Step 1- Dual School System

Why did Patricia Morris, President of the NAACP, bring back this antiquated lawsuit in the first place?

Patricia Morris went to the school board with a list of problems to get them to help or correct.  She was ignored and even scoffed at by the board.  Her main problem:  Black Schools were identifiable as were white schools.  The black schools were under funded, some in poor condition, others with poor funding, lack of programs