The best quality education is one of the most important issues that will determine ones future life, prosperity and destiny. But for Black American parents and students, this is the single most important issue that will affect not only our overall quality of life, but also will determine how we will achieve to the fullest extent actual freedom, justice, equality and empowerment. Excellence in education should not be just a matter for national political debate and dialogue; it should be the cause for urgent grass roots social action, protest and demand. [Read more...]
2012: Demanding Quality Education in America for Black Children
November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Chavous & Chavis: Why is the NAACP fighting African Americans?
June 6, 2011 By 1 Comment
The images are jarring. Photos of children with signs saying “NAACP, drop the lawsuit” and “NAACP, unite us, don’t divide us.” Video clips of parents, teachers and community leaders urging the NAACP to put the education of children first and to stop supporting the status quo. [Read more...]
Chavous & Chavis: ‘Why don’t the congressmen who look like us want us to go to better schools?’
March 17, 2011 By 1 Comment
As you read this, Democratic state legislators across the country are doing something that, 20 years ago, would have been considered politically taboo.
They’re supporting school choice. [Read more...]
Chavous & Chavis: Compton School District Fights Parents
March 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
When California legislators passed the ‘parent trigger‘ last fall, we knew it had the potential to spark the revolution in education sorely needed in the state. What we didn’t know was that the education establishment in Compton would immediately fight parents who chose to use the new law to get a better school for their children. Under the unique new law, a majority of parents with children in a failing school can petition to replace the school’s administrators. In December, a majority of parents from McKinley Elementary School in Compton became the first group of parents to use the law when they submitted their petition to the Compton Unified School District requesting that McKinley’s administrators be replaced by a charter school operator. McKinley is one of the worst schools in one of the worst performing school districts in the country. [Read more...]
Chavous & Chavis: Every Child Deserves a Chance
February 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
At the core of the fight for civil rights since the 1950s until today is issue of equal justice and equal access to the best quality education for all children in the United States without discrimination or limitation because of race, poverty or any other social factor. While progress has been made since the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling in the Brown case, the truth is in many states from the west coast to the east coast, in the south and in the north, the problem of educational inequality persists. Millions of African American and other children are caught in a devastating contradiction between the mis-priorities of too many status quo school systems and political leaders who routinely triage the interests of black children and their parents. In America every child deserves the same chance to get the best education. [Read more...]
Chavous & Chavis: BAEO President Calls for Education Reform Now
January 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Kelley Williams-Bolar was released from jail this week on two counts of falsifying records in order to send her two daughters to Copley-Fairlawn schools, instead of the Akron, Ohio, public schools to which they were assigned. Based on the media’s accounts of this case, it seems the penalties imposed were excessive, but in no way do we support illegal activity. Our outrage stems from the circumstances that led to this mother’s prosecution.
Chavous & Chavis: Guest columnist: A Student Point of View
January 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Hello, my name is Kelly Hooper and I am a sophomore at Metro Early College High School at The Ohio State University. My little brother Daeaan is a third-grader at Tree of Life Christian Schools. We are attending great schools today, because the Ohio Black Alliance for Educational Options (Ohio BAEO) showed us the way, and the opportunity has been life-changing for us.
Chavous & Chavis: In honor of MLK Day a Challenge for America
January 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In honor of Martin L. King Jr. Day the following is a reprint of a speech given by the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) Board Chair Kevin P. Chavous, at the Jan. 19, 2009 Educational Equality Project MLK Day Rally in Washington, D.C.
At this historic time, in this city of our nation’s founders, on the day designated to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy, it is fitting that we all stand before you to challenge America. Although this challenge is made out of love and respect, it is a challenge nonetheless.
Chavous & Chavis: The Time is Now! Why Mississippi Can’t Wait…
December 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Given that the Magnolia state is home to many of our nation’s most storied events in the Civil Rights Era, the emerging work of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) in Mississippi is not only timely but also overdue. The state of Mississippi’s failure to educate Black children is no different from what we see across this nation, particularly for low-income Black children. [Read more...]
Chavous & Chavis: Black American Reality and Fulfilling the American Dream Through Education
November 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
During the last several weeks there have been many published opinion articles about the state of the American dream in 2010 for people who live in the United States. Most notably, journalist Fareed Zakaria in a cover story, “Restoring the American Dream,” in the November 1, 2010 edition of TIME, asserted, “the grim reality is that technology and globalization are shattering the middle class. With the midterms around the corner, the good news is that a bipartisan policy agenda can return the country to prosperity.” [Read more...]