Black leaders say schools still unequal

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

Fifty years after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision ruled that students cannot be segregated by race, many of Nevada's students still receive unequal educations, some black leaders said Monday.

"The reality is many children are still not getting the type of equitable, quality education" that their peers do, said Steven Horsford, a member of the Caucus of African American Nevadans and candidate for the state Senate.

And while the black leaders called for more funding and programs, they said that one way to help narrow the achievement gap between whites and blacks is to motivate parents to start work in their own community.

"The education of their children is in their hands," said County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who said that parents need to attend school board meetings, search for affordable early childhood education and vote for leaders who will support their education goals for education.

Horsford said at a news conference held by the caucus that 65 percent of Clark County black students and 70 percent of Hispanics in the third grade did not meet minimal reading proficiency standards in the 2002-2003 school year.

A much greater number of white students met the performance standards, he said.

"This disparity, this achievement gap, which starts at such an early age, doesn't close," Horsford said.

As students progress through school, lagging behind their peers, they become more frustrated and disengaged from their education, he said.

Horsford pointed out that many initiatives to help at-risk students have come from a national level, but he criticized a lack of funding from the federal government for textbooks, after-school programs, teacher salaries and aging buildings.

"The programs that are out there, we know work," Horsford said. "The issue is: Where is the funding to allow them to work?"

Atkinson Gates also pointed to the school that hosted the news conference, Booker Elementary School, on Martin L. King Boulevard. As an older school in the inner city, it doesn't have all of the amenities that newer schools in growing areas do, she said.

"That's what Brown was all about," she said. "Not just providing equal access but equal education."

But it's time to stop looking to Washington for all of the answers to education problems, Horsford said. Every child in the community, Horsford said, should know that local leaders are fighting so he or she can receive a quality education.

Penny Howell-Fuller, a fifth grade teacher at Booker Elementary, said she thinks more needs to be done to boost self esteem of some of her minority students who need more mentoring programs and positive role models with local role models.

And parent Tammy Green, who is running for the Clark County School Board, said she thinks the School District should broadcast School Board meetings so parents could better track the issues that affect them.

The Caucus of African American Nevadans is a new group looking at politics and social issues in the Las Vegas and Reno areas. Spokesman Cordell Stokes said the group will meet with candidates in June and could issue endorsements for the upcoming election.