. Most don’t care if other children come into their current school, but would like to ensure their child’s experience will continue in the schools currently slated for their address. For many, budgets were stretched to buy houses in the GES school zone for the purpose of attending GES, a wonderful, fairly diverse school at 61% white (with some categories of race not really accounted for in the current race/ethnicity coding model.) If you walk into the GES cafeteria during lunch, you will see a rainbow of children smiling and laughing and goofing off TOGETHER while breaking bread, so to speak. To our children, skin color may as well be eye color. That, in fact, is our hope for the future. At any rate, we treasure our current school, but mostly live near the city limits and do not want our child’s experience disrupted by a redrawing of lines. I’m sure that’s also the concern at some other schools in the county. It’s hard to imagine a political reality in which that would happen, but we would like some assurances.
5. How will art, music, physical education, curriculum materials/books, libraries, and other programs be affected? To what extent and with what frequency do they exist in MCS right now?
6. If at all, how would consolidation affect PTA activities and individual school fundraising and tutoring and cultural arts and other programs?
7. How would teacher assignments & pay, contracts and the like be managed?
8. We all know that there would be some period of transition, but might like to see an outline/timeline for that transition perhaps from a similar example of a consolidation.
These questions came from a loving place. I hope that, for the most part, they were received that way.
February 17th, 2011 at 8:35 am
Hi Laurie,
I’m sorry if FUSE and I misinterpreted your questions. We certainly appreciate that they came from a loving place and appreciate you asking questions, and tried to answer them in the same way. But all humans are fallible and if we misread the written questions you submitted, I’m sorry for that. We, at FUSE, are trying to provide an open and non-threatening place to discuss such questions, but we all bring our own baggage and perceptions to this process, much as we or others may think otherwise.
I posted a longer response to you on Facebook but just want to say that I would strongly encourage you or anyone to post any and all questions within our group forum. We have had several people post tough questions and I’m proud to say that the FUSE group has always responded in an open and thoughtful way. We are all trying to do this in the midst of raising our own families, volunteering in our kids’ schools, juggling careers, grad school, etc. When you post in Facebook, you get the benefit of many minds, and opinions, and it facilitates dialog so that if we do misunderstand the question or meaning, you can clarify and the conversation continues.
I do hope you’ll join us.