Letter: NAACP opposes Virginia charter school -- but is silent in Chicago
May 27, 2008
Substance:
I hope you and your family had a nice weekend and holiday. It is so sad we are still fighting an unjust war which is causing so much misery on all sides and wasting tons of money which could be used elsewhere to alleviate suffering throughout the world and here at home. Our priorities are so mixed up.
Please print the following press article from Virginia.
As a member of the NAACP, and a member-at -large of the executive committee of the historic Southside branch of the Chicago NAACP, I receive national NAACP e-mails.
The title for the most recent e-mail is: “NAACP’ steps up opposition to charter school” By Zachary Reid, Richmond, VA, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer.
The Virginia NAACP stepped up its opposition to the proposed Patrick Henry charter school today during a new conference in front of the south Richmond school.
The group said it opposes the initiative and questions the motivation of the School Board in closing the school two years ago.
“We oppose any scheme that creates a private school in a public school setting", said Melvin Law, a former school board chairman and a member of the Richmond branch of the NAACP.
“We now realize that the closing of Patrick Henry Elementary School was planned and deliberate to set up the process for the charter application", the group said in a statement distributed by its executive director, King Salim Khalfani.
“That statement is clearly mistaken", said the School Board Chairman George P. Braxton II. "This group in no way, form or fashion existed" when Patrick Henry was closed.
Braxton said the school was closed after the 2005-06 school year for three reasons: declining enrollment, the lack of handicapped accessibility and the fact that theee nearby elementary schools couls easily absorb the student population.
Representatives of the Richmond Council of PTA’s and the Richmond Education Association were also on hand to voice opposition to the charter school. The school board will vote on the issue Monday night.
Why no NAACP outcry against Chicago charter schools?
At least, in Virginia, the state NAACP has come out against an issue dealing with charter schools. What (in Illinois, and definitely in Chicago), entity or significant person(s) has come out to expose the charade of charter schools which is being used to destroy the public school system - especially concerning schools in African American neighborhoods?
It seems only Substance has steadily exposed this immense travesty. This is disgusting, that a racist, political, money based effort, and “its” supporters, are being given carte blanche to destroy neighborhood schools, students’ education and future, and their teachers’ careers -- and no one has the courage to speak up to protest. Just where is PUSH, CTU, the Urban League, Illinois’ NAACP, Chicago’s Westside and Southside NAACP and the black ministers and legislators in all of this?
For shame, for shame.
In solidarity,
Sharonjoy A. Jackson
Retired teacher, Chicago
Sharonjoyj@aol.com
This letter was originally published in the June 2008 print edition of Substance.
