Black males score among lowest in Canton, Ohio

Melissa Griffy Seeton:

It will take not only city schools, but a community, to save young black men.

That theme was echoed over and over again at the 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Community Celebration on Monday.

There, Superintendent Dianne Talarico released the results of a yearlong study aimed at improving the performance of the district’s black students.

In the past year, members of the Saving African American Males Task Force designed a program to increase school attendance, improve attitude and behavior, and increase test scores and graduation rates, among other goals.

Black students across the country have low achievement scores, said Talarico, adding that black male students in Canton City Schools are among the lowest-achieving subgroup as measured by the state’s annual school district report cards.

“It’s a very deep concern of mine,” she said. “Our kids can do anything, but they need our support to get there.”

Nationally, there are more black males between the ages of 19 and 29 in jail, prison or on probation than in college, according to the U.S. Sentencing Project.

But it’s not just about educating black males, Talarico and other speakers at the Edward “Peel” Coleman Community Center said Monday. It’s about the societal conditions that keep black males from succeeding.

Sandy Womack, principal of Compton School and vice president of the Leila Green Alliance of Black School Educators — which sponsored the MLK Community Celebration — said the black community has to stop giving more respect to young men going to prison than those earning a bachelor’s degree.

“Dr. King didn’t die so we would become our own worst enemy,” said Womack, citing the achievement gap and black male against black male violence.

Mari Moss, director of P.E.A.C.E. TV, called for a stand against violence in the African-American community, such as the recent shooting of 17-year-old Kortez Hubbard.

“We need each other to survive,” she sang to the crowd.

Community violence stands between black males and their academic success, according to the Saving African American Males Task Force. Other barriers include poverty, lack of father figures, sex before marriage, substance abuse and low self-esteem.

Some of the recommendations of the task force, which was paid for by federal grant dollars, include hiring a diversity coordinator and offering diversity training as part of staff development in the Canton City Schools. Other programs to help increase the achievement of black males include after-school programs, family strengthening and support services, and counseling and intervention services for youth involved in violence and their families.

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