Open Letter to Pres. Obama On Education

To:  US President & Congress

National Black Education Agenda
451 West Street- New York, NY 10014
blackeducator@africamail.com
blackeducationnow.org


An Open Letter to President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

From: Educators of African Ancestry


Spring 2009

Dear President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,

Educators of African Ancestry is a nationwide group of educators in the public and private education sectors representing the full spectrum of pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, teacher preparation and administration.

We have come together to promote a National Education Agenda with specific emphasis upon the advancement of academic and cultural excellence for people of African ancestry. Because we understand the inextricable connections between the best interests of our nation, revitalizing our urban communities and the educational futures of African Americans, we believe this policy agenda will benefit the entire society. We recognize the state of emergency of our national education system and strongly urge that you take these recommendations into immediate consideration to help stem this crisis so that our nation as a whole can progress in all areas of social, political and economic development.

To address this crisis, it is our contention that our nation needs a new National Education Policy that views Education as a Human Right. A major goal is to include affirmative cultural and heritage knowledge of all youth and families—rather than the current curricula that may include diverse others, but remains centered on the experiences of Europeans and Euro-Americans.

“The human right to education guarantees every child access to quality schools and services without discrimination, including quality teachers and curricula, and safe and welcoming school environments that respect human dignity. Education must be aimed at each child to participate in society and do work that is rewarding.” From The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)

Mr. President and Secretary Duncan, below we offer ten fundamental policy recommendations
to make real the promises of a truly egalitarian national education system for academic and cultural excellence and civic responsibility. These policy recommendations serve as a starting point, a basis,
a foundation—not an exhaustive list of ideas, nor all that should encompass a national education system. For the well being of the entire nation, but also in the particular interest of students of African ancestry and other underserved students of color, we call upon you, President Obama and Secretary Duncan, to introduce an Education Rights Act whose purpose shall be to repeal and replace the NCLB legislation with a national policy that views Education as a Human Right and therefore, includes funding for the respective states in these policy areas:

1. Curriculum Development, Research & Evaluation: To revise curriculum locally and to evaluate revised anti-racist curriculum materials to assure truthfulness regarding the crime of slavery and post-slavery in America, and to engage in research to evaluate the relationship among anti-racist curriculum, pedagogy and student achievement.

2. Teacher Training/Methodology and Leadership Training: To prepare teachers at undergraduate and post-graduate levels to teach the revised curriculum; to help educators understand their own biases toward students of African ancestry and other underserved students of color and the effects of those biases on student achievement.

3. Green Schools for All: To provide for the building of new and the repair of old schools in urban, suburban and rural areas that will become “State-of-the-Art” Green schools fully equipped with technology and meaningful curricula to prepare all students for productive work, healthy living and civic responsibility as global citizens. This includes pre-K through high school students, English Language Learners and speakers of African-American English (a home language, which in the classroom may not be considered Standard American English).

4. Charter schools: To enact a mandate from the US Department of Education to ensure that Charter schools serve as laboratories for innovation and systematically share methodological and other successes that do not drain resources from or contribute to the demise of local public schools.

5. Police in Schools: To enact a mandate from the US Dept. of Education that immediately removes the presence and authority of the local police department-directly or indirectly-as security agents in public school buildings. Fully fund and coordinate a national program to assist students, educators and parents in creating local school safety policies and practices that more humanely address the social/emotional and safety issues that arise in schools.

6. Military Presence in Our Schools: To remove all military presence on school grounds and eliminate the solicitation of new recruits on school grounds. Military recruiters target poor communities creating an “economic draft.”

7. Parent and Student Unions for Community-Based Decision Making: To support parent and student responsibility in the education process, enact a mandate from the US Department of Education to develop parent and student organizations and to require the participation of parent, student and community-selected education advocates in all decision-making aspects of K-12 education processes.

8. Adult Education Programs: To provide adult education programs that address the educational needs of out-of-school youth, adults, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, and to prepare our workforce for democratic participation in the economy, including the new technological and environmental challenges we currently face and will face.

9. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): To strengthen and preserve HBCUs as they continue to have higher retention and graduation rates for students of African ancestry.

10. Office of Educational Equity: To establish the Office of Educational Equity to implement and monitor, conduct research and evaluate the above recommendations.

Educators of African Ancestry have the recognized curriculum, models and requisite resources to assist in the creation of a new national education system.

We are a highly knowledgeable and experienced group of people who are ready right now to assist! Our children are not the problem; we are the solution!

Nana Akosua Akyaa
Dr. Patricia Newton & Associates
Newton-Thoth, Inc. International
Sebayit Tours

Sam Anderson, Professor of Mathematics and Black History
Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence
Independent Commission on Public Education-NY


Nobantu Ankoanda, Ed.D
African Centered Education Consultant
Ankoanda Financial and Advocacy Services, LLC
Decatur, GA 30030-4910

Molefi Kete Asante, Professor
author of African American History: A Journey of Liberation
Philadelphia, PA

Batin Ashante
Autum Ashante
Mt Vernon, NY

Nellie Hester Bailey, Director
Harlem Tenants Council
21 West 130th Street
Harlem, New York 10037

Margaret Bing-Wade
Visiting Assistant Professor of Education - Mercy College - Dobbs Ferry, NY
Former Deputy Superintendent - NYCDOE
Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs
Past President - New York Alliance of Black School Educators

Herb Boyd
Adjunct Professor at the College of New Rochelle and City College
Harlem, NY

Anthony Browder
Director
IKG Cultural Resources-
1816 12th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009

Tammy Greer Brown
President/CEO
Celebrating Real Family Life
P.O. Box 140974
Staten Island, New York 10314

Aukram Burton
Jefferson County Public Schools
Diversity, Equity and Poverty Programs
3332 Newburg Rd.
Louisville, Kentucky 40218

Kenyatta Bush
Giant Steps Youth Resources
P.O. Box 1992
McDonough, GA 30253

Andres Castro, Managing Editor
The Teacher's Voice
P.O. Box 150384
Kew Gardens, NY 11415


Jacquelyne M. Cody, Ed.D
Executive Director & Founder
CodyCares@CodyCares.com
1692 E 45th St
Brooklyn, NY 11234-3622

Carmen M Colon, Executive Director of the Association of New York City Education Councils and founder of the Public Education Advocacy Training Academy of New York City

Marc Imhotep Cray, M.D.
RBG Street Scholars Think Tank Educational Concept, Design & Teaching / Learning Methodology
Institute for Minority Physicians of the Future (IMPF)
Lithonia, GA

Betty Davis
New Abolitionist Movement
Brooklyn, NY
Pastor Erris Edgerly IV, Founder\CEO
Brothers For Change INC
San Francisco, CA

Eugene E. Eubanks, Ph.D
Dean Emeritus of University of Missouri at Kansas City and Past President of The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE)
Kansas City, MO

Colita Nichols Fairfax, Ph.D
Hampton, VA

Stephanie Foster
Manager of Docent Administration
Speed Art Museum
2035 South 3rd Street
Louisville KY 40208

Charlene Gee
Chicago Public School Special Ed Teacher
Chicago, IL

Angela Gilliam, Ph.D
Cultural Anthropologist and Faculty Emerita of The Evergreen State College
Evergreen, WA

Arthur Lee Goff
NEA Bd. of Directors At Large
Washington, DC

Solomon Goodrich, Chairperson
Board for the Education of People of African Ancestry (BEPAA)
Harlem, NY

Denise Gordon, Ph.D
Adjunct Professor
SUNY-Queens Educational Opportunity Center/York College
New York City, NY
R. Lee Gordon, Founder
1st National Black TEEN Empowerment Expo
Unitee Design
Better Detroit Youth
Greater New York Youth

Djenaba Gregory-Faal, M.Ed
Founder and Senior Consultant
Village Tree Enterprises
School Consultants
Silver Spring, MD

Akosua Gyeaboa, MSW, LCSW
Adjunct Professor Ivy Tech Community College Sellersburg, In
Spalding University, Louisville, Ky
CEO Self Concepts

Nzinga Ratibisha Heru, International President
The Association for the Study of Classical African
Civilizations (ASCAC)
Executive Director of Rivers Run Deep Institute (RRDI)

Michael Hooper, Founder
Roots Revisited, Brooklyn, NY

Uhuru Hotep, Ed.D
Kwame Ture Leadership Institute
Pittsburgh, PA.

Terry Howcott
terryhowcott.com
P.O. Box 44554
Detroit, MI 48223

Huberta Jackson-Lowman, Ph.D
Associate Professor & Chair
Department of Psychology
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL 32307

Rev. Clarence Lumumba James, Sr
Founder and President
Pan-African Christian Leadership Conference
Chicago, IL

Dr. Leonard Jeffries
Department of Africana Studies
City College of the City University of New York
Harlem, NY

Joseph L. Jones
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Department of Political Science
Johnson C. Smith University
Charlotte, NC

Wesley Kabaila
National African American Congress, Chair
6709 La Tijera Blvd. #337
Los Angeles, California 90045


Dr. ChenziRa D. Kahina, Managing Director & Head Administrator
Per Ankh Institute
Virgin Islands Homeschooling
Natural Educators Association
US Virgin Islands

Dr. Kwame'-Osagyefo Kalimara
Kalimara Consulting
President & CEO
Atlanta, GA

Joyce E. King, Ph.D
Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning & Leadership and
Professor, Department of Educational Policy Studies
Georgia State University
Former Chairperson, American Educational Research Association Commission on Research in Black Education

Tchaiko Kwayana, National Board Certified Eng/L.A. 1995-2005
Teacher of English, San Diego Unified School District
Adjunct Professor English from a Black Perspective, Mesa College, San
Diego Community College District
Co-Founder, Sankofa Bird, Inc. and The Langston Hughes Poetry Circle

Noma LeMoine Ph.D, Director
Los Angeles Unified School District
Closing the Achievement Gap Branch
5120 Brea Crest Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90043

Dr. Shelby F. Lewis
Professor Emeritus, Clark Atlanta University
1342 Cascade Falls Ct.
Atlanta, GA 30311

Akinlabi E. A. Mackall, Director of Operations
S.E.E.D.S., Inc.
New York, NY

Sol McCants III
Eastern Regional Alpine Developmental Coach
Parent / Child Advocate
Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence

M. Miaisha Mitchell, Executive Director
Greater Frenchtown Revitalization Council
A Front Porch Florida Initiative
1004 Old Bainbridge Road
Tallahassee, FL. 32303

Valerie M. Moore, LCSW-R
Social Work Consultant
Organizational Consultation and Training
New York, NY



Basir Mchawi, Chairperson
International African Arts Festival
English Department, Queens College, CUNY
New York, NY

Principal Makini Niliwaambieni
Dayspring Academy and
Executive Officer, Amankwa Enterprises
3950 48th Street, 3rd Floor
Bladensburg, MD 20710

100 BLACKS IN EDUCATION WHO CARE
New York, NY

Arlene Petite
Transition Faciltator
Pittsburgh Public Schools
34 Thomaston drive
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15235

Sandra Rivers, MPH
Community Public Education Advocate of 20+ years; Public Health Administrator; NBEA Founding Member; BNYEE; ICOPE
Harlem New York

Zaline M. Roy-Campbell, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Syracuse University, School of Education
Syracuse, New York 13244

Frank J. Omowale Satterwhite, Ph.D
Founder and Senior Advisor
National Community Development Institute
321 Bell Street
East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Judith C. Owens-Lalude, M.A.
Founder/Director
j. camille cultural academy
9800 Springbark Dr
Louisville, Kentucky 40241

Dr. Adelaide L. Sanford
Vice Chancellor (Emerita)
New York State Board of Regents

Rev. Hubert B. Scott, President
Perfecting the Family, Inc
Kansas City, Mo

Abdulalim A Shabazz, PhD (Mathematical Analysis)
Professor/The Endowed Chair in Mathematics
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science
Grambling State University
Grambling, LA 71245


Donald H. Smith, Ph.D
Associate Provost and Professor (Emeritus)
Bernard M. Baruch College
The City University of New York
Past President, the National Alliance of Black School Educators

Brenda Stokely
NE co-regional organizer
Million Worker March Movement (MWMM)
Brooklyn, NY

Marian Thomas
Black Voices United For Education
Los Angeles, CA

Dr. James Turner
Founding Director, the Africana Cultural and Research Center,
Cornell University
Past president and founding member, The African Heritage Studies Association

Cynthia A. Tyson, Ph.D
Associate Professor
The Ohio State University
College of Education- 333 Arps Hall
1945 N. High Street
Columbus, OH 43210

Debra Watkins
Founder, President and Executive Director
California Alliance of African American Educators (CAAAE)

Brenda Watts-Larkins
Past President, New York Alliance of Black School Educators
Retired Assistant Principal,
New York City Department of Education

Dr. John A. Wheatland
Director of Freshman Programs
Morgan State University-- School of Engineering
Baltimore, MD

Dr Benjamin Williams
Hilton Head, SC.
Former Associate Superintendent, Chicago Public Schools
Former Education Director, Education Commission of the States
Former president-pro tem, Evanston, Illinois Board of Education

Teresa Ann Willis
Independent Commission on Public Education
New York, NY

Dhyana Ziegler, Ph.D
Professor of Journalism
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, Fl

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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