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Information
Updated April
8,
2005
The "Thug
Factor" at CMS
Time for a 24/7 "reform school"
CMS Superintendent
addresses the "moral sewer" (indirectly) mentioning the
problem with Black parents in oblique language. See comment
below as published in the Swann Fellowship newsletter.
Stats show thug
"incidents" at CMS now at an all-time high of
37 thousand for 2003-2004. This
represents a 21% increase over the previous year. The state
average increase was 10.4%.
Previous year
(2002-2003) there were about 30,000 thug "incidents".
About 80% of CMS'
problem children are Black, 15% are white and about 5% are
Hispanic.
Black males represent
53 to 54% of the thug factor (suspensions) at CMS depending
on year. See below (17 to 20 thousand per year).
Black females
represent about 23 to 24% of the thug factor at CMS
(suspensions) depending on the year. See below (7,500 to
9,000 per year).
White females were 8%
of the "thug factor".
White males were
about 11% of the "thug factor".
Calls for 24-7
"Reform school" rejected by CMS' school board.
"Deconsolidation" may
be a matter of "survival" for the rest of our children.
SWANN
FELLOWSHIP NEWSLETTER 4-8-2005:"Pughsley
didn’t explicitly say that some black parents are failing,
but he didn’t have to because, by the time he addressed
achievement gaps, his words had become a “we” and “our”
conversation with the African-American audience. He said
some students “don’t come right, in some cases,” to the
schoolhouse door. “We have some work to do.” School board
discussions touching on black students’ home life often turn
ugly. "
SWANN
FELLOWSHIP NEWSLETTER 4-8-2005: "Pughsley was
introduced by District 2 school board member Vilma Leake, an
African- American who urged her audience to support “this
young man” who is “one of us.”
Recalling his age (65) and 41 years in education that began
in the Southwest, Pughsley said, “You
don’t see many of us in Arizona...."
Edited from a Swann Fellowship report dated Apirl 8, 2005
about STATE-WIDE results............................
– “The rate of short-term suspensions for male students
in 2003-04 is 2.6 times higher than for females. In 2002-03,
this rate was approximately 2.5 times higher.
– “White and Black/Multiracial students accounted for the
majority of short-term suspensions each year since 2000-01.
– “Over half of all of the shortterm suspensions given each
year since 2000-01 were given to Black/Multi-racial
students.
– “There was an increase in the number of short-term
suspensions given across all ethnic groups in 2003-04.
– “As in previous years, the percentage of short-term
suspensions given to males in 2003-04 was higher than that
for females within every ethnic group.
– “Black/Multiracial males represent approximately 16% of
the overall student population. However, they accounted for
over 40% of the short-term suspensions given over the last
four years.
– “In 2003-04, Black/multiracial females accounted for 18%
of short- term suspensions, slightly higher than their
representation in the overall student population.
In contrast, White females account for 28% of the overall
student population, but only 8% of short-term suspensions
Character question of the month:
FairnessArticle by the.............
The Swann Fellowship
1510 E. 7th St.
Charlotte, NC 28204-2410
The ink was barely dry last month on
the school board’s “guiding principles” for this year’s
student assignment overhaul before Supt. Jim Pughsley was
taking respectful but pointed exception to the document.
“I’m not totally OK with the guiding principles,” Pughsley
said recently. “I’m going to have to work with them to be
fair to all students.”
The principles, by mandating school seats close to suburban
white neighborhoods, essentially guarantee the continued
resegregation of CMS. The district worked for decades under
court order to remove vestiges of separate and unequal
schools.
“Not everyone is interested in all students,” he added
without further comment. Society has “lost its focus with
regard to the common good... We could easily wake up with
something that we can’t live with....’
He said he “did not mean to imply” that black and white
children must sit in the same classroom for all to learn.
“But a black child needs the same tools,” and a black school
must have the same “critical mass of quality teachers” that
tends to be present in highachieving white schools.
“Our schools have in fact resegregated. You only have to go
to the schools and look and see for yourself.”
