{"id":604,"date":"2018-06-12T20:26:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T20:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2018-07-07T17:37:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T17:37:07","slug":"when-states-take-over-school-districts-they-say-its-about-academics-this-political-scientist-says-its-about-race-and-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/12\/when-states-take-over-school-districts-they-say-its-about-academics-this-political-scientist-says-its-about-race-and-power\/","title":{"rendered":"When states take over school districts, they say it\u2019s about academics. This political scientist says it\u2019s about race and power."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Matt Barnum<\/p>\n

Debates about states taking over school districts are often deeply fraught.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe right to vote to select your own representation is a right of what we call freedom,\u201d\u00a0said Dwight Gardner, a pastor in Gary, Indiana, where the state recently removed all sway from elected school board and gave even more power to the state-appointed emergency manager.<\/p>\n

Race and racism is usually not far from these disputes. \u201cLegislation adopted for \u2018these people\u2019 in \u2018that place\u2019 is how Jim Crow became law of the land,\u201d Gardner said last month, pointing out that in some respects Gary, a predominantly black city, was being treated differently than Muncie, a majority-white district also being taken over.<\/p>\n

In a new book, \u201cTakeover<\/a>,\u201d Rutgers political scientist Domingo Morel concludes that the prevailing logic for takeovers is indeed tainted with racism. That\u2019s based on an examination of data from every school district taken over by a state over a 30-plus year period, and case studies of the takeovers of\u00a0Newark, New Jersey\u00a0and Central Falls, Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

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Domingo Morel<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Predominantly black school districts are more likely to be taken over, Morel documents, and those takeovers are more likely to fully remove the elected school board. He also finds that cities with a greater share of black city council members are more likely to face takeovers, with state leaders arguing they must wrest control of chaotic local politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike previous groups, which had the opportunity to govern their cities for decades and fully participate in patronage practices, black communities and their political leaders were castigated for engaging in political practices as old as American politics,\u201d Morel writes. Still, Morel concludes that school takeovers have been empowering for some communities of color.<\/p>\n

They are provocative claims, and timely ones. A number of school districts taken over years or decades ago, including\u00a0Detroit, New Orleans,\u00a0Newark<\/a>, and\u00a0Philadelphia, have recently returned to local control. And debates are still live across the country \u2014 in\u00a0Indiana,\u00a0Kentucky, and\u00a0Mississippi\u00a0\u2014 about when states should intervene in districts where students appear not to be learning necessary academic skills.<\/p>\n

Morel\u2019s analysis has some key limits. He can\u2019t prove why some districts are taken over or others are not, and \u201cTakeover\u201d focuses on political, not academic, ramifications of the moves \u2014 though some research has found takeovers do improve academic outcomes. He also doesn\u2019t spend much time in the book backing up his claims that collaboration between schools and communities is a better strategy for improving academics.<\/p>\n

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