PA Education Action Team: Statement on DPS Growing Together Plan
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Members of the Board,
The People’s Alliance Education Action Team urges the BOE to wait to approve the new proposed academic application programs and elementary school boundaries. We believe the regional model presented to the Board has many strengths, including a clear focus on equity and efficiency. The 30+% mileage reduction is no small feat, and we know parents and children will appreciate shorter bus rides. We also appreciate the increased access to magnet programs, especially in currently under-served communities such as the Eastern Region which has no magnet programs at the moment.
However, we believe the model still needs the following adjustments before approval is appropriate:
- Consider moving one of the district-wide magnets to the Eastern Region to improve equity.
- Target engagement with stakeholders in school communities that are losing existing special programs, even if alternate programming has been proposed for those schools (R.N. Harris, Bethesda, Lakewood, W.G. Pearson, and Club Boulevard).
- Develop and release a detailed legacy policy so parents understand how each of their children will be affected.
- Analyze costs associated with continuing special programs at R.N. Harris, Bethesda, and Lakewood if communities express a desire to do so.
- Clarify how the new regional approach to programming will coexist with the community schools model that has been successful in two highly impacted schools (Club Boulevard and Lakewood).
While we believe the proposed regional map is a good starting point, addressing the above concerns might require some tweaking of the map to prevent overcrowding at some schools and under enrollment at others. Because of this, we ask the Board to delay voting on this proposal until no later than October 2022 to maintain the current implementation timeline.
We appreciate the effort and expertise of the talented DPS staff who developed the Growing Together initiative. We share their vision of a more efficient and equitable school system for all children in Durham. Regardless of timeline, we urge the Board to consider the above pressing issues before implementing the current plan.
Warmly,
Vanessa Barnett-Loro and Jenny Jones Coldren
on behalf of the People's Alliance Education Action Team
June 27, 2022
People's Alliance Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Durham Pride
On the 35th Anniversary of Durham’s Gay Pride/Recall Victory
Celeste Cornelius with Mab Segrest
On June 25, 1986, a flyer was distributed around Durham that read in bold print at the top of the page “JUSTICE FOR ALL” with only a thin black line separating the words “DON’T SIGN THE PETITION!” At the bottom of the page, it read “NO RECALL!”
Although the flyer announced Durham Citizens for Responsible Leadership as the ad-hoc coalition that mounted this campaign, the P.O. BOX and address were those of the People’s Alliance. This piece from the archives of the People’s Alliance shows the role that People’s Alliance played in one of the earliest and most important battles for gay and lesbian rights in the history of Durham, as I discussed with PA Board Member Mab Segrest this week.
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June 23, 2021
PA Board Statement on Nonrenewal of County Manager Contract
Dear Durham,
In 1979, three years after the People’s Alliance was founded, Republican Harry Rodenhizer was elected mayor of Durham. Mayor Rodenhizer was central to getting the Durham freeway — which had already displaced the Hayti community — extended along the route it takes today through another historically-Black neighborhood, Crest Street. Joining Crest St. residents to block this extension was one of the PA’s first campaigns.
At times in the following decades, PA worked closely with the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and other groups to help shift Durham’s political landscape. Today, when over 80% of the county voted for Democrats in the last election, Republican candidates don’t even contest for many local offices.
However, even when so many of us vote blue, the recent conflict over Durham’s former county manager goes to show that we aren’t without our differences. In fact, without a meaningful local presence of the far right to unite against, the volume on those differences has been turned way up.
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