While in Houston TX. to
attend a convention on reparations I began receiving phone calls, text
and email messages describing a situation back home in New Orleans. It
appeared that juniors and seniors at
Walter L. Cohen walked out of school on
Thursday October 4, 2012. Students say they are “Tired of the lies and
misrepresentations” of New Orleans
Recovery School District (RSD)
administrators and Future is Now (FIN), a national charter school
organization. The last straw was RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard’s decision to
fire Cohen’s principal, his staff and several teachers who students say
they had grown to love and look upon as members of their Cohen High
School family.
Students say that decision, coupled with Dobard’s
unilateral decision to turn over governance of Cohen’s 11th and
12th-grade classes to FIN was the final straw and prompted them to walk
out and refuse to return to class until a list of demands were met.
Student Demands appear basic and reasonable to some, while
unacceptable to others.
As
a community organizer I wore my Peace Keepers shirt and spent the
entire day with the students, parents, and other organizers. Monday
October 8th was probably the coldest day since last winter. At 8:00AM
students braved the cold in their school uniforms prepared for class
they anxiously gathered around the front door of their school to hear
the decision of school administrators.
When administrators
offered access to the building but failed to address their demands,
students refused to enter. Administrators retreated to the inside of the
building and soon returned to offer the protesting students access to
the school’s library to escape the cold. Students declined the offer.
Some began chanting “NO, NO. WE WON’T GO.” They all laughed at the
imitation 60’s chant as I realized they had no idea of how similar they
were to the movement of the 60’s.
During the half hour we
lingered in front of that door, students selected five facilitators. We
decided to shift our headquarters to the corner and warmth of the sun.
One of the adults suggested we get chairs from the school for the
students to sit. As I walked with him to request the chairs we were met
by Dana Peterson, one of Dobard’s assistants. We asked him who we would
need to speak with to get the chairs. He said “They will probably say
no.” I asked Peterson why they would say no to chairs when they invited
the students into the library earlier. He replied “That was to get them
into the school. He became irritated as I charged “You mean you were
using the warmth of the library to lure the kids into the building?” He
appeared irritated at my charge and said “You can phrase it however you
want to.” As he turned and started to walk away we noticed students
walking out of the school with stacks of chairs to bring to their
classmates. He then relented “Obviously you can” as he stormed away.
As
the day progressed more parents and organizers began to arrive. Later
neighbors, Cohen alumni and other concerned citizens joined us. More
puzzle pieces were discussed. Some questioned why would this RSD
superintendent sell these Cohen High School juniors and seniors to FIN?
Others theorized; FIN has acquired John McDonough High but fell short in
their commitment to enroll 300 students as their current enrollment is
closer to 100. By acquiring Cohen’s 120 juniors and seniors FIN gets
closer to the needed 300 students although the students would remain
housed at Cohen they would be added to FIN’s head count which would
bring FIN closer to their million dollar payday.
Several
retired teachers arrived to hold class with the students who were eager
to resume the process of learning. Around noon the students, who were
amazingly well disciplined and controlled, were obviously growing cold,
tired, hungry and confused. We all were. But much of the student’s
confusion was intensified by administrators planting false seeds into
their minds as they attempted to turn the students against their adult
supporters.
Chad Brousard introduced himself to organizers as a
Breaux Bridge resident who was brought in as principal of John McDonough
and later shifted to Cohen. Brousard began with what sounded like a
canned speech about students exercising their rights to protest as our
ancestors had done… he said he wanted to speak with the students in
small groups. We asked in the spirit of transparency if he would speak
with them as one group, they were all assembled just a few yards away in
front of our faces. He agreed to do so but turned back as we approached
the students. We later found that he had somehow managed to get a few
students into the library and had them sitting at a table writing out a
list of demands.
We asked administrators if they planned to feed
the student’s lunch. They said the students were welcome to eat lunch
inside, in the school cafeteria. The large majority of students declined
the invitation. Adult supporters hurriedly worked it out and bought
food and drink for the children to eat.
A group of seven or eight
boys huddled near a car decided to break ranks with their classmates.
They walked around the other students and headed to the door. One of the
teens tapped Brousard who was standing near the door who immediately
followed them inside.
After a half hour another organizer and I
went into the school library where we found some of the boys seated
while eating doughnuts. A group of FIN teachers were lounging on the
other side of the room. The students told us they had gone inside the
school because they were concerned and wanted to study for the test they
would soon have to take in order to graduate. My colleague then
demanded the teachers to relinquish their seats and to begin the process
of educating the students. They hurriedly complied.
As the
cameras assembled for the scheduled 3:00PM press conference a woman
(some say she was an obvious provocateur) was sent to disrupt by accusing an
organizer of betraying the students by working for the RSD. Again the
awesome students held their composure and proceeded with their press
conference as scheduled.
Many of the students remained seated and
composed after the press conference because they intended to remain for
the RSD scheduled meeting with parents and students.
An
obviously nervous Superintendent Dobard convened the meeting by telling
the students “We as adults like to keep doing things as before…” as to
imply they were being manipulated by their adult supporters. He informed
us all that “A contract has already been signed.” He promised the
students that “All seniors and juniors will graduate from Cohen High
School from this building.”
He said “I made a decision because I
could not standby to watch students not being educated,” He threatened
that “Staff will be available to work on transfers tomorrow for students
who want to transfer elsewhere.” He responded to shouts from students
regarding books “We will address books.” When students complained about
ceiling tiles on one side of the cafeteria designated for New Orleans
College Prep (a charter school that shares the building with Cohen) and
missing tiles on the Cohen student’s side of that same space he said “We
will evaluate the ceiling tiles.”
Adults in the audience became
disruptive and started yelling complaints to him. I could not hear the
questions but I did hear his responses which were “I will work on that
and I will address that.”
As I spoke to students to ask for
clarity on some of their complaints I learned that they do not have
individual books and must share books in the classrooms. When they need
to go to the restroom they must go to the office to request toilet
paper. I began to reflect on my days in the Orleans Parish school system
during the Jim Crow era. We did have toilet paper in the restrooms and
every student had a full set of books although most of them were handed
down out dated books from white schools when they became tattered, worn
and too old for white students. I began to wonder if we were better off
during Jim Crow days. Now that African Americans hold executive
positions in our education system are we now in “Tom Crow Days?”
One
former teacher (Black male) said he holds a master’s degree and was
fired by State Superintendent John White who has a bachelor’s degree. He
further stated that proven certified teachers are being replaced with
uncertified/under qualified teachers. Upset adults went off again when
Dobard responded with “Everything is not about qualifications.”
A
newly fired Cohen teacher became emotional when he spoke. He said “I
was hired on Friday, my first day was Monday, I was evaluated on Tuesday
and fired on Wednesday. Students later rushed over to embrace their
teacher and assure him that everything will be alright.
An adult
supporter who spoke directly to Dobard spoke of a West bank girl who
lives six blocks from Landry High School but has to awaken at 5:30AM to
be bussed to a school in New Orleans East. He told Dobard “You are
guilty of Black on Black Crime.”
The meeting ended abruptly when
many of the frustrated students stood up and angrily walked out. I found
it ironic that in today’s world with all of the anti-bullying campaigns
that a school system would so BRUTALLY BULLY children placed under
there care.
Parnell Herbert is a
recently returned New Orleanian who was previously displaced to
Houston by Hurricane Katrina. He is active on many social justice
causes, including the right of return for New Orleanians, and freedom
for the Angola Three. His new play, Angola Three, has been performed in
New Orleans and other cities.
