Drinking the Kool-Aid

For the past year in writing on issues related to the Dallas Independent School District I have adamantly called for the community at large to take a long look at the way the district is being run; especially the fact that so many of the schools with unacceptable ratings are in predominately minority communities and regardless of the interventions changes have been minimal if any, with the exception of South Oak Cliff High.

Recently the NAACP met in east Dallas to discuss the potential for more school closings in the coming year, not unlike the current closing of Sunset High (10th and 11th grades). According to Rev. Ronald Wright, Dallas Civil Rights activist, the meeting was rough sailing because those present felt sucker punched by the news the district may well be setting their sights on more schools in predominately minority communities for closing. Wright stated that there are about 11 schools that are in danger of potentially being broken up in the same fashion as was done in the case of Sunset earlier this year. Some parents say that confidence in the district, is low and others admit tensions as being high with less than two weeks before students return for the first day of classes.

At the start of last year superintendent Michael Hinojosa, in a press update, expressed excitement about the changes that were coming down the pike to improve the district's standing. We were told the Road to Broad prize was not just in sight but within our grasp. He shared with us ways that the district planned to help students improve their test scores and stop the massive bleeding emanating from school drop-outs. They changed titles, fired employees, moved teachers, principals and other administrators around and justified the move by touting their overwhelming concern for the children of district and who could believe that they would be motivated by anything else? Unfortunately, now it feels more like when Jim Jones told his followers that they had to drink the Kool-Aid for their own good; because those looking in from the outside will never be able to understand the beauty of what they had developed, why things had to be the way things were--the children were forced to drink first and then there was the massive suicide of the community at large. They watched and supported each other while they did the unthinkable, one confused soul after another.

The closing of Sunset High is indeed a bitter pill to swallow for many in the community, but what is even more difficult is the potential for other schools to be closed and even more students to be bused because of schools that have failed to offer students the excellent education they more than deserve. I am told that Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas does not apply in this case, but this is so confusing to me because the main reason the children were bussed out of their neighborhoods was because of unequal access to adequate learning facilities, books etc., etc. If the children of this district are being bussed to get a more adequate education and they need to be bussed outside their neighborhoods to get the job done, then what is different about this case from Brown?

There are many people who see what is going on and are shouting from the roof-tops, but they feel their cries are falling on deaf ears, that more people should feel as passionately and should be moved to action. Instead, they continue to fight for the children, for parents and for our community. They do this tirelessly, and sometime without notice or praise. They do it out of love, some out of a sense of history and because they care and they do it while watching helplessly as others in our community stand idly by while our kids are forced to "drink the kool-aid."