This is exactly why our community is taking back our district! We welcome state assistance, but we don't need a state takeover now!
who created a perfect storm for predatory charter schools and scholarship tax credits. We
that sparked the beginning of change in the district leadership. In 2016, we pushed to replace board members with questionable motives with community leaders who
. And in 2017, we
. And she did! Two years before her contract was set to renew.
For the first time in decades, the new board selected a superintendent who is “one of us,” not another corporate shill recruited by outsiders and “education reformers” with their own agendas. Dr. Pollio understands Louisville’s complex history and challenges and has demonstrated he has what it takes to turn things around.
An authentic community takeover is underway. This state takeover attempt is a desperate maneuver that intends to undermine our progress and add yet another layer of bureaucracy to the mix. Any “deal” or compromise outside of existing KRS regulations creates an “unknown” scenario that could potentially:
On the surface, a "compromise" may sound like an ideal solution to avoid a lengthy hearing surrounding the threatened state takeover of JCPS. However, those proposing to take over management of the local school system and effectively eliminate the authority of the duly elected Jefferson County Board of Education have shown us they have another agenda. They want to usurp power of our local, elected board so they can make policy decisions that aren't theirs to make!
Gov. Matt Bevin, newly appointed KBE Chair Hal Heiner, and interim KDE Commissioner Wayne Lewis, and others, appear to have been working together behind the scenes for years, to pave the way for out-of-state investors to profit from our public schools. We have been trying to
connect the dots, and you can help us!
They and other chameleons in our community are pretending they are doing this to help close the achievement gaps for black and brown students. Yet, these are the same people who supported the gang violence bill and sales tax increases to fund pensions?! These are the same people who actually have resources to assist with directly aiding problems of communities of black and brown families (homelessness, home repair, equitable housing, etc.)?! Yet they choose to not to! Can you really trust them now?
These same people have misconceptions about our minority and low-income families’ struggle, and their solutions are always punitive. Now they want to privatize our schools! How well did that work out for prisons? No, thank you!
This predatory practice in public education is called “disaster capitalism.” It
happened in New Orleans. It's
happening now in Puerto Rico. Yet this is a disaster THEY created! What's worse, this state takeover is being led by folks who did not attend public schools and many of their kids never attended, either. Especially not in Jefferson County! Yet, they know how to fix our broken school system? We don’t think so.
The entire Louisville community is finally engaged. It is time to hold district leaders accountable by exposing those with a hidden agenda! As citizens, taxpayers, and voters of Jefferson County, many of us parents of students, employees, or products of the local public schools,
we have a right to be heard!
We don't want to turn our schools over to a top down administration run by a remote state board having very little experience in public education, much less with such a large, urban school district like ours! The outcome of this proceeding vitally affects the interests and concerns of our community!
If a compromise is reached that allows KBE to carry out its plan, it would effectively reverse the results of an election and deprive voters of our voice and full participation in what is supposed to be a democratic process.
