Well, I read the linked story (from WPLN) 3 times now. Nowhere is Dean quoted as saying that the plan will save money overall. He says:

“I think we need as a city to be very cognizant of our resources. If we have buildings that are underutilized, if we’re spending more money than we need to be in certain areas, we need to consolidate and be able to give our children more services.”

The writer of the story then tosses out the figures of $2 million in savings from closing several schools against $4-6 million in new expenses for the Pearl-Cohn cluster. But there is a big difference in saying we're spending more money iIN CERTAIN AREAS than we need to do and saying that the plan saves money OVERALL.

Why did you feel the need to put words in Dean's mouth?

Oh, and if you'd just amend your headline to read "Kan't Komment Karl," then you'd conveniently have an acronym to fit the resegregationist angle you're pursuing.

The Scene has lost whatever credibility it had left in its reporting on this issue, starting with its unquestioning acceptance of the allegations Pedro Garcia made in an angry CYA memo and continuing with its finger-pointing spin implying that anyone who supports the rezoning plan is a racist bigot who wants to give poor black kids the shaft.

I'm a lifelong Democrat who supports national healthcare and a strong proponent of public education because every child deserves an opportunity to learn.

But it's delusional to think that sending poor kids of any race to a school in a wealthier part of town -- which makes it hard, if not impossible, for their parents to attend teacher meetings and for them to be involved in any extracurricular activities -- will resolve the deficits many of these kids start school with becaues their parents have limited resources and education. Or that parents whose kids enter school prepared to learn will patiently wait, their kids bored and frustrated because they aren't challenged, while a teacher focuses the bulk of her efforts on the kids who need to catch up.

My mother-in-law taught kindgarten for 25 years, and she told stories of kids who did not know how to have a conversation with adults, did not know their alphabet, their numbers, colors, how to tie their shoes, weren't picked up at school, came to school in the same clothes for several days, often slept in class because mom took them to bars most nights, etc. Some came to kindergarten not yet toilet trained. Try getting a mother with no transportation to pick up her child because he has soiled his clothes when he's been bused 10 miles. A five- or six-year-old kid is too young to ride a bus that far from home; I'd not have allowed my child to do that.

There's a level of absurdity here that's missing from this conversation that accelerated on another topic, when Cici said that delivering a good education wasn't the primary purpose of the public schools.

Karl Dean is being villified here for making a true and practical statement. The school system doesn't have unlimited resources.

And here I want to be clear, since the Scene has been careless in its coverage and its attributions -- the views in this next paragraph are mine, not Karl Dean's. The more families who avoid Davidson County because they won't want to pay taxes for public schools that perform so poorly they don't want to send their kids there, the less money we'll have to spend on public education. Busing costs a lot of money in terms of vehicles, maintenance, employees (now Metro is having to hire bus monitors, because there have been assaults on buses, and the ad says they get full benefits!) and time on the part of students and administrators. The less money we spend on that, the more dollars will be available to fund classroom instruction and facility improvement.

As a reading support volunteer, I have been in many schools at the elementary school and middle school levels in the metro system. I almost always I go to poor, inner city schools and I have seen very poor facilities and outstanding facilities in these poor neighborhoods. It just makes sense to use the money currently paying for transportation to upgrade the schools and get rid of as many of the energy/money sucking buses as possible. Money going to transport children (a ten minute ride is short) across town is wasteful and and the practice is cruel.

I know a mom who lives across the street from Napier Elementary, yet her daughter has to get on a bus at 7am (thirty minute ride)to McGavock Elementary out past Donelson. That is insane. This mom NEVER gets to go to anything at the school because of transportation issues. How is this doing this child any good? She needs to go to school across the street from her house so her mother can visit the classroom, eat lunch with her, consult with the teachers, and attend daytime programs.

Mr. Woods, I challenge you to ride (unknown to the students) on a school bus for the afternoon run this August on a 90 degree day, first with high school students from Hillwood to North Nashville, then the elementary, and finally the middle schoolers and see how it really is, both with behavior and the heat.

Can someone explain why nearly the cast of black leaders in this city is vehemently against this plan? Are they merely listening to black parents or do they have some sort of mystical, crazy agenda? Which one is it?

Then, can someone explain to me if they really think that the Chamber cares about black kids in North Nashville?

Not being a black leader, a black parent or in any way connected to the Chamber of Commerce, I'm not really qualified to answer. But in the spirit of honest inquiry in which I'm sure the questions were offered, I'll offer my own honest guesses.

Why are so many black leaders opposing the rezoning plan?

