KNAACP requests participation on KCS Disparities Task Forces
KNOXVILLE, TN (September 21. 2020) – The Knoxville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (KNAACP) has made a request to Knox County Schools Supt. Bob Thomas to hold open meetings of the Disparities in Educational Outcomes Committee (DEOC), and the DEOs Steering and Oversight Committee (SOC).
According to the KNAACP, a review of the recent 2020 DEO report shows no improvements in the excessive and extreme disciplinary actions doled out to minority students. These are practices that contribute to the rate of minority drop-outs and the school-to-prison pipeline.
The KNAACP is questioning the implementation of recommendations by the 2015 task force, as well as those from a 2007 task force that had the same objective with no results.
Some members of the 2007 task force were asked to participate on the 2015 task force. One of them declined citing that there had been no attempt to respect their efforts or enforce recommendations of the 2007 task force (8-years prior).
The KNAACP wants the public process to be inclusive of all the Stakeholders, especially the “grassroots” community organizations from the most affected populations.
You can read the letter from the Knoxville Branch KNAACP sent to Knox County Schools Supt. Bob Thomas on September 15, 2020, here.
We reached out to KCS, receipt was confirmed and there has been no response to KNAACP prior to this publication.
KNAACP ongoing struggle with the KCS system.
This is only the most recent of many efforts of KNAACP to the KCS system to balance the blatant disproportion of resources and disparities between predominately Caucasian and African-American schools. The efforts of KNAACP been circumvented or ignored.
In 2017, KNAACP under Rev. Butler’s leadership filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), after Knox County Board of Education and County Commission members were dismissive of their request. At issue was the board’s April 2015 approval to build Gibbs Middle School in Corryton, TN that would require County Commission to approve funding.
Then Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett announced that he had obtained “private funds” to build the new school. A move that would release the county of any wrongdoing that might be found by OCR investigation in process.
The ribbon-cutting for the new Gibbs Middle school was in July 2018, in time for the 2018-19 school year. Background information and documentation can be found here.
About NAACP: The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. To learn more visit the website; knoxvillenaacp.org.
