Self-categorized “former black power activist” turned education reformer Howard Fuller gave his perspective on education at a public panel in the Hill District Tuesday night in the context of his recent visit to the site where four black students sat in at a segregated Woolworth’s counter in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960.
“Now, we can have four black students sit down at a completely integrated lunch counter but can’t read the menu,” he said, barely heard over the applause. “Something’s not right.”
Attendees filled two levels of seating at the Hill House Association’s Kaufmann Center to discuss best practices to help minority students succeed academically. Speakers Linda Lane, superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, Richard Wertheimer, founder of City Charter High School and Mr. Fuller discussed topics ranging from teacher quality to arts education to state and federal funding and their impact on the success of minority students.
“There are two elephants in the room: One is called race and one is called class,” Mr. Fuller said Tuesday. “Race still matters, and has an impact on our children’s life chances.”
Co-sponsors included A+ Schools, the Black Political Empowerment Project, Bloomfield Garfield Corporation, Neighborhood Learning Alliance, PennCAN and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh.
The panel fell on the same day almost a dozen national civil rights groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Urban League and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released recommendations to national education leaders outlining more accountability for equity in public education.
Many of the recommendations echoed topics discussed at Tuesday’s meeting, including more equitable distribution of resources, particularly to schools serving high numbers of low-income students, proactive parental engagement and increased transparency of data and finances.
Mrs. Lane said she was “startled” by the lack of a funding formula in Pennsylvania and districts’ reliance on local property taxes. Charter school tuition rates that are paid by public schools foster a negative, competitive relationship, she said, and often put public schools in difficult financial positions.
“If we de-fund some schools to fund other schools, then there will be winners and losers,” she said during Tuesday night’s panel. “And, when there are winners and losers, we all know who usually comes out losing.”
Mr. Fuller was highlighted as the main speaker of the night, and described the educational landscape as highly politicized and polarized.
The former Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent said rather than championing charter or private schools over public, proponents should promote accountability and success of all schools.
“We have to be committed to purpose, not to the method to get to the purpose,” he said. “When you’re committed to method, you’re on the road to becoming a protector of the status quo.”
Rep. Jake Wheatley, who represents the Hill District, organized the panel to promote conversations "across the aisle."
“Don’t get caught up in all these fights,” Rep. Wheatley said at the panel’s open. “At the end of the day, it’s about kids and families having the option to get away from these systems that often lock them up.”
First Published: October 29, 2014, 3:35 a.m.