On a philosophical level, I'd guess one reason is because, for almost all of us, regardless of race, the statement "Separate but equal is inherently unequal" has seared into our memories to the point that we accept it reflexively, without asking any questions. So anything that smacks of returning to neighborhood schools is reflexively dismissed as a return to segregation. We don't bother to ask whether integration through crosstown busing has gotten us any closer to equal opportunity, or whether other socioeconomic and environmental factors have held back children from disadvantaged neighborhoods, or whether the advantages offered by neighborhood schools that were lost due to busing have more than offset any gains that may have been realized from kids going to school across town in a white neighborhood. The specter of resegregation also, I think, seems to have prevented many people from honestly examining how much resegregation would actually take place. Almost all the focus has been on Pearl-Cohn vs. Hillwood. But if I'm reading the plan correctly, Hillwood would lose about 475 black children, but Pearl-Cohn would add only 144? Where are the rest of them going? Isn't it true to Hillsboro is picking up some of the North Nashville kids and will have a higher percentage of black students than it had before? And isn't it true that most of the kids who attended Hillwood will still have the option of going there, thus promoting school choice? All the attention on Hillwood & Pearl-Cohn also overlooks how utterly segregated Pearl-Cohn already was, along with several other of the high schools that are less affected by the rezoning. Buena Vista Elementary is virtually all black. Why was so little attention paid to this de facto segregation before? My guess, only guess, is that the word "segregation" carries such power that when it was raised in the discussion of the rezoning plan, it charged the atmosphere and foreclosed a conversation about the other questions I have raised.

I think that many black leaders of Ed Kindall's generation, especially, are sensitive to the racial history in ways that younger whites mostly are not. Look, I can understand why Kindall is suspicious about the intentions of white business leaders. He grew up in segregated schools. Anyone who grew up in North Nashville years ago can remember all the promises made (by the state) to upgrade facilities at TSU, even as the state sat by for years and let those facilities fall into disrepair. I don't agree that the suspicions are well founded in this case, but I understand them. And I've talked to a lot of white people who grew up in a post-segregation era who blithely think all racial discrimination is a thing of the past and that we should just move on. If this whole outburst of animosity has any potential for good, perhaps it's that it will move people toward the honest racial dialogue that is much needed but mostly swept over.

Next, because of our tortured legacy of segregation, I think a lot of black leaders suspect that white parents aren't being honest when they say that skin color is not the reason so many of them are opting out of Metro schools. Yet for most of the white folks I talk to, that's EXACTLY the reason. They'll happily send their kids to a great school like MLK, even though it's across the street from a housing project, down the block from a drug corner, and the school goes on lockdown periodically because some armed criminal is loose in the neighborhood. I know that racism is ever present, but it is not present everywhere. But I think black and white people have trouble hearing each other because of the burdens of the past.

Finally, as I have posted on some other thread, I suspect that a whole question of control is involved here. I suspect that, among some black leaders, there is an attitude toward white people of "Your people abandoned our schools in droves in the 60s and 70s and left us here to pick up the pieces -- and now we'll be damned if you're going to come back and tell us how to run things." And there probably is also some resentment over the options that income creates. Middle-class families (disproportionately white) have options about where to send their kids to school. They more often can afford to send their kids to a private school or move to an adjoining county. Lower-income families (disproportionately black) have fewer options and, often, less mobility. If I were watching people leave while I was left behind, I'd probably be resentful at some level, too. The same phenomenon, incidentally, has been observed in countries where war or oppression has created exile communities. The exiles are often resented if they come home years later, simply because they were able to leave and others couldn't. It's human nature.

As to the Chamber, if they really were engaged in a conspiracy and the conspiracy really was largely about getting black kids out of white neighborhoods, then I would join you in condemning them. Let's just say I'm suspicious, and it will take more than the carefully timed release of a memo by a not-so-credible schools director whose main agenda was saving his job to convince me. But I'm open to being convinced. (Why do Woods' stories about the alleged dealings in Miami refer only to "Chamber types?" What exactly is a Chamber type? Were they Chamber members or not?)

Anyway, do the Chamber types care about black kids in North Nashville? I dunno. My guess would be that they care primarily about a healthy business climate, which is what you'd expect. The overall reputation of Nashville's schools is terribly (and terribly well deserved). It's not a healthy sign when the state has to intervene. A terrible reputation for schools is bad for business, not to mention the overall community. Seems to me that is what the Chamber is most concerned about. Since the business decision makers who are prospects for relocating their companies here are disproportionately white, as are the business executives who are prospects for relocating here, and since these executives who have school-age kids are disproportionately likely to live in mostly white neighborhoods, then I supposed you could argue that in this way the Chamber cares more about white folks than about black kids in North Nashville. But it's not really in the Chamber's interest to have failed, segregated schools in wretched neighborhoods. I'd be suspicious of claims that the Chamber leaders just don't care. Tom Cigarran, to cite just one example, is heavily involved in an organization that is trying to focus more community resources on disadvantaged kids — precisely the opposite of what you're suggesting with your coverage of this issue. (Give me a bit, and I'll remember the name of the organization.)

But like I said, you'll have to get more black leaders to post on here if you want something other than the opinions above of some country-raised dumbass white boy. (Why, by the way, are all of your bloggers and writers so white?)

MattP said:
Can someone explain why nearly the cast of black leaders in this city is vehemently against this plan? Are they merely listening to black parents or do they have some sort of mystical, crazy agenda? Which one is it?

Then, can someone explain to me if they really think that the Chamber cares about black kids in North Nashville?

Posted 07/16/2008 at 02:28:50 PM

Matt:

I'm flummoxed by this post, because it's a bald admission that you and Jeff Woods have spun this story exactly as presented to you by "the cast of black leaders in this city" and Dr. Garcia's conveniently leaked memo (you didn't find the timing of this leak and the source telling at all?) without doing the research to seek a real answer to this question.

One clue might be to research the history of the public schools since desegregation. When did middle-class parents start fleeing the schools? How have black leaders reacted to proposed changes before? How did the city's black leaders react to previous zoning changes? Is there a pattern on the part of Mr. Kindall, in particular, to withold approval of any plan or program he or one of his acolytes didn't develop?

As for "does anyone think the Chamber cares...," any answer not delivered by an authorized representative of the Chamber is heresay and speculation. Ask the Chamber's members if they care. Listen to what they say. Maybe even write it down so you quote them accurately.

Why is it a bad, or by implication, racist if members of the business community want to help improve the public school system? Should Project Pencil, a program that partners local businesses with public schools, be suspect on the same grounds that you suspect the Chamber of having some weird nefarious goal for the public schools (that they actually might want them to teach students to read well, write well, do math and thus prepare them to enter college or the job market -- horrors!).

In a system that's now majority black, with 70% of students on free or reduced lunches, anything anyone does to help the system helps African Americans. Even the Chamber of Commerce.

What it might not do is help African American school board members maintain their power base. They may feel humiliated because they voted against the plan and it passed anyway. They may want to show exactly how much weight they can throw around. A harder, but more adult reaction, would be to actually work with the other school board representatives, who voted for the plan because they thought it was better than what we have now, to figure out how the plan could work for their constituents.

Plus, you and Jeff didn't read the plan and determine that -- as Boyd B. Biggs (great nom de plum!) has -- that (1) some Metro schools are already completely segregated because there are now more blacks than white in the system, and (2) it's impossible to completely desegregate schools if much of the middle class has left the system.

Some people have been pointing this out for a while, a long while. However, it's good that folks have started paying attention whenever. I do think that folks, like Jeff and Matt, have read the new plan: it's not that complex. The picture is painted by the numbers.

Disclosure - I personally know a couple of people who served on the task force. These people are dedicated volunteers and active in supporting MNPS and trying to improve life for all children in Nashville. I imagine that's the case for anyone who was willing to put in tons of hours on the task force work. Anyone who was actually a racist or segregationist would never become involved in MNPS, a majority-minority school district, and would not care enough about it to bother with the effort. It's been disappointing to see the Scene take a scorched earth approach when dealing with real people who set out to do a thankless and challenging task. It's been disgusting to see these folks portrayed as back-room Klan members engaged in dirty dealings. This kind of publicity certainly discourages people from getting involved. We get daily alerts on this blog as to who else might think this plan is a good idea, and thus the inevitable conclusion is he/she is a low-life, scheming bigot, or a spineless wimp. It's just been sad and ugly to watch.

"What it might not do is help African American school board members maintain their power base"

Bingo! We have a winner folks! As long as the white community (Hillwood Cluster/Chamber/Et Al) are keeping the black population down then Kindall has a constituency. Jerry Maynard, who didn't give a hoot about this during the entire process suddenly opposes only when the NAACP does. Now he's a leader for changing the plan while for 6 months he couldn't be bothered to attend one meeting.

The thing is, Kindall did win. He got his cluster more of everything - money, teachers, social workers, all kinds of resources. His kids will have more than any other child in any other cluster in this city. His middle schoolers have a direct pathway to Hume Fogg. The other clusters got - nothing, no extra whatsoever. Kindall did right by his people in the Pearl Cohn cluster more than any other BOE member. Why he can't see he came out ahead of everyone else is beyond me.

Hillwood gets a chance to rebuild, nothing more or less.

It is so odd that this is really all about the Hillwood Cluster and getting those "North Nashville" kids out of the Hillwood Cluster. It becomes more clear from the posts all the time.

So, Woods sees a researched article in another publication and, after a quick perusal, incorrectly paraphrases it in support of his own ill-considered opinions? The Scene just keeps on keepin' on.

So, Woods sees a researched article in another publication and, after a quick perusal, incorrectly paraphrases it in support of his own ill-considered opinions? The Scene just keeps on keepin' on.