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Letters to the Editor – 11.19.09
End Discrimination at Normal Park
Last week the Tennessee State Report Card was published. Rivermont Elementary got straight Fs. Normal Park Elementary got straight As. The schools are close to one another. So the student body should not be that different. But, obviously, something went wrong. The statistical reports released with the State Report Card helps explain. Rivermont has a 53 percent African American while Normal Park has just 22 percent. The African American population in Chattanooga is around 36 percent. So the student population should reflect a similar percentage. If you combined Normal Park and Rivermont’s student body, it does represent Chattanooga. But, at the individual school level, there is a dramatic disparity. How Normal Park cherry picks students is where things get interesting. Part of Normal Park’s student body is supposed to be from the local neighborhood. The other part is supposed to be selected by a lottery system that corrects for discrimination. Obviously, that correction is not happening. Instead we have economic and racial discrimination.
Charles Bikas
American Bands
Damn it! I agree with Chuck Crowder [“We’re An American Band”, Life In The Noog]. I more »
