Milk, Cookies And Litigation

By Kleinheider Posted on July 29, 2008 at 2:20 pm

Jeff Woods on meetings in the black community which could lead to a lawsuit challenging  the Metro Schools rezoning proposal — unless the Great White Mayor or a reconstituted school board intervene:

“Everybody in the meetings understands that, if the new school board doesn’t change this or doesn’t overturn it, then really the reason we’re meeting is to prepare for a lawsuit,” the source says. “There’s no question they will sue.”

The role of Mayor Karl Dean in all this is uncertain. Black leaders hope he’ll urge the new school board to undo the rezoning plan, but the mayor hasn’t committed yet.

“I get the clear impression that Dean’s not happy that a large part of the community is upset about this,” our source says. “I think he understands that regardless of whether there’s a lawsuit, it’s not good for the community to be split. We’re hoping he gets in there to knock some heads together or gives out some milk and cookies or whatever it’s going to take to get everybody moving in the same direction.”

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Tags: Karl Dean, NAACP, Nashville, raise it high karen, resegregation, rezoning, segregation, the great white mayor  

The Negotiating The Purchase Price Of Re-Segregation

By Kleinheider Posted on May 29, 2008 at 7:17 am

Amy Griffith reports on the school rezoning recommendations of an 11-member task force led by MNPS school board member Mark North:

The task force’s proposal nearly doubles the geographic area feeding into Pearl-Cohn High School, which would encompass much of North Nashville, Metro Center and downtown. Most schools in the revised Pearl-Cohn cluster, if established, would have student populations consisting of at least 80 percent of students receiving Free and Reduced Meals.

Task force members came to a consensus that, if these changes are to be made, “prerequisites” in the form of additional resources for all schools in the cluster must be put in place. These resources include incentive pay for teachers and staff, which could only be established through negotiations between MNPS and the teachers’ union; lower ratios of students to teachers and additional guidance counselors; and more access for students to technology as well as social workers and psychologists.

MORE: Blake Farmer

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Tags: free lunch, Hillwood, Nashville public schools, Pearl Cohn, resegregation, segregation, Separate But Unequal