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Racism is Alive and Well in Orange County Schools
A perspective from Michael N. Johnson
I am a fifth generation Orange County native and a proud 1992 graduate of Orange High School. I ran in the latest school board race – and finished gravely concerned for the future of black students, including my own. I am neither conservative or progressive, neither Republican nor Democrat. I am who white progressives most detest: an educated black man who has the temerity to think and speak for myself.
I grew up in this district and my family had its challenges – mental health, drugs, divorce – mostly tied to my father’s service in Vietnam. Yet, my teachers expected me to learn, grow, and behave accordingly. Today it’s up to our family to challenge our children. The problem in our schools? Symbolism masked as equity. Let me explain.
The most recent data reveals that only 35% of black students in our district are proficient at grade level (compared to 68% of their white counterparts). One would think the school board would exhaust every resource to correct the disparity. Instead, over the past year, there have been seven agenda items (all policy-related) to “protect” LGBTQ students. Over the same period, there has only been one related to black students (approval of an AP African American Studies Course). To be clear, students who identify as LGBTQ, like all students, should be supported, but where is equity when it comes to the educational needs of black children? Instead of policies, resources and regulations, black children get symbolism – like renaming schools (an expense of nearly $200,000), fist bumps, and repulsive panel discussions like, “Let’s Discuss The N Word.” Those resources would have been better spent on TRUE equity in the form of one-on-one tutors, mentorship programs, and related academic support.
When I brought attention to black proficiency scores, white progressives (mostly women) told me to “stop talking about it because it hurts our teachers’ feelings” (in other words, shut up and stay in your place, boy). They attempted to intimidate me by sneaking my progressive opponents’ yard signs onto my private property. They distributed pre-filled sample ballots to black voters with the candidates they had pre-selected. All are reminiscent of tactics used by southern states after ratification of the 15th Amendment.
Black student proficiency is perhaps the preeminent civil rights issue of our time. The progressive faction of our school board along with talking heads like Graig Meyer and Jenn Weaver, appear disinterested while claiming to be our allies. I wonder if their rhetoric would be the same if their children were having the same outcomes as black children. Given the countless black attorneys, doctors, scientists, teachers, and business leaders that were educated in our schools before equity became a buzzword, it’s hard to understand how our schools ended up in its current state.
Bonnie Hauser shares my commitment to show up for our kids every day and work on the issues that disproportionately impact black students. Unlike white progressives, she does not condescend to black parents and pay lip service to the needs of our children. Vote for Bonnie Hauser on May 14th.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
Interesting viewpoint: vote for the white lady who’s using a Jim Crow-like law – specifically written for the Orange County School Board in 1977 to preserve systemic racism – to challenge a black woman who beat that white female candidate by almost 500 votes.
I agree with Mr Johnson that OCS has a racism problem, as do thousands of small school districts across the South. This racism is systemic, one of the main ingredients in the recipe southern states refer to as “public education”. I’d like to submit to Mr Johnson that previous generations grew up in a time where racism was the norm, expected, barely recognized by those living in it. Some tried to work around the edges to help, but almost all had no interest in solving the fundamental issue: the South has not corrected the harm done by the Confederacy.
Now that history is starting to impact all of us. Now we’re examining the data and talking about it…but are we willing to do something about it? Proficiency data is getting worse for many reasons, one of which is white flight in our public schools, where white families get new schools with curriculums not micro-managed by legislatures. Would those schools welcome EC students? MLL student? Not unless those students come with the resources they need.
This is a system that board members, like Bonnie Hauser, have preserved and expanded for decades. There was a time I felt this was unintentional, just ignorance of what the current version of public education looked like, and a total disregard for changes in society, changes in demographics, changes in technology…just change in general. However, after 15 years and many warnings of the horror that is the politics around Orange County Schools, it appears this is as intentional as it was back in the 1860s.
Dr Jennifer Moore is the right choice on May 14. Of course, a majority of you already knew that because you elected her back on March 5.
Thank you for proving Mr. Johnson’s point by dictating to a black man what he should think and say, and what should offend him.