President of the Greater Sacramento Urban League Addresses Raised Question of Segregation in Charter Schools

For more than 50 years, the notion that racially mixed schools are in the best interests of all students has been a basic underpinning of America's educational landscape.

But increasingly across the nation, publicly funded charter schools are popping up that call out their intent to cater to specific racial or ethnic groups – African American, Latino or Hmong students, for example, who on average have far lower test scores and far higher dropout rates than whites and some other Asian groups.

Is it a return to segregation? Is it legal?
Those are the questions being debated after Margaret Fortune, a former adviser to two California governors and a leader in education reform circles, successfully petitioned the Sacramento County Board of Education for five publicly funded charter schools aimed at closing the achievement gap for African American students.

Fortune said her objective is to serve the lowest-performing student subgroup in the region, and that group happens to be African American. Addressing their needs isn't segregation, she said, because parents can choose whether to send their children to her charter schools.

"We aren't shying away from talking about the educational struggle that African American students are having," said Fortune, who runs the Fortune School of Education, a teacher and principal credentialing program. "To fix it, you have to name it. We want to be part of the solution."

Both supporters and opponents of Fortune's vision came out in force this month when the county Board of Education debated her petition to open 10 charter schools. After an eight-hour meeting, Fortune was awarded five schools countywide over the next five years, with the possibility for five more.

While some critics opposed the proliferation of charters in general, others expressed discomfort at an educational mission defined by race. Board President Harold Fong, the lone trustee to vote against the proposal, said he couldn't get past the feeling that Fortune was essentially creating segregated schools.

"To ask us to approve a school that is heavily segregated flies in the face of education policy handed down from the Supreme Court," he said. "To ask us to do this is wrong."

Charter approach defended

Similar discussions played out last year when the Sacramento City Unified School District approved Yav Pem Suab Academy, a charter that caters to Hmong students, a group that collectively has been among the lowest achieving in the district in recent years. That charter, which opened in August, offers Hmong culture and language instead of the typical foreign languages of Spanish and French.

Fortune said her charters will be molded around an educational approach rather than geared toward African American culture.

"When we talk about culture, we are talking about a college-going culture and of high expectations," she said.

The achievement gap between white and black students in America is not a matter of debate. It has been chronicled in hundreds of research reports and is underscored with each new release of test score data at the local, state and national levels.

In Sacramento County last year, African American students in grades 2-8 on average scored 26 percentage points lower than whites on the English language portion of the state achievement test. The gap in math was nearly identical.

"The system of education in this country has not worked for African American children for a long time," said Darryl White, chairman of the Black Parallel School Board, a group that advocates for African American students in Sacramento City Unified.

For years, it's been common for public school systems to offer charters or academies tailored to specialized academic interests (think technology and health sciences) or educational approaches (Waldorf, for example.)

Fortune said her charters aren't really any different. The curriculum will be geared toward helping low-achieving students make the transition to a college-bound track.

Fortune said her program will employ strategies known to be effective with struggling students: school uniforms; longer school days, standards-based instruction, extensive professional development for teachers; and ongoing analysis of student data.

David DeLuz, president of the Greater Sacramento Urban League, said the charters are about providing options for black students, not segregating them.

"We aren't creating black time, and we aren't teaching black math, black English," DeLuz said. "We are teaching them everything to the California standards."

Recruiting must be fair

By law, public charter schools, like traditional schools, have to be open to all students, regardless of race. As part of the conditions applied to the charter's approval, the County Office of Education is requiring Fortune to recruit a population that mirrors the county. Thirty-six percent of students in Sacramento County are white, 27 percent are Latino and 14 percent African American.

Sacramento County schools chief Dave Gordon said reflecting those numbers should be the goal, but it can't be required. "The idea is you can advertise and recruit and who comes is who comes," Gordon said. "Their obligation is to fairly recruit from all over."

A key question for critics of the model is whether a school aimed at one race or ethnicity feels accessible to students from other groups.

UCLA education professor Gary Orfield contends Fortune's charters and others like it are instituting a new form of segregation.

Orfield is co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, a group that released a study last year showing the levels of racial segregation in charter schools are higher than in traditional schools. He said he would like to see more emphasis on desegregating existing neighborhood schools, rather than further compartmentalizing kids.

"To isolate these kids from other races isn't preparing them for the future," Orfield said. "I can understand the frustration that leads to (the creation of these charters). African American kids aren't doing what their parents want them to accomplish. But this doesn't cure that problem."

Orfield's argument falls flat with Fortune's supporters, who argue African American students are already isolated at the bottom rungs of American achievement.

"I'm of the mind right now that we have to do something to change the trajectory of African American students and their level of achievement," said the Urban League's DeLuz. "This is an opportunity to try something different."

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/17/3409615/charter-schools-raise-question.html#ixzz1EiSvIAzg

THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE/WALGREENS WELLNESS TOUR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 17th, 2010


Sacramento, CA – February 17th, 2011 – (GSUL) The Greater Sacramento Urban League is proud to announce The National Urban League/Walgreens Wellness Tour, which aims to administer more than 2.5 million free screenings, will conduct health-screening events in more than 3,000 communities throughout the United States and Puerto Rico with the two-year campaign. The National Urban League and Walgreens, collaborating for the fifth year and funded through the Walgreens Way to Well Fund, continues its national mobile health screening tour with the goal of promoting better health in urban communities across the country. Locally, the Greater Sacramento Urban League will be a driving force for this campaign. “We are pleased to continue our work with Walgreens to help provide important health screenings at a time when many still cannot afford preventive health care.” says President and CEO David DeLuz. The free screenings which include total cholesterol levels, blood pressure, bone density, glucose levels, waist circumference and body mass index will help provide adults with a critical foundation for early disease detection and prevention. Look for us in your area.


Locations:

Charles A Jones Skill Center, 5451 Lemon Hill Ave. Sac. CA 9582, 2/18/2011, 8a-2p

George Sims Community Center, 6207 Logan St. Sac. CA 95824, 2/19/2011, 10a-4p

Walgreens, 840 El Camino Ave. Sac. CA 95815, 2/20/2011, 11a-5p

Walgreens, 6199 Sunrise Blvd. Citrus Heights, CA 95610, 2/21/2011, 10a-5p

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, 2469 Rio Linda Blvd. Sac. CA 95815, 2/24/2011, 10a-4p

Loaves and Fishes, 1321 North C. St. Sac. CA 95811, 2/25/2011, 8a-4p
Walgreens, 2201 Arden Way, Sac. CA 95825, 2/26/2011, 11a-5p

GREATER SACRAMENTO URBAN LEAGUE ENCOURAGED BY RAILYARD PROJECT MOMENTUM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


February 4th, 2010


Sacramento, CA – February 4th, 2011 – (GSUL)The Greater Sacramento Urban League is encouraged with the positive steps Mayor Kevin Johnson and the city are taking with downtown developer David Taylor who has been tabbed by a Mayoral Task Force as the best candidate to build a sports and entertainment arena in Sacramento. All of Sacramento should be paying close attention and encouraging strong, inclusive leadership and vision to ensure that the arena project is developed properly for the benefit of all. It is recognized as the largest urban infill site in this region and presents Sacramento with a significant opportunity to accommodate future growth utilizing sustainable and smart growth principles. GSUL President and CEO David DeLuz views the railyard project as a key to prosperity for Urban communities.



Task force members said they believe Taylor and ICON Venue Group, a national sports facility development firm bring impressive experience and know-how to the table for a task that has been mission impossible

Contact: Lynnise Davis
3725 Marysville Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95838
(916) 286.8612
Email: ldavis@gsul.org

GENEROUS GIFT FROM WELLS FARGO STRENGTHENS PARTNERSHIP

Sacramento, CA – January 14, 2011 – Thanks to the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation, The Greater Sacramento Urban League (GSUL), will continue to provide support and services to at-risk individuals and families through the GSUL Workforce Development Department and its Housing Counseling Center. The Wells Fargo Foundation ended 2010 with a generous, unexpected $50k grant award to the GSUL.
The GSUL has allocated the monies to address two very critical needs within our service area first by providing access to jobs, job training, placement programs and services, and second by providing an array of housing counseling services to assist homeowners to keep their homes or avoid foreclosure.

“Addressing core needs of housing and job readiness is key to getting urban communities engaged in the recovery.” states GSUL President and CEO David DeLuz. “When you are without the basic safety and security of a place to call home, you cannot focus on training, or a job or anything else. Working with our partners like the Wells Fargo Foundation enables the Urban League to meet this challenge head-on.”
The GSUL will provide workforce development services to families and individuals which are considered to be low to moderate income (earning less than 80% of area median income), and provide housing counseling services to families and individuals at risk of foreclosure – with at least 75% of them considered low-to moderate-income.
The GSUL Workforce Development Department is responsible for all workforce-related activities at the affiliate. These include basic education (GED), workforce training and development, including a Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-funded One Stop Career Center sponsored in partnership with the Sacramento County Employment and Training Agency (SETA). The center is open daily to the general public and provides access to a full range of services related to employment, training and education, employer assistance and guidance for obtaining other assistance.