In my almost 30 years in education, I have had the honor to serve in 2 public schools, one in a very challenged area where most students were on free and reduced lunch (where I spent the longest time) and one in a more upper class area (same district and the inequities were astounding). I have had the honor to serve in various private schools (Christian and not) and I have been able to serve in charter schools as a consultant. Most of the schools I have worked in were in challenged areas, serving the population of families that do not have the opportunities that middle to upper class students have. These are the students where, for example, when I was a principal, we found his mom dead in the garage and I had to work with CPS to find him a new home (he had no other family). These were schools where I could see my students get held up as they walked into the building and I had to stand out front to greet them so they felt safe. These were schools where a student (that I write about in my dissertation a little) had a dad who was addicted to drugs and eventually died from heart failure. These are schools where many of the students are in foster care or being cared for by someone who is not their parent. Out of my almost 30 years about 20 of those years have been in these schools. It is these schools, these communities that have captured my heart, because there is such an appreciation for the consistency and care of those of us who CHOOSE to work there and it is such a blessing to make a difference in someone life.
When I started the Living School, I knew that I wanted it to be a private school that could welcome students even if they could not afford it. The first few years of the school, we were located in a neighborhood where there was high gang activity and was in a high crime area. I often had students walk into the building with their parents as they walked home from school, because the parents wanted to know if we would be able to take in their child even though they could not afford tuition. Most of our students are from single parent homes. We eventually moved to an upper class area (because that part of Maryland was not the most supportive of private schools), but the subway station is across the street, so that community still comes to us and I am grateful. In fact, I love how these students feel like they are having an elite school experience. After Covid, most of our classes went online and stayed, so students out of state can attend. We still get students who are dealing with daily trauma and are low income. Parents (especially middle to high school) all over the United States are looking for safer schools that give them better opportunities and unique educational experiences.
As I reflect on the ending of Affirmative Action, I am now even more passionate with making way for school choice. This is hard for me, because it may look like I am part of a political agenda. The ending of Affirmative Action and the fight for school choice are both on a conservative agenda. When I think of that, I shutter, because I know that my voice can be confused with supporting a political agenda. One of the many reasons why I could never be a conservative because it constantly pushes for things that hurt the communities that I serve (and I’m not Democrat either, because for example, seeing how democrats fight things like the DC Opportunity Scholarship, I determined, THAT’S IT! ALL YA’LL CRAZY!! ). The one agenda item that I see could help, is School Choice. Now more than ever we need it. With the ending of Affirmative Action, students in the communities I have worked in will run the risk of rejection because they may not meet all of the requirements of the school they want to attend or they may not look as attractive because of the lack of opportunities they had. The only way to mitigate that, is for students from these communities to have more educational options. Going to a charter school or a private school that can offer them scholarships, will allow them to create an educational resume that will help them to be more competitive. Even then it will be hard, because the minority and disadvantaged population just will not be able to compete with those students who have had all of the opportunities. Ending Affirmative Action has actually made inequity even stronger because now schools can freely overlook those diamonds in the rough who just need an opportunity. School choice can help address a major problem the same political party has created.
How do I resist the frustration that I feel because of this? I think of the children. I vote for the children. In a perfect world, I wish our government and the powers that be would do more to strengthen the schools that serve these neighborhoods, but sadly that is not happening quick enough. I recently had a mom come to our school with tears in her eyes, because her son was getting beat up in the bathroom. It was affecting his mental state terribly. The school would not (or could not) do anything to protect her son. She heard about my school and my reputation of letting kids come even if they can’t afford it. I of course let her son in and he is an amazing student who may have gotten lost if I hadn’t let him in. The list of classes he has taken and the opportunities he has gotten by attending our school will possibly help him go where he wants to go, but even that is not guaranteed. At least with him going to our school, his chances are greater than if he’d stayed where he was.
I have never taken government money for my school and our fundraising is very difficult, because as a Black school founder people are just not as willing to support us. I probably need to do a whole other blog about that topic, but I digress. So my husband and I both work full-time while trusting our dedicated staff to carry out the vision. Both of our salaries go to support the school and we have a small list of donors that barely cover anyone’s tuition, but their donations help us fund different classes and opportunities to help ALL students have equal opportunities and experiences. Our school is a mix of low income and upper-class families, but they don’t know it, because everyone gets the same opportunity. In fact, we don’t even give a supply list, because all parents give supplies and money that are shared with the entire community so all students get the resources they need (wait, I sound like a communist! I’m not! teeheehee…) and no student ever has to tell someone they can’t afford the school retreat or prom or a computer or a field trip. We are currently working on our fundraising efforts from private donors because I am a bit politically schizo because I feel wrong asking for the government to fund a religious school (consider supporting us!). Yet, now with the ending of Affirmative Action and the continued slow pace to fix schools in challenged areas around the country, I wonder if the best way to try and rectify this grave mistake is for the government to be more supportive of private schools and for us to stop griping about charter schools. In all of this arguing we are forgetting the most important thing, the children. The children cannot wait for your political party or agenda to “win.” While we are arguing about this, children are being lost in the whirlwinds of the fight.
Now our highest court has voted to continue to dismiss the needs of our most vulnerable children, who at one time had a hope that maybe they would make it out of their situation. Some may read this and think, “Well they can still go to college.” but with Affirmative Action ending, our government that claims to want equality for all has made it harder for ALL young people to have the exact same opportunities. Because our government was quicker to end affirmative action before ending the racism that still lies in the hearts of our leaders and powers that be, it has now joined with the community of people that founded the Christian school that told my brother and I “We don’t want Black people here.” People think that ending Affirmative Action will now make things equal, but instead, it will “protect” those schools from diverse and/or lower-income families from infiltrating their elite spaces. Now that I think about it, this is basically what America has always done. Maybe, though School Choice can help to right this wrong, somehow.
Dr. Anika T. Prather 