Sacramento’s Black Parallel School Board
An unmarried black mother quoted in a Sacramento Bee article believes administrators at her son’s middle school didn’t take her concerns seriously because she’s black and unmarried. An excerpt:
“So she called a meeting with school officials a few months ago. Two members of the Black Parallel School Board – an education advocacy group working to help African American students in Sacramento improve subpar performance in school – accompanied her…’There was a little bit of a shock at first. A lot of times schools don’t expect you have that kind of community support, Muwwakkil said. “But it forced them to realize it was a serious issue.”
A group in Sacramento, California, calling itself the Black Parallel School Board purportedly exists to help black parents, especially those without college educations, to express themselves, navigate the school system, and find out what they need to do to help their children. The group also wants to address disparities in graduation rates and test scores.
Something has to be done about the alarming disparities between black students and everyone else, and getting black parents involved is an ideal place to begin. Schools and parents of all colors should learn to work well together for the benefit of the students. An organization like the Black Parallel School Board exists because some parents don’t believe that’s possible or that their children’s needs are not being addressed.
Is a separate black “school board” a throwback to Jim Crow? If it helps black parents and their children, does it matter?
(Photo credit: Observer / Larry V. Dalton)
