When video surfaced last week of City Council woman Gale Brewer saying she’d “strangle” families that chose to leave a local public school for a public charter school, our first thought was: Can we hold her accountable?
While Brewer’s rhetoric was extreme, local elected officials around the nation regularly take equally anti-school-reform stances. Yet — despite the tremendous failings of our public-school system — no one is holding their feet to the fire when they stand in the way of more great public schools.
If we want to improve our education system, we need everyday Americans to start demanding our elected leaders fight for reform — not against it. We need a coalition of citizens who’ll stand up and say they’re done waiting for change and challenge the Brewers of the world to support reform.
As the recent documentaries “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” and “The Lottery” have shown, America’s public-education system seriously needs repair. Especially in low-income and minority communities, students aren’t being prepared to succeed in tomorrow’s competitive, high-tech economy. This failure is robbing them of opportunities; it has to change.
Parents recognize how high the stakes are. That’s why everywhere they’re clamoring to get their children into the best public schools. That’s particularly true in New York City, where the best public schools — traditional or charter — have long waitlists, year after year.
Which is what makes Brewer’s comments so appalling. Instead of supporting the demand for high-quality schools, instead of encouraging the growth of the options city parents are seeking, the councilwoman says she wants to choke anyone asking for a better education for their kids.
The real problem here is that Brewer felt all too comfortable ignoring these parents’ hopes and needs. She’s not alone, the violence of her statement aside. Other officials, from state Sen. Bill Perkins to Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, express just as much opposition to reform.
Parents have been voting with their feet when it comes to public schools for some time, but those choices have yet to fully translate to the political sphere. Office-holders like Brewer generally haven’t felt enough pressure to support reform. And now the recent defeat of some pro-reform candidates has emboldened some to oppose improving the public-education system even more vigorously.
We have to say “Enough is enough.” Parents and community members must stand together and tell their elected officials how important it is to create a better public-school system. In New York City, that means telling elected officials that parents want to see more great public schools open — specifically, charter schools.
It’s clear from the waiting lists at charters across the city that many parents want to send their children to these schools — yet politicians are more willing than ever to try to keep a charter from opening in a community in need.
New Yorkers need to call, e-mail and tell elected officials like Brewer that their constant opposition to better school choices must stop.
Brewer’s not likely to actually strangle any parents, as she threatened. But she’s doing something just as bad: starving students of an opportunity to attend a great public school.
It’s time to hold Brewer and every other elected official accountable for education reform.
Kevin P. Chavous is the chairman of the Black Alliance for Educational Opportunity. Howard Fuller is a former superintendent of Milwaukee’s public schools. Both are members of “Done Wait ing” (donewwaiting.org), a coalition of 200-plus school-reform groups mobilized in response to “Waiting for ‘Superman’.”