cial organizations in understanding the relationship of local educational programs to their destinies, (j) develop a system of awards for mean

ingful educational participation, and

(k) make education a family issue.

Community school council members

should visit the school regularly, ob

serve classes, offer support, talk with

the students about their needs and interests. Further, they should support the right and need of students to be taught how to learn rather than be constantly reminded of the fact that they are "children". Members should review the procedures of the school as they relate to the use of corporal punishment, suspensions, leaving and entering the school, homework assignments, and so forth. They should know what is expected of the students and make available to them the opportunities to live up to the expectations. All participants should be involved in the process of changing power relationships but the students should provide the key to change. What they say and feel is very important.

VI. Community School Project Appraisal and Conclusions

Once the collective efforts of the council the teachers and administrators, the students, and other parents begin to have a positive impact on the self-concepts of the students and the rest of the community, the work has only begun. While it is absolutely necessary that students believe in themselves and in their own people, it is also required that they move beyond the "rapping" state of "Black is Beautiful"; just as "civil rights" is an empty victory if the children have not also become Beautiful Black readers and mathematicians, who will later become Beautiful Black scientists, engineers, businessmen and other well-paid professionals and skilled workers.

The community school council task and that of the schools is to combine the qualities of Beautiful Black personhood with intellectual and skill competency. For over the long haul, a child cannot continue to feel good about himself, if he has not been taught the proficiencies which make for success in school and ultimately in the pursuit of his life's work and personal worth and happiness.

Council members should expect and demand that their children be honored as the beautiful Black children they are, but should be equally adamant that the children be taught to read, to think and to compute well.

In visits to the classrooms, one should be looking for evidence that black heritage and culture are a part of the on-going curriculum, and one should also be looking for demonstrations that the students are handling their academics excellently.

Among all the requirements that one has a right to expect of those who educate his children, perhaps two requirements stand like beacons above the rest. These two are belief and accountability. They are related but they are not the same. Belief means that educational personnel have high regard, sometimes love, for the children, that the children are thought to be capable and worthy of learning and deserving of the best efforts possible. Belief is attitude; it is also theory. Accountability is performance which is measured, documented and reported; it is putting into practice the positive beliefs that are held. Educational personnel must be accountable by their students, and their parents, and by the community. It is possible to give evidence of positive beliefs by "talking Black", wearing a dashiki or an Afro, or by supporting students in their demands, but none of this adds up to accountability unless these educators are actually doing a first-rate job of teaching, counseling or administering saleable educational skills which have short and long term benefits. Accountable personnel are those who produce. Oratory and clothing are symbols not substance. The symbols can be significant; the substance is everything.

The community must demand that all educational personnel, Black or white, perform or step down. Educational personnel should have high standards and high expectations for student achievement. This does not mean that they will expect all students to achieve and perform at the same rate, or that some stu

dents won't need special help. It does mean that no student will be given up on, that all students will be treated as if they were the children of the most powerful families in the community. High expectations, fair treatment, and high performance are the hallmarks of accountability.

Belief and accountability, when demonstrated over a period of time, should beget loyalty and support from the councils and the remainder of the community. For example, a principal who has selflessly and tirelessly worked to bring the new positive images and academic excellence to his school is probably in danger. He has worked hard to do the very thing that may cost him his job When the hand of oppression does touch him, council members, teachers and the community must carry his standard. They must let the board of education members, and teachers know that the people will not be intimidated, because the council and the community will not permit it! Those who serve well will be protected.

On the other hand, those school board members, superintendents, central office administrators and school personnel who attempt to thwart justice and Black progress should know that they are the council's special assignment. They should know that council efforts to remove them will be ceaseless.

Keep in mind, however, that almost all individuals and organizations would prefer to think that they take certam courses of action because they have chosen to do so. Therefore, one who wishes to change policies or procedures would be well advised to begin by showing that certain new courses of action are in the best interest of all. Combined with the presentation of the suggestions, there should be communication that power and organization lie behind these seg gestions; hence, they must not be ig

nored.

-

After a reasonable waiting period determined by the nature and cost of the policies or changes desired if there are no affirmative responses, the suggestions should be escalated to demands. It is probably good strategy to place additional items in the new demands; one must determine which items are negotiable and which ones are not.

Again, bear in mind that the potential for achievement of the council's demands will depend upon the amount of power, real or apparent, that the council is able to muster, not upon the justice of the

cause.

The important point here is that power structures should be given the opportunity to respond to suggestions, because the suggestions or demands are just and should be implemented anyway. When they do not respond, however, appropriate pressure should be applied.

The relationship between the central board of education and the locally-based community school council is a case in point. The following selected criteria help illustrate this relationship:

Staff from the central board and administration begin to attend local meetings by invitation only. Such staff tend to function as "company agents" for the central board and as "eavesdroppers" to collect data on how the central board can implement its own plan with or without the consent of the local community. The local community benefits in economic terms from participating in planning.

The power to select staff and disburse funds is vested in the hands of the local group.

The central board clears with or consults with the local group before initiating any plans within the local area.

There is a regular exchange of information-formally and informally between the central board and the local community.

Items are not put on the agenda of public hearings unless cleared with the local community.

The central board shares information fully with the local group.

The local community begins to "feel its oats": to believe in its capacity to effectuate change.

The number of unemployed begins to decline, police brutality is terminated, economic exploitation is undercut, housing ownership shifts from absentee landlords to local people; health and hospital services preventive and rehabilative- become available.

