Jarvis DeBerry�s �Voucher plan ignores school progress,� op-ed that appeared in The Times-Picayune newspaper on Friday, July 18, 2008, provided a nice glimpse into his thoughts about education politics.
While DeBerry and I agree that a private school label alone does not make it a quality institution, and that New Orleans schools are moving in the right direction, our views part ways regarding vouchers.
DeBerry�s focus on vouchers, conservatism, and Republican red meat overlooks the heart of the matter at hand: parental choice.
Hundreds of parents, who are lining up at the Dryades YMCA in New Orleans to enroll their children in the voucher program, seek what they believe is a better option for their child. None of the parents I spoke with at the YMCA or in the community mentioned a word about partisan politics or �a war against public schools� as stated by DeBerry.
The war parents are fighting to win is against low expectations inside classrooms, whether public or private. And for far too long, their children have been frontline causalities in adult games. But now, the adults who matter the most are parents who have an option�not editorial pundits or pro-public-school-only associations.
On another note, urban parents are savvy enough to know a failing school when they see one, and engaged enough in the education of a child to take advantage of an option they believe works for their family when they see one.
This is why parents are going to the YMCA.
Ultimately, the voucher topic has less to do with Gov. Jindal�s ideology and much more to do with low-income parents exercising the best choice for their children. Surely education is not free from politics, so consider our persevering parents as an example of �the politics of options� in action.
In terms of the question: how can you tell if a public school is a failure?, you measure it by the number of parents who remain in a school�even if they are given an option to enroll their children into another public or private school of choice. For the schools that work in favor of our children, parents are devoted to these learning institutions because they are satisfied with their children�s education. However, a parental exodus from a school tells another story.
Furthermore, in terms of religion, parents have informed me that their decision to choose religious schools has less to do with �failure� and more to do with �faith��which is important to many families.
Regards,
Gerard Robinson
President
Black Alliance for Educational Options
Washington, D.C.