[an error occurred while processing this directive]

LATEST SUBMISSIONS

The future of Manual High School

Saturday, March 10 at 12:00 AM

By Annette Walker

In its Jan. 15 edition, the prestigious New Yorker magazine brought national attention to the Manual High School dilemma. In “Expectations,” a 13,000-word article organized into a series of vignettes, writer Katherine Boo portrays the complicated personal lives, social ambiance and educational experiences of two students at Manual. She also profiles Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet and takes readers on a journey with him as he makes the historic decision to shut down the school, deals with the agitated student and community response, and carries out a transition plan including a mentoring program and a door-to-door campaign to locate Manual’s dropouts.

Two aspects of the article, however, are troubling.

First, the innuendoes and dismissive and derisive tone Boo employs when describing some people who challenged the abruptness and secrecy of Bennet's and the school board’s decision to close Manual. Second, her seeming unawareness of the role played by independent community organizations allowed her to arrive at a wrong conclusion.

She states that during the initial rallies and meetings following the announcement of Manual’s closure, civil rights lawyers “began to hang around." By not discussing the objectives of these serious and busy professionals, she trivializes their concerns about possible violations of students' rights and the legality of the decision-making process.

Since one of the hallmarks of a free society is the right to question the government, in this case the local school board, it is unsettling that a journalist would treat the presence of the attorneys with jocularity.

She also treats the participation of the Greater Metropolitan Denver Ministerial Alliance, the organization of African-American clergy, too blithely. Although later in the article she says that Bennet admitted to her that he had handled the Manual situation in a very “imperious” way, she failed to link his secrecy and arrogance to the anger and suspicion engendered not only in the pastors, lawyers and students, but in many individuals and organizations in the African-American and Hispanic communities.

She then lumps the ministers and lawyers into the same category with television reporters when she writes that after awhile they all “moved on." It is true that journalists can only spend so much time on a story. The lawyers, however, were able to make legal determinations about this issue without being present at all meetings. The Ministerial Alliance was very visible at the early activities. However, this does not mean that its members had to assume leadership and remain in the spotlight.

They have been able to monitor the Manual situation from a distance. Boo’s most serious faux pas is believing that the students “lost the community’s attention.” This conclusion is just plain wrong and an indication that she had little contact with community groups that focus on educational issues and that have remained active as the Manual drama has unfolded.

Had she done so, she would have found that the students have had the undivided attention of The Black Education Advisory Council, the Northeast Community Congress for Education — which consists of Hispanics and African-Americans — the Metropolitan Organization for People (MOP) and Students for Justice.

These organizations hold weekly or monthly meetings, and some have met with Bennet and presented their own proposals for the Manual crisis and other school issues. Their members have participated in the community conversations and the community council established by Bennet and the school board.

NCCE is investigating whether the concept of community control will be appropriate for Denver and is also in the early stage of a recall campaign of a school board member.

Bennet and the board should be commended for the mentoring efforts set up for Manual students. In her article, Boo stated that the mentors were mostly experienced white professionals, but that some students were unresponsive and seemed to be suspicious of the mentoring effort. Bennet and the board should inform themselves of the tutoring, mentoring and educational programs already established in the Hispanic and African-American communities.

The Denver chapter of 100 Black Men operates a mentoring program for boys and teenagers. The Association of Black Engineers runs a science workshop for black youth. The Denver Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority has operated summer math camps for teenagers. The Delta Sigma Theta sorority organizes preparatory workshops for one of the standardized tests for college-bound students. The Sigma Gamma Rho sorority operates a yearlong mentoring program for girls who are high school seniors. Some black churches and other African-American organizations run after-school and weekend tutoring programs. The Hispanic community has numerous tutoring and mentoring programs.

Boo mentions what studies have shown about the longevity of school superintendents. They no longer remain in their positions for 20 years or until retirement. Rather, they have a tendency to “move on” after five years. Bennet is well-intentioned and might put in place some positive programs and policies during his tenure. However, given his legal, corporate and political background, it will not be surprising if he decides to “move on” in the near future.

Principals and teaching staffs are sometimes highly mobile. Who will be around to help at-risk youth when superintendents and administrators “move on”? Community groups and local self-help projects as well as the pastors and civil right lawyers who may be “hanging around," will be there to look out for and speak up for them.

Annette Walker is a freelance writer and producer for the Pacifica Radio Network.

READER COMMENTS