The number of local leaders are multiplied; intra-organizational conflict declines; and a value of community cooperation develops.

Easy access to the informal channels of influence and power develop. "Uncle Toms" lose their ability to manipulate the community or to function as agents for the "Man". The local community begins to develop increasing autonomy over the internal affairs, relationships and content of the local experience. Soul food and Muhammed Speaks are talked about openly without being whispered. One does not have to subscribe to a philosophy in order to talk about it. The beauty parlor, the pool room, bars, etc. become places where one also begins to hear discussions about local problems and from which action is planned.

Local residents begin to make sac

rifices on behalf of each other. People begin to talk cogently in terms of the struggle and not just

In summary, local community groups begin to get involved in attempting to manage and shape their own destinies rather than permitting others to do it for them. A community policy begins to take form and to serve as a guideline for organizational behavior. Leaders in. various problem areas begin to be identified, to relate to each other and to develop cooperative working relationships among each other. Importantly, those outside of the community begin to learn new ways of dealing with the local community rather than automatically making decisions about it without the full involvement of the community.

The people are the undefined masses, leading each other, rather than being led; following their own instincts and not leaders; "reading" the system rather than writing about it, observing history rather than making it; holding the balance of power rather than enacting. They cannot be fooled, spotting a phony a mile away, and are less interested in change than in progress, questioning change but exploiting progress, which to them means a "better life". They feel and experience; they don't just talk about it, tending to reject exploitation of each other, valuing interest in each other as a survival necessity. They would rather not lead but are reluctant to follow anyone who has a need to lead them. You have to show these people, not tell them; their philosophy

being teach me, but don't tell me. The people say, "Correct this sentence for me, but don't mess with my feelings". Instead of telling them they are poor, teach them how not to be poor. Being poor is not a romantic ideal, but is a drudgery. The people want you to act on their behalf. They are the mirrors of society; a reflection of society's actual achievements. To them, society is a window pane which they can see right through. Therefore, it is important to recognize and translate these reflections into relationships which shape the linking process between decision-making and implementation. By reason of diversity in social, political and educational climates in various communities, community school councils must build certain elements into whatever decisionmaking process they may employ to promote and protect the interests and program of the people. Some general safeguards are:

ensuring representative participation in decision-making,

sharing facts and figures prior to deliberation on issues in decisionmaking,

understanding and discussing alternative strategies,

developing the ability to achieve a meaningful consensus,

utilizing available talent and ability to carry out the agreed-upon decision,

monitoring the process of implementation of the decision, and evaluating results of the decision. and feed back the results to the decision-makers, constituents and consumers or students and parents. In the final analysis, change will require benefits and rewards to those who seek it and those whom you want to volve. Unless the community begins to act like the schools belong to them and

HANDBOOK AND POLICY GUIDE

Some Afram Asso

. Decentralization: A Listing of Some Ideas and Issues. New York: Afram Associates, Inc. October 5, 1968,

9 pp.

The Meaning of Community Control. New York: Afram Associates, Inc. December 2, 1968. 7 pp.

"The School and The Community" in CAP School Seminar Papers. Trenton, New Jersey: Community Action Training Institute (NJCATI), May 1968 pp. 9-20.

"Structural Redistribution of Power: The Neighborhood Educational Council" in Renewal. October-November. 1966. p. 7.

. "Neighborhood Committees" in For School Board Members. New London, Conn.: Croft Educational Services. March 1967. p. 2, Toward New Ideas in Urban Organizing: Promoting the Black agenda. New York: Afram Associates, Inc. November 15, 1967. 10 pp.

Community Control and Staff Selection: A Bibliography. New York: Afram Associates, Inc. March 1969. Vol. I, No. 1. 4 pp.

"The Community-Centered School" in The Schoolhouse in the City. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. October 1968. Chap. IX. reprinted in: Radical School Reform, edited by Ronald and Beatrice Gross. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1969.

Wilson, Charles F. Guidelines and Expectations For Community Consultants. New York: Afram Associates, Inc. undated 7 pp.

MANUALS:

Annual Report to the Community: 1967-68. Washington, D.C.: The Morgan Community School, August 1968. 42 pp.

Central Area School Council Information Packet. Seattle: Central Area School Council Election Headquarters. undated. 6 pp.

Discussion Guide For Citizens School Seminars. Dayton: Dayton Public Schools. November 10-21, 1969.

Electing Local School Boards. New York: Center for Community Education, January 1970. 14 pp.

Fact Sheet on Columbus School Crisis. Columbus, Ohio: Community Council For Quality Education. February 1968. 3 pp.

Kelly, Kay. I.S. 201 and Its' Feeder Schools: An Autonomous Community Center Combining Service, Training and Research Functions. New York: I.S. 201 Complex. August 7, 1967. 12pp.

Parent Manual. New York: Parent Development Project. 1967.

State Education: Structure And Organization. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare. 1964. OF-23038, Misc. No. 46. 144 pp. plus appendices.

Staff Relations: New Urban League of Greater Boston. Boston: New Urban League of Greater Boston, September 27, 1968. 3 pp.

The 1.S. 201 Community Information Manual, 1968-69. New York: The I.S. 201 Community Education Center. 1968. 245 pp.

The Philadelphia Council for Community Advancement: A Citizens Guide to the Philadelphia Schools. Philadelphia: PCCA. undated. 38 pp.