Standing

There is a federal lawsuit, filed at the behest of the NAACP in Nashville, alleging that the school rezoning program is racially motivated and that it makes black schools blacker and white schools whiter. Central to the suit is a letter from the former director of schools to a school board member alleging that he got fired because Marsha Warden wanted him to use the rezoning plan to get the black kids out of Hillwood High School and he refused to do so.

To paraphrase from a favorite movie of mine: "Cough . . . Bullshit . . .Cough."

I know quite a lot about Marsha Warden, being married to her and all. I knew her when she quit a job because one of her bosses treated African American people differently than Anglo people. I have known her to boil with fury and chew out idiots who told racist jokes. I know that her most often repeated phrase while on the school board was "It's about the kids." It was not, nor has she ever uttered, "It's all about the white kids."

Charges of racism are easy to make and impossible to prove wrong. So, it is a shame that this person who spent so many hours earning much less than she would have earned nursing to help ALL the children of Nashville is stuck with the ugly sobriquet of racist.

Nonetheless, that is the one she has; not because she is a racist, but because of the political ambition of a few and the lazy "journalism" of a few more.

The school rezoning plan came to pass in part because of money. Taxpayers naturally do not want their tax dollars wasted. Schools that sit at 35% capacity waste money. Every school has to have a principal, a library, janitorial services, a cafeteria, teachers, and so on. Small schools cannot cost effectively offer a wide variety of courses.

More importantly, the school rezoning plan came to pass because the most vulnerable children - poor children - were being bussed past several schools on a 45+ minute trip to go to their school. Parent involvement is a critical factor in student success. And, once again, poor children were getting the short end of the stick, because their parents have significant logistical issues getting to a school that is across town.

So, a panel of citizens from all parts of Nashville gathered to give their time to study the issue. They had hearings. They looked at statistics. They brought their own unique points of view to the issue. They were not told what to do, nor would anyone think they could tell the panel members what to do. And the citizens panel unanimously recommended the plan that was put in place.

Oh yes, school books. Metro is deliberately mistreating its African American children by not having school books for them. Gliding past the interesting fact that the beginning of the academic year book shortage affects all students regardless of race, that dog won't hunt. Over 60% of Metro public school students move one or more times during an academic year. So, with the exception of magnet schools, principals and teachers have only a vague idea of how many students will be enrolling until the end of the first day. Books have to be gathered up, distributed, replaced, repaired, etc. It takes a while and teachers know to teach around the issue for the first little bit of school. As I say, that dog won't hunt.

Now, a suit is brought. And the parents are outraged that their children have been so poorly treated. Let's look and see about that. From filings in the federal lawsuit:

"Ms. Lewis is suing on behalf of her grandchild who currently attends John Early Middle School. Docket no. 34 at ¶ 105; Deposition of Carroll Lewis at 14-15, 25. Even if the assignment to John Early was a distinct and palpable injury (a point that Defendants zealously dispute), the Lewis child’s assignment to John Early is insufficient to confer standing on Ms. Lewis.
Ms. Lewis controlled whether her grandchild attended Bellevue or John Early and Ms. Lewis chose John Early. Ms. Lewis received a school selection form in the Winter of 2009 that offered a choice between John Early and Bellevue. Id. at 37-38, Ex. 2 at pg. 2. Ms. Lewis and her daughter (the Lewis child’s biological mother) selected John Early. Id. It was not until August of 2009 that Ms. Lewis had change of heart and filed a request for a hardship transfer to reassign the Lewis child to Bellevue. Id. at 23-24, Ex. 2 at pg. 5-7.
Respectfully, if Ms. Lewis wanted her granddaughter to attend Bellevue, she should have selected Bellevue on the school selection form. Any distinct and palpable injury suffered by the Lewis child is “fairly traceable” to the conduct of Ms. Lewis, not Defendants."

"With regard to the Lawsons, it is not completely clear whether they even claim to be aggrieved by the school assignment plan at all because the Lawson’s allegations in the amended complaint only relate to the alleged shortage of books at John Early. Docket no. 34 at ¶ 55. To the extent that the Lawsons are also challenging the rezoning plan in this lawsuit, they lack standing to do so.
The Lawson child was not enrolled in Metro Nashville Schools at the time the school selection letters went out and thus did not receive a school selection letter. Deposition of Rigena Lawson at 66-67. After they returned to Nashville, Ms. Lawson did not contact MNPS to determine what school choices were available for her daughter but, instead, simply enrolled her daughter at John Early. Lawson dep. at 69-70. Had Ms. Lawson contacted MNPS, she would have learned that Bellevue was also an option under the plan."

"Finally, the Spurlock’s also lack standing to challenge their child’s assignment to John Early in this lawsuit because the decision to send the Spurlock child to John Early was made by the Spurlock’s. The Spurlock’s were given the choice to send their child to either John Early or H.G. Hill Middle School. Deposition of Francis Spurlock at 88, Ex. 27. Like the other Plaintiffs, the Spurlock’s chose John Early."


Funny how that stuff didn't make it into the papers. Actually, its not funny. It is an indictment of the news media around here. Truth apparently does not make as a good a headline as reckless accusations of racism.

As to why Dr. Garcia wrote the letter. You will just have to wait to see why he would do such a thing.