tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506061940005701101.post3393848414506715278..comments2011-07-26T13:22:15.892-07:00Comments on Johan Beckmann: ISER Paper LewisJohan Beckmannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03919247148517646702noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506061940005701101.post-30751973617388323442011-07-26T13:22:15.892-07:002011-07-26T13:22:15.892-07:00Dr Lewis does a nice job describing the circumstan...Dr Lewis does a nice job describing the circumstances surrounding the implementation of an innovative SBDM policy in Kentucky. I would quibble with one small bit, however. <br /><br />Lewis accurately states that I was in support of the proposal and described my effort as "a test of the new provision." Specifically, it was the provision that excluded voters by race that we found objectionable and problematic. Indeed, while our counter proposal ensured that there would be minority representation, local civil rights leaders feared that such minority members, if elected by all parents, might simply become puppets of the white majority - "Uncle Tom's," as it was stated to me. Our concern was that any minority member elected in a special election that excluded voters by race, would be put at a disadvantage - a less than fully endorsed representative of all children at the school. Plus, we believed the provision to be unconstitutional. <br /><br />Our criticism was not so much of the "minority membership policy," or its intent, as it was a criticism of the manner in which the election was to be conducted.<br /><br />Absent any specific language in the statute, the directive to allow race-based elections came from the state department of education, which was befuddled as to how to implement such a law. <br /><br />When I inquired of the department how we were to establish who could vote, and who could not (for example, I had white parents who threatened to sue, and Jewish parents who said they would present themselves as minority parents so that they could vote) we were told to let everyone who wanted to vote to do so - in other words, to not contest any claim a parent made. Ultimately, we were not sued, but we did have white parents claim to be minorities, and they were allowed to vote. <br /> <br />The great weakness of our attempt to change the circumstance was that we lacked any way to get the state board of education to waive state law. Our attempt to argue that the board could do so, under a different law which authorized the state board to allow "alternative school council models" was a weak attempt at best, and it failed as it probably should have.<br /><br />But the issue was subsequently resolved. Two years after our little protest, when the legislature next came into session, they quietly changed the law to allow all parents to vote in special elections for minority council members - and it has operated that way without any particular problems ever since.<br /><br />Dr Richard E. Day<br />Asst Professor of Educational Foundations<br />Eastern Kentucky University<br />and former Principal of Cassidy SchoolRichard Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14586435007687942849noreply@blogger.com