Pughsley’s comments ranged widely during his visit with the
largely African-American Norwes chapter of the AARP as it
met Thursday, March 24, at C.N. Jenkins Memorial
Presbyterian Church on Statesville Avenue. He said he
favored achieving “diversity to the extent we can achieve
it,” but that “there are going to be some segregated
schools” because of rising numbers of minority children.
The fastest-growing minority group, he noted, is Hispanics.
“All you have to do is look at some of the neighborhoods you
live in,” he told the largely African-American audience – a
telling observation about how Hispanic immigrants are
filling voids in formerly all black neighborhoods.
Pughsley was introduced by District 2 school board member
Vilma Leake, an African- American who urged her audience to
support “this young man” who is “one of us.” Recalling his
age (65) and 41 years in education that began in the
Southwest, Pughsley said, “You don’t see many of us in
Arizona....
“I’m very comfortable with myself,” he told his listeners,
many of them retired educators. Among the superintendent’s
comments:
– Magnets. Pughsley predicted relocation of some programs in
an effort to let proximity enhance their diversity.
– Overlarge schools. No school board members want to discuss
capping enrollments.
“Somehow we will have to keep our schools from becoming too
large.” Concerning responses to the special challenges at
overlarge schools, Pughsley said, “I have done some, I need
to do more and I intend to do more.
You,” he told his listeners, “need to be monitoring that
process” through presence at school board workshops and
other meetings, “as opposed to reacting later when the gate
has been closed.”
– Achievement gaps. The gaps “will not close until we can
close the teacher gap and the parent involvement gap.”
Pughsley didn’t explicitly say that some black parents are
failing, but he didn’t have to because, by the time he
addressed achievement gaps, his words had become a “we” and
“our” conversation with the African-American audience. He
said some students “don’t come right, in some cases,” to the
schoolhouse door. “We have some work to do.”
School board discussions touching on black students’ home
life often turn ugly. “You’d be amazed at the difference
your presence makes. Many times things are said that would
not be said if you were present.”
– Budget. “Money and money alone is not the answer – but I
do needs some money,” Pughsley quipped. The district’s
federal and state revenues have been increasing, but the
county contribution has been held flat for three years
running despite 11,000 new students over that period.
Asked how he would prioritize requests should CMS not
receive the full $50 million he wants from Mecklenburg
County, Pughsley said he would say “quality teachers. I
wouldn’t prioritize beyond that point,” suggesting he is
trying to avoid a public debate over the relative merits of
bonuses, teacher training and other initiatives.
One questioner began, “I don’t know whether to commend you
or send you a sympathy card.” “I’ll take both,” Pughsley
replied.
On several occasions during his address or during questions,
the superintendent expressed frustration with being unable
to reach some students. Dropouts are an example, he said:
“Had I dropped out, there would have been a job for me,” he
said, because America’s factories were humming when he was a
teen.
But of today’s dropouts, he said, “I don’t think they fully
realize how limited your future will be unless you have a
good education.”
– Parent posse: Hopewell High discipline problems prompted
some parents to volunteer to enforce school rules on the
overcrowded campus. “I have not granted that permission and
I don’t intend do,” Pughsley said.
“What I have done” is to beef up trained security presence.
“We have in fact stabilized that school,” he asserted.
– Truancy centers. With High School Challenge dollars, CMS
has hired police officers with arrest powers to vacuum
truants off the streets. Students’ first stop will be
truancy centers, Pughsley said, and the first is already
open at the Amay James Recreation Center at 2425 Lester St.,
off West Boulevard. Two more may open by the end of the
year.
– EC transportation: A questioner complained that teacher
assistants had been told that if the parents of their
behaviorally or emotionally disabled (BEH) students did not
agree to carry their students to school in exchange for a
transportation stipend from CMS, that the teacher assistants
would have to park their cars at students’ residents and
accompany the students on the buses. “We can deal with that
very easily right here,” Pughsley replied. “That’s the first
time I’ve heard of it. And I don’t approve.”
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