Seattle school Superintendent Denise Juneau (salary and benefits: $386,000 a year) recently announced, with great fanfare, a new strategic plan for Seattle Public Schools. She and the school board pledged on:  

            “...ensuring racial equity in our educational system, unapologetically address the needs of students of color who are furthest from educational justice, and work to undo the legacies of racism in our educational system.”

Further, Seattle school leaders promised to improve education services “...especially for African American males."

Now Crosscut reports staff have decided to cut the social studies program at Rainier Beach High School where 45 percent of students are African-American, 57 percent are male, and 80 percent are low-income, because Superintendent Juneau's budget does not provide enough funding to keep the program.

The broken promise raises three concerns for parents in the community, and for all of us who care about public education.

First, it sends the message that all the high-minded wording offered in Strategic Plans, Mission Statements, Vision Statements, and Theories of Action mean nothing when it comes to actually providing services to children of color.

Second, it reveals what catering to the union costs students.  In August, after a strike threat, the Seattle school board again gave out double-digit pay raises, and this fall it cut educational programs for students.  

Third, it prompts a public conversation about finding alternatives to solving the legacy of racism and inequity in the schools.  Real solutions are possible, based on providing families more choices.

Rainier Beach High School could become a public charter school.  Charter schools are not subject to union pressure or district politics.  They do not close during strikes, and they can hire and fire qualified staff as needed, to best serve students.

Alternatively, the district could give every Rainier Beach family up to $19,000 (the amount the district spends per student) in a flexible Education Savings Account.  ESAs allow families to enroll their children in alternative schools, including private ones, when racial inequities hamper their children’s education.  ESAs and similar scholarships are popular with parents in other states, including Washington, D.C., where 60% of the students are black.

If Seattle school officials are as truly concerned about addressing “educational justice” and “the legacies of racism in our educational system...”, as they say they are, they will drop all the empty words and give families in underserved schools the resources to make the best education choices for their children.  That is what real respect and justice would look like.