By Claire Johnson
NKyTribune intern
Fayette County School District has a new plan to close the achievement gap, becoming the first school district in the state to establish an Office for Educating Boys of Color.
The multi-faceted approach announced by Superintendent Emmanuel “Manny” Caulk on Thursday is aimed at closing the racial achievement gap the district has seen for decades.
The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust funded the department with a $600,000 grant.
“This is a great day for Fayette County Public Schools,” Caulk said. “We are done admiring and studying the problem in these disparities, calling for task forces and shaking our heads at the data. Today we stand before our community to say we will no longer allow a child’s demography to equal their destiny.”
The most current data from the Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress found 28 percent of males of color scored proficient in math and 33 percent in reading versus the 61 percent of white males in math and 67 percent in reading.
Nearly three of every four male students of color do not meet the ACT benchmark score of 22 that the University of Kentucky recommends, while 67 percent of white males do.
“We’re not necessarily giving them a ‘leg-up.’ We’re putting them on equal ground,” Lester Diaz, principal of Bryan Station Middle School, said.
Caulk outlined six major projects that would be the foundation for the initiative, two projects at each level – elementary, middle school and high school.
The “Real Men Read” program will be implemented in the elementary schools. The program will recruit men to serve as mentors for the boys and spend time reading with them. The school will also expand the already existing model of the Carter G. Woodson Academy to elementary grades.
After-school tutoring programs will be established at the middle school level, along with the introduction of the concept behind the Alpha League. The Alpha League has shown success and is established already at Bryan Station Middle and High schools.
Christian Adair, Alpha League sponsor, said the league provides a platform for young boys to develop leadership skills through community service, educational activities and character development, which in turn inspire other kids and their peers.
“We’re going to have a generation of males of color who are self-aware, self motivated and want to achieve goals worthy for themselves,” Adair said. “I really believe that when these guys go out and become very successful … they’re going to come back and do more.”
Members of the league spoke at the press conference to reflect on their achievements through the program.
Amir Hassan, a seventh-grader at Edythe J. Hayes Middle School, said being in the Alpha League helped him improve his GPA from a 3.6 to a 4.0, where it has stayed.
“I’m just happy that other kids will have the opportunity to learn what I’ve already learned about culture,” Hassan said. “It’s helped my grade point average do wonders.”
The high school level projects are aimed at focusing on ACT preparation and dropout prevention programs. According to the news release, the district will explore different ways a dropout program would provide job-based learning for students who are not successful in traditional learning environments. The second initiative would target seniors who scored lower than a 22 on the ACT to prepare them better for college.
Closing achievement gap
According to the news release from Fayette County Schools, racial disparities have been an issue for the school district since 1972, when the system was ordered to integrate.
The district has tried to attack its achievement gap several times through recommendations and task forces. In 1988 the Equality in Education Task Force was created, followed by the Equity Task Force in 1993 and the Equity Council in 1994. In 2002, One Community, One Voice blue-ribbon panel was established to try to close the achievement gap.
P.G. Peeples, president and CEO of the Lexington Fayette County Urban League, said these initiatives have all brought different levels of success, but none has had the impact an entire office could deliver for closing the achievement gap.
“I’d like to think that all of those have been stepping stones to get us to where we are today,” Peeples said.
“It’s comprehensive. It includes six coordinated components, the operative word being coordinated … that’s so critical. Secondly, it involves the entire community.”
Lisa Deffendal, district spokeswoman for Fayette County Public Schools, said the entire community is involved in assuring the success of the programs. Community members will be able to actually see data displaying the progress of the department. Deffendal said this factor of the initiative allows the community to assure the district keeps its promise and to hold it accountable.
Work will begin immediately on the initiative, starting at the district’s eight “partnership zone” schools, located in Lexington’s north end.
Peeples said he believes the only way to ensure success of the department’s goal is to have “a UK basketball level belief in this project.”
He asked the audience to picture Fayette County Public Schools on a sailboat.
“The waters began to get rough, as great as we think we are,” Peeples said. “There’s nothing we can do about the wind, but what we can do is adjust the sails and that’s what this project does.”
Claire Johnson is a senior journalism major at the University of Kentucky. She is from Paintsville.