by Cesar Aguirre and Brian Flagg
Click here to read the story in the Daily Star
This happened because parents and students from the five schools organized, went to the TUSD Board meeting and passionately stood up for their schools. And they made it clear that they would keep coming until their schools were no longer threatened.
Until now there has been no real attempt by the plaintiff reps in this case to push back against the Special Master’s recommendation to strip the magnet status of five schools and the funding that goes with it.
The Special Master and Judge Bury have yet to sign off on this agreement between the plaintiffs and TUSD, but considering that both parties came together to hammer out this agreement there should be no reason for them to oppose it.
But the struggle continues!
There’s always next year, and with the constant pressure to integrate schools on the South Side, in a district that is majority Latino, there’s no guarantee that these schools won’t be on a list to lose their magnet status next year.
Though many “deseg experts” would argue that studies show diversity in schools help close the achievement gap of minority students, the courts have been forcing racial integration while completely ignoring the diversity within the Latino population by putting us all in one box.
Racial integration is nice, but because of “school choice” and white flight from inner city districts, all we really need is strong improved schools that can provide quality education for our kids. Integration shouldn’t stand in the way of the District helping us improve the achievement levels of our barrio schools.
The battle may have been won but the war looms in the horizon.
We will keep fighting to put the public back in public education!
Special thanks goes out to H.T. Sanchez and the Board for standing up for our schools. Also, thanks to Sylvia Campoy for her willingness to dialogue and negotiate this settlement that will provide more support for our magnet schools.