Network Schools – Wayne Gersen

In a 2018 report to Congress, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that “low income students and students of color are often relegated to low-quality school facilities” that lack “physical maintenance.” This can “negatively impact a student’s health,” the commission concluded.

Mr. Hardy describes why this is so, and his conclusions will be no surprise to readers of this blog: insufficient funding for school repairs; unequal distribution of those scarce funds with most going to school districts who can afford the local match required to complete construction projects; and the need to spend scarce dollars for public education in needy districts on staff and instructional supplies before spending it on buildings. He concludes his essay with this:

The Brown v. Board of Education ruling of 1954 sent Black children into hostile environments as the nation struggled with its moral compass. It appears that Black and low-income students of color might soon be sent into school buildings, some of which date from before that decision. This time, whether it is happening with their best interests in mind is at best debatable.

But for minority parents, the “debate” is limited to whether or not they should send their child to a dilapidated school or keep them home where there are limited if any educational resources at which point they may have to lose their employment.

An article by Alex Williams in today’s NYTimes describes the choices affluent “New York parents of means” are taking as they seek “...less congested classrooms near their second — third? — homes.” While these “parents of means” likely live within walking distance of the dilapidated schools described by Mr. Hardy in his article, they are weighing whether to send their children to schools in the districts where their second homes are located: the Hamptons and Upstate towns along the Hudson River. Or they might do like Nora Morales who:

…recently decided not to plunk down a small fortune for their children’s private school, Lycée Francais de New York, this fall.

Instead, they moved up to their weekend house on 176 rustic acres near Elizaville, N.Y. in the Hudson Valley and plan to home-school their children, using a portion of the money they saved on private school for a part-time private tutor to help out.

The discrepancy between the decisions minority and poverty stricken parents face as compared to those faced by “parents of means” is not lost on Mr. Williams:

The exodus of wealthy families from the city comes at a moment that is fraught socially and politically. The rich have access to multiple educational options, including at-home “pandemic pods”with private tutors, or in the case of Avenues, personal mentors and instruction in 50 languages, including Punjabi and Swahili. Children from low-income homes, meanwhile, sometimes lack laptops and internet access needed for remote learning, and may get less funding as the children of affluent parents abandon the public school system.

To pretend that we live in a nation where everyone gets an equal opportunity for success today is delusional. To believe that things will be better if states and local governments do not get more federal funding is even crazier. And to not use the opportunity presented by the pandemic funds to upgrade dilapidated schools is a monumental oversight.