In These Times has just published an article headlined ‘Bad Ass Moms’ Defend Chicago Public Schools.
Here’s an excerpt:
Though there are a number of parent organizations fighting for educational justice in the city—including Parents 4 Teachers (P4T) and More Than a Score (MTS), whose membership overlaps with BAM’s—BAM concentrates on a breadth of issues rather than advocacy around any one particular topic, such as layoffs (P4T) or over-testing (MTS).
United behind the idea that all schools should be great schools, not just the ones their kids attend or the ones the Board of Education deems worthy of saving, BAM activists say they want to amplify the voices of working-class families whose schools are being defunded, over-tested and disproportionately closed by the city’s so-called education reformers.
One thing that stands out to me is the incredible advocacy shown by parents of BAM. It makes me wonder how school staff, especially school leaders (in the 50 schools that were closed), used that advocacy to support the schools before being tagged for closure. I am curious to know how school leaders communicated with their parent constituencies about student & school needs: how were they at building relationships with all stakeholders? Did school events link to what students were learning? Did they address cultural differences? Clearly BAM parents are passionate advocates for their schools and children – it seems that deep well of support wasn’t effectively tapped for school improvement in the years prior to closing.