Another Black History Month Celebration? Black Community, Where is the Outrage?

Why has the black community not complain more vociferously and challenge the powers to be 24/7/365? Some things are non-negotiable, especially the quality of education for a community's children. To Delegate Pete Rawlings'credit, he forced the issue on numerous occasions in Annapolis and demanded change.

Whether you like his style or his politics, he should be commended and applauded during Black History Month for his courage in this area and for demanding accountability from the former Schmoke administration. Delegate Rawlings could have gone easy on Baltimore’s first elected Black Mayor, but he did not and he has been relentless in his questioning of the new school chief and the school board. We should all give Delegate Rawlings his "props" for standing up for our children when so many folks were sitting down.

It is now up to the African American community to rise to the occasion and develop the necessary strategies to sustain and to continue the fight that Delegate Rawlings began. Moreover, it is time to pay respect to all the individuals in our community who have placed their lives on the line to provide the Derrick Cuffies’ in our school system with a fighting chance.

Therefore, it is critical that African American parents make their outrage and presence felt everywhere and at every level of the school system immediately. I contend that unless African American parents reached the level of outrage mentioned earlier in this article that will move them to the point of " We are not going to take it anymore", then there will be more Derrick Cuffies in the future to contend with.

Most of the valuable research regarding minority student achievement conclude that parents, regardless of income, who transmit hope, are consistent and complimentary, possess high expectations, engage and monitor his/her child’s peer group and are the primary educators of their children will produce quality students. Unfortunately, Most school reform efforts across the state - especially for minority students - are still based on assumptions that pertain only to family demographics, school per pupil expenditures and innate ability.

1. Join and help lead the charter school movement in the state.
2. Lead the movement for school uniforms at every level throughout the state.
3. Create statewide parent leadership panels to review and assess all standardized test.
4. Replace parent’s apathy with parent outrage and increase their attendance at PTAs, school board meetings, and school improvement team meetings. If parents can show up for a football rally in the freezing rain, then they should certainly show up for their children.
5. Insist that a school of comparable resources of Western High School (an all girl school) is earmarked for a school to meet the unique challenges facing male students, or demand that Western open its doors in earnest to male students. I was recently informed that Western is now co-ed, but I would like to really know how many parents know about the changed admission’s policy.
6. Create a statewide parent leadership panel to monitor suspensions, expulsions and placements in special-ed classes.
7. Insist that the Maryland State Black Caucus request an annual Minority student achievement status report from the state broken down by county and by gender and provide summaries to parents.
8. Insist that the Maryland State Black Caucus create a review Board made of area African American educators to review present and future school reform efforts before they are implemented.
9. Create a fund to be used for advocacy and legal efforts.
10. Implement strategies to enhance peer pressure toward greater academic achievement.
11. Closely scrutinize the budgetary and policy decisions of the school Board and hold them accountable for their decisions.
12. Create and fund after school cultural enrichment programs for stu- dents at every grade level to help them learn and internalize their history that is rich with stories of triumph despite the odds.
13. Praise educators and elected officials, via E-mail, letters, phone calls and parent rallies when they are out front seeking the best education for our children, and constructively criticize them when they are not.
14. Volunteer time as a mentor or as a tutor.
15. Let the entire Maryland community know, through our actions, that we are "mad as hell, and we are not going to take it anymore."
16. Praise and celebrate with the same vigor, if not more, the aca- demic accomplishments of our students as we give our athletes.

The African American community must hold the school system accountable or risk the continuation of a "rising tide of mediocrity" that will produce a class of ill-prepared students who will be unable to compete on any level with anyone. I cannot think of a greater disservice to the men and women we rally to support every February than to participate in a conspiracy of silence when it comes to the education of our children. We owe them much more than we have given thus far, and the future of our community is clearly on the line. We cannot become distracted by catchy slogans and dichotomous thinking, and we can ill-afford to wait for the next elected official or school chief to bail us out. We've waited too long already. Lets truly celebrate Black History Month by letting our children know that their education is more important than anything money can buy, and, like those who came before us, we are willing to sacrifice everything - even our lives - for their success in the classroom.

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