NAACP to School Board: Make classes smaller, diversify staff

By Elwin Green
Diversity Institute Fellow

07.28.04

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Local representatives of the NAACP urged the Metro School Board Tuesday to reduce class sizes and increase the diversity of the teaching staff in order to improve the quality of education in the district.

Elisha Richardson and Levi Jones, of the NAACP's education committee, were invited to address the board as part of an ongoing effort to receive feedback from the public about "End Results for Children," a set of district policies developed to guide the board's strategic planning.

One policy declares that the board's mission is "to do whatever it takes for all students to acquire the knowledge and skills to become productive, responsible citizens."

Richardson commended the mission statement but suggested that board members take a lesson from what he called the best private schools.

"One thing that you see consistently is small class sizes," he said.

He also said that it is important for schools to embrace diversity.

"We would like to see the system recruit and hire persons who mirror the image of the student body," he said. "This is an excellent mission statement, and we believe those things will make it operational."

Another policy, which focuses on academic achievement, evoked a wide-ranging discussion involving the effects of the federal education program "No Child Left Behind," the allocation of state funds and the role of character development in academics.

Richardson compared the funding of Metro schools to that of stadiums for sports teams.

"We're subsidizing multimillionaires and billionaires…and yet when we talk about reducing class sizes, we don't have the money," he said. "When we talk about capital improvements, we don't have the money. When we talk about hiring teachers, we don't have the money.

"What is not being done is, resources are not being put into the public school system in order to help the public schools to do what research …says will begin to close the gap in performance."

Board member Gene H. Thompson said that Richardson was "preaching to the choir."

Jones pressed the board to spell out how it will achieve the goals described in the policy statement.

"The goals are good…but what's the plan?" he asked. "How are you going to get there?"

Board members said they have a five-year plan and offered to forward him a copy. They also said they would take the comments from Richardson and Jones under advisement.

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