Interview with KMOV

Recently, KMOV aired an important story on school closures in St. Louis.

The reporter interviewed a mother whose daughter attends Dunbar Elementary School and was disappointed that the school was closing. This mother said she really loved the school and her daughter’s teachers because she felt they truly cared about their students. She lamented the fact that her child may have to attend a school outside her neighborhood. What was not mentioned, however, was that in 2019, only 5.8 percent of Dunbar students were reading, writing, and doing basic math on grade level.  That means 94.2 percent of the kids who attend this school cannot read, write, and do basic math on grade level.

As an example, a third grade reading standard is for kids to be able to draw conclusions and support those conclusions with evidence. In fourth grade, kids should be able to read and describe personality traits of characters based on their thoughts, words, and actions. In Dunbar’s case, 94.2 percent of the children in this school could not demonstrate proficiency with skills like these.

This story is all too common in our city, and this news story should have focused instead on school failures and how new schools, like Ali Academy, will seek to drastically change this unacceptable failure. At Ali Academy, it will be essential that our teachers BOTH care about our students and that children are expected and educated to achieve the highest levels possible.

This situation desperately requires the attention from every single one of us. Poverty and its henchmen add numerous obstacles for our children. The vestiges of racism, of which poverty is a part, also play a deep role in the underperformance of our children. The current performance of St. Louis public schools is unacceptable, and we can no longer claim ignorance on this matter. We are not blaming teachers, we are not blaming parents, we are not blaming kids, but we are demanding that there be change.

While we work on systemic change, we must also work on immediate change. The systemic challenges and our histories cannot excuse or countenance underperformance. There are schools that serve Black and brown children, poor students, and those who have been otherwise underserved yet still manage to help children demonstrate their abilities on state tests.  When we truly believe that all children are capable of achieving at great levels, we will devise new pathways for their achievement. I invite parents interested in pursuing this change to join me in creating new opportunities now.