Don't let failed prep school end dialogue

Chris Rickert:

t was already something of a fig leaf for a district that rejected the much less expensive Madison Prep amid opposition from the teachers union and liberal activists who painted the school's chief advocate, Urban League of Greater Madison president Kaleem Caire, as something of a school privatization Trojan Horse for the right.

(I never really understood how a black guy of modest origins who struggled in the Madison schools himself got tossed in with the likes of Newt Gingrich.)

This despite one of the widest racial achievement gaps in the state and a dismal four-year graduation rate for blacks of 50 percent.

I called Cummings on Saturday to see what he thought of Thursday's news.

"I hate to be a cynic," he said, but he'd seen it happen "over and over and over. ... It's easy to wear people out by giving them hope."

Cummings initially wasn't a big fan of Madison Prep. It would have served only a few dozen students, he argued, and what minority kids need is a districtwide attitude adjustment toward the issue.

Much more on the proposed Madison Preparatory IB charter school, here.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 6, 2012 4:28 AM
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