Educating for Democracy: Kansas City School Closings: Are We Becoming a Second-Rate Nation?
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If what has happened in Kansas City -- with the announced closing of 29 of the 61 public schools -- is a symptom of our future, this country is going to be experiencing far more distress than we already have had from economic dysfunction: social disruption. An increasing underclass of young people, disproportionately minority, will have fewer educational opportunities that will lead to fewer good-paying jobs. The alternative to lawful employment, I fear, will inevitably follow.

According to a New York Times report, the reason for the drastic action by the Kansas City superintendant, John Covington, is because of the school board's recent history (that) reveals a chaotic, almost nonfunctioning body that put off making tough choices and even routine improvements for generations.

The pattern of white flight from the Kansas City public schools to "better suburban districts and charter schools" mirrors the pattern that is being accelerated within New York City through some of the policies being followed by the Bloomberg Administration.

There's a bumper sticker slogan that's been around for some time; we need to be reminded of what it means: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." And the direction of our educational system, for an increasing number of young learners, or would-be learners, is toward more ignorance. School closings, for whatever reason, will only accelerate that trend with a higher drop-out rate as has been reflected in New York City schools, despite Mayor Bloomberg's misleading numbers on recent high school graduation rates.

What this country needs urgently, before the summer begins, is a way to address the problems of unemployment and underemployment of those most vulnerable to this economic crisis. But what is needed is not just another economic stimulus package, much of which is focused on tax credits for small business employers, while nationally, only 15% of businesses plan new hires, but a public works bill on the scale of the WPA or the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) which would enable unemployed young people to have some means of economic survival. These would not be "make-work" jobs that have no positive effect but jobs we need to preserve and improve our deteriorating public realm.

Over the past generation much of what in previous times we took for granted as "open to the public" in terms of parks, zoos, museums and other places accessible to everyone are falling into neglect or being privatized. This is a symptom of what we are becoming: a second-rate nation. We have a second-rate transportation system, a second-rate health care system for an increasing number of people, and certainly, a second-rate school system crippled by a bizarre accountability mania of measurement standards that contribute nothing tangible to the quality of learning and continue to undermine the efforts of good teachers to salvage teachable students.

I'm not fond of using statistics for measuring school "improvement" but some numbers can be instructive. In terms of infant mortality and life expectancy, two significant indices of the well-being of a nation, the United States ranks 46th and 50th. We have triple the infant mortality rate of Singapore, and for African Americans the rate is double what it is for the general U.S. population. As an industrialized nation, we are near the bottom in upward mobility, while in income distribution, we are also among the most unequal, with only China below us. The closing of public schools is a symptom of these statistics because it shows not only the nation's priorities now, but what has led us to this point: a diminishing concern by political leaders for the public good in the interests of private benefit.

In a recent news interview, the head of the Missouri PTA expressed her regret at school closings but also the lack of parental involvement in children's learning. Of course, this will be made worse by the closing of local schools that will move children out of their neighborhoods and make parental involvement even less likely.

But what causes lack of parental involvement? It's not just a matter of indifference or ignorance of the importance of education to give their children an opportunity to move out of poverty. It's the burden of single mothers, the most financially distressed group in the country, and two-parent income families that actually have to work two or more jobs each who have neither the time nor energy to give the attention their children need due to their poor-paying work and increasing debt.

At this point, in a crisis situation, there should be a sense of urgency for providing jobs to teens and long out-of-work adults into projects addressing public need. These would include an increase in the building of low-income public housing to reduce homelessness and more resources to repair the deteriorating infrastructure. Far more attention should also be paid to the maintenance of public spaces such as zoos, parks, libraries: places that should be free to the public but are now being privatized as a result of declining municipal and state support with entrance fees prohibitively high for low-income families.

School closings are a symptom of a nation that is falling away from democratic values into a more restrictive and authoritarian society where in the interests of the relative few, the state will regard its chief obligation the suppression and control of the many. Other signs of this anti-democratic trend can be seen by continued public support of "anti-terrorist" measures that undermine our rule of law and do little if anything to protect the public. This is reflected more specifically in the willful disregard for children's welfare in the administrative actions of the heads of the New York City and Washington D.C. public schools where the objectives of the "managers"--not educators--are to create a culture--through "behavior modification"--of subservient, low-wage workers for the benefit of those who are in schools that are actually educating the "leaders" who will become the masters of a future DSA (Divided Status of America).

The conservative politicians may have reason to fear continued deficit spending and increasing national debt as a legacy for future generations, although perhaps they might consider reducing a budget that accounts for fully half of the world's military expenditures. But regardless of the costs for programs that address the present crisis, I predict that if we do not act soon to address it, our legacy to future generations will be a country that more closely resembles a second-rate police state than a democracy.

Monday, Mar 15, 2010
Posted on Wed, Mar. 10, 2010
KC board approves plan to close 26 schools
By JOE ROBERTSON, The Kansas City Star
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A split Kansas City school board tonight approved a historic plan to close 26 schools after turning back an effort to take several buildings off the list..

By a vote of 5-4, the board ushered in Superintendent John Covington’s Right Sizing Plan.

The school closings will cut the number of district buildings by more than 40 percent and underpin Covington’s drive to cut $50 million from the shrunken district’s budget.

The board members who voted for the plan were Arthur Benson II, Duane Kelly, Joel Pelofsky, Derek Richey and Airick Leonard West.

Voting no were board President Marilyn Simmons, Cokethea Hill, Helen Ragsdale and Ray Wilson.

The proposal to remove several schools from the closing list failed on a 5-4 vote along the same lines.

The plan will leave the district operating 33 schools.

Covington’s administration spent nearly six months creating and selling its audacious plan, saying the district has to be more fiscally efficient if education reform in the struggling district is to have a chance to succeed.

Covington aimed wide, proposing closings and consolidations across the district, including all of the district’s “signature” programs.

The plan consolidates the African Centered Collegium Campus into one building, consolidates Montessori schools from three into two. Lincoln College Preparatory Academy and Paseo Academy both are absorbing their accompanying middle schools into the high school buildings.

And Southwest Early College Campus will be absorbing the closing Westport High School.

The plan also calls for the district to sell its downtown headquarters.

Wednesday night’s proposal included some concessions from Covington’s original plan of 30 closures unveiled in February — but not many.

Northeast High School was taken off the closing list — while Northeast Elementary was added on. The district also took Carver, James, Wheatley and Whittier schools off the closing list.

While most of the district’s high schools will be reconfigured to serve grades 7-to-12, the combined Lincoln high school and middle school will continue to include sixth grade.

And the elementary school language immersion programs from Longan, which is moving into Foreign Language Academy, will both retain 7th and 8th grades.

Covington did not back off his consolidation plans in some situations where program advocates opposition to the plan had been strongest — including the African-centered program and Faxon Montessori.

Still on the list
Board member Ray Wilson proposed removing these buildings from the closing list. His motion failed on a 5-4 vote.

•Westport High

•ACE Lower Campus

•ACE 6th Grade Center

•Kansas City Middle School of the Arts

•Lincoln College Prep middle school

•Franklin, Longan, McCoy, Woodland and Carver elementary schools

•Central office, 1211 McGee