Update: Brantley is still disgruntled, and he wrote an editorial that can be read here. John Brummett, on the other hand, is making pretty good sense. I am still wondering when board member Baker Kurrus is going to come clean and name which charter schools are counseling out poor and minority students. I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t want to shed more light on this.
*****Beginning of Original Post*****
A new organization has formed for the purpose of expanding the debate about the future of public schooling in Little Rock. The Dem-Gaz coverage is here. Here’s the short version:
“A coalition that includes the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas has organized in opposition to the Little Rock School District and its legal challenge to state-approved charter schools in Pulaski County.
Randy Zook, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, sent business and community leaders an invitation Tuesday afternoon to join the recently organized “Speak Up For Schools – Better Schools for a Better Little Rock.”
“Our mission is to join parents, business leaders and concerned citizens together to help create a better and more productive learning environment for our children in order to create a better, more equipped generation of leaders for Little Rock,” the website for the coalition states.”
The group’s website has some tough words for LRSD. They also have some data to support their claims.
Alternative coverage is here and here, courtesy of Max Brantley’s blog. To Brantley, the website’s launch is an “attack,” an “assault,” and a declaration of “war” on LRSD from the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce “on behalf” of the “Billionaire Boys Club,” by which he means anything that could be possibly linked to, as he puts it, “the Hussman/Walton/Stephens/Murphy money pot.”
For Brantley and his loyal band of tin-foil hatted conspiracy theorists, simply calling the opposition “billionaires” is enough to dismiss their claims. If that doesn’t work, they’ll pile on by calling them the “establishment” and referring to them as “ideologues” (as LRSD board member Baker Kurrus did). And they’re perfectly willing to assign all sorts of crazy motives to them…claims that they want to dismantle public education and re-segregate Little Rock’s schools. They can’t believe for a second that people with money could possibly care about education. To them, it’s all one grand conspiracy.
I’m comfortable believing that the LRSD board members genuinely care about educating children, just as much as I believe the so-called “the Hussman/Walton/Stephens/Murphy money pot” cares about educating children. And anyway, it would be pointless to assume otherwise. Both sides just genuinely disagree about how to bring about improvements. So I’m glad the “Speak Up for Schools” group is out there, making a case for their point of view. It would be nice if their critics would address their claims, instead of acting offended and dismissing them as part of some evil conspiracy of wealth. It would be far more productive to focus on the issue at hand.
Also, over on Brantley’s blog, board member Baker Kurrus said that “several of the Pu. Cty. charters have a practice of counseling poor Blacks out.” I hope Mr. Kurrus plans on naming names and providing the proper officials with all of the details.
