Superintendent Dan Nerad acknowledged last week that existing Madison School District programs aimed at boosting minority achievement “are not having the impact we need for our kids.”
“The data is telling us we need to do different things,” Nerad added.
And the Urban League of Greater Madison’s proposal for an unusual public charter school catering to low-income blacks and Latinos “has elevated the conversation, and I appreciate that,” the superintendent said.
“I’m not raising any concerns about the programming side of it,” he told the State Journal editorial board.
It sounded like a windup to endorsing the Madison Preparatory Academy, which faces a final vote by the Madison School Board on Monday night.
Instead, Nerad is recommending the School Board reject the academy, primarily because of complicated contract language.
That shouldn’t happen.