Schools hold back blacks, group says

Donna Winchester:

The plaintiff in a lawsuit that alleges African-American children in Pinellas County are not being properly educated charged Monday that the school district has one primary goal: to "dumb down" education, especially for black students.

William Crowley, the lead plaintiff in the class-action suit against the district, said that despite the African-American community's best efforts, the district "is not taking any approach" in closing the achievement gap between black and white students.

Crowley's comments came at a news conference held by the International People's Democratic Uhuru movement on the sidewalk in front of a south Pinellas school. Uhuru movement president Dwight "Chimurenga" Waller said the event was the first step in the organization's push to launch a campaign to publicize the suit.

"Many of the people don't even know the lawsuit is happening," said Crowley, who stood beside Waller. "Our job is to educate them."

The news conference came six days after a three-judge appellate panel ruled that more than 20,000 Pinellas black students can stand together against the school system in a lawsuit that alleges they are not being properly educated.

The case originated with Crowley's claim that his son, Akwete Osoka, experienced difficulties typical of those faced by black students in Pinellas. The boy was a second-grader at Sawgrass Lake Elementary School when the case was filed nearly five years ago.

Crowley's lawyers say statistics that outline the achievement gap show a systemwide failure to "meet the needs and requirements of students of African descent." Such a failure is a violation of the Florida Constitution and state law, the lawsuit alleges.

In July 2004, a judge granted class-action status to Crowley's suit, which means it now represents all 21,000 black students in Pinellas schools and all black children who attend the county's public schools in the future.

Waller told the small group assembled on the sidewalk Monday that recent incidents show the "hostility of the system."

He noted the handcuffing of a 5-year-old black kindergartener by police, a racial slur used by a white coach against a black student, a white teacher who referred to a black child as a "monkey" and a white history teacher who asked his students to write a racial epithet as the answer to a test question.

The incidents "underscore the limitations of the courts system to address the problem of African underachievement," Waller said.

Another reason for the Uhurus' involvement with the case is to "propose remedies," according to a release issued by the group. But when pressed for details on what he and the Uhurus would like the school district to do, Crowley declined to comment.

"We're not here to discuss strategy," he said. "There are some strategies ... and they're not just passive nonsense."

The extent of the achievement gap in Pinellas has been widely publicized.

--Only 30 percent of Pinellas black students scored at grade level in reading on the most recent Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Sixty-three percent of white students met that standard.

--Only 43 percent of black students graduated from Pinellas high schools with a standard diploma in 2004. That compares to 72 percent of white students.

--About 39 percent of all disciplinary referrals went to black students in 2003 and 2004, even though black students make up only 19 percent of the enrollment.

Despite circumstances the district says are beyond its control, including a high incidence of poverty among black families, school officials say they are working hard to close the gap.

Crowley disagrees.

He said abuse of black children is so widespread that "as we speak, there are children probably being abused." He said that is why he is working with the Uhurus and other groups to find "a multifaceted approach" to closing the achievement gap.

"The African community has already tried to address the problem by establishing a charter school for black students, but that effort was not successful," he said.

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