2 Community School Council Members Mr. Lloyd Phillips Mrs. Elizabeth Hatcher Mr. William Lauderman Mr. Robert Daniszewski Mrs. Evelyn Phillips Mrs. Sallie Miller Mrs. Beatrice E. Rudd Mr. Mervin H. Martin Mrs. Mary E. Johnson Staff Mr. Arthur Thomas Mrs. Carolyn Brown Mrs. Ruth Burgin The program is presently directed by Allen Carter Preface The purpose of this document is to develop an understanding and a mechanism of change in the public education system as it exists for minority group children. Specifically, it is designed to stimulate its users to apply their own skills and make their own decisions about how to implement a community school council. While the handbook is based on the Dayton experience, which occurred in a black urban community, the principles of change and action apply to other oppressed minorities throughout the nation. The achievement of community control as decentralization of the educational system calls for a redistribution of power relationships, exercised and implemented legislatively or through the collective action outlined in the following pages. On this point the document is clear: parents will be merely exercising their basic rights by determining educational policy for the schools their children attend. The creation of a community school council, as a process which honors that right, can be achieved only with great difficulty; but the skills developed in overcoming obstacles and opposition, lead to qualitative change in the education of Black children. The non-negotiable right of parents to be involved in shaping their children's education is the underlying value of what is presented. All else is added for the purpose of encouraging readers to exercise their responsibilities and to explore alternative strategies for doing so. The ideas for the development of the handbook, based on the Dayton experi Arthur E. Thomas ment Parent-Community involvement and community school control, came from Arthur E. Thomas, Director, Dayton Community School Council, and Ruth W. Burgin, Deputy Director, SCOPE Community Action Agency in Darke, Greene, Miami, Preble, and Warren Counties, Ohio*. Mr. Thomas initiated the action for the financing of the council which resulted in an allocation of funds for the program from OEO CAP Grant 8716, which was administered by the City of Dayton's City Demonstration Office. Mr. Thomas assumed responsibility for the selection and assignment of persons in the development and production of the handbook with Mrs. Burgin, who organized the work and managed the editing and logistics. Preston Wilcox, President, Afram Associates, provided the major part of the discussion. Donald H. Smith, Director, Educational Development, Bernard Baruch College, contributed to the his 3 tory and contemporary changes occurring within the community school control movement. Mr. Wilcox and Dr. Smith have both served as consultants to the Dayton Community School Council. Mr. Wilcox continues to meet periodically with the council as a consultant in community school control. The ideas presented are those of the parents and students of the Dayton Community School Council. In addition, Mr. Wilcox draws upon his wealth of experience as a teacher and practitioner in affairs of community organization and parent-community school control. Dr. Smith draws upon his knowledge and skills as an innovator in the field of urban education for systematically deprived poor Black children. Kenneth Blanchard assisted in the organization of the contents. Major editorial assistance was contributed by Patricia A. Rector. Jari Wyatt and Linda Provencal typed the document. Bill Patterson did the art work and photography and assumed responsibility for production. The Office of Economic Opportunity nor any other governmental agency is responsible for the views expressed, and the discussion within takes advantage of the freedom of expression permitted. Community school control as a concept and goal is relatively recent and controversial for poor minority and Black people of this country, and as a subject attracts, of necessity, in some form, the interest and concern of the education community parents, students, teachers, boards of education and the greater citizenry whenever it is raised. Consequently, most of the writings on this topic are scattered about in periodicals having less than wide distribution to the general public or lie dormant as unpublished documents in the hands of persons having yet to bring their works to the attention of the larger community. For this reason, a limited bibliography is included. The writers, where reference is made to sources other than their own, have so indicated in the text of the handbook. The handbook springs from the belief so often articulated by the Director of the Dayton Community School Council, Arthur E. Thomas: "The people have the intelligence, the skills, and the brilliance to make their schools the best schools in the world. The educational technician must provide information and be willing to take risks in order to put the people in a position to make decisions where they can affect real democracy. The technician must view himself as a tool to be utilized by the people. This can be easily done if the technician really loves, trusts, and respects the people." *Thomas holds a master's degree in educational administration from Miami University and served as the only coordinator and first director of the Dayton Model Cities Education program. He is now Director of the OEO Legal Services funded Center For the Study of Student Citizenship, Rights and Responsibilities in Dayton which is associated with the Harvard University Law and Education Center. Mrs. Burgin holds a master's degree in community organization from Ohio State University, was chief technical assistant and advisor to Mr. Thomas in the development of the Dayton Model Cities Education program and the operation of the Dayton Community School Council, developed the comprehensive framework of the Dayton Model Cities program and coordinated the development of and wrote the Social Services Component of the program. Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Burgin are doctoral students at the University of Massachusetts, School of Education. R. W. B. 6 HANDBOOK AND POLICY GUIDE 6064 I. Introduction: The Need for Community The Dayton Community School Council is part of one of the most important movements in the history of American education. Inspired by the courageous examples of Black and Puerto Rican citizens in New York who formed the Governing Boards of IS 201, Manhatten, Ocean HillBrownsville, and Brooklyn, Black and other minority citizens have begun to organize themselves throughout the country to improve the education of their children. The Dayton Community School Council, as an important force for educational change in this city, is linked with Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow "change agents" in cities all over the nation. school boards, or in the cases of elections to provide funds for election campaigns and for mass media publicity, which in turn, significantly influence election outcomes; their presence on state and local committees which determine policy concerning teacher certification and employment, curriculum and textbooks, the expenditure of local, state and federal funds, and the employment of various contractors who serve the schools - building contractors, food service contractors, medical and dental services, and even such services as janitors, window washers, and garbage disposers. They exert indirect influence through their station in life which is a constant reminder to principals, teachers, counselors, and others that the children of these parents are important human beings who are expected to learn. Educational personnel know that their jobs depend on performance. They know that white affluent parents expect the schools to prepare their children to attend Harvard, Yale, Chicago, or California, and therefore, they know they had better take care of business or be prepared to move on. This network of powerful elements, including the control of universities which train the teachers and administrators, has enabled affluent whites to control their schools and the schools of oppressed minorities in a manner intended to serve the interests of the white middle and upper middle classes. Until very recently Black and poor parents had no mechanism of control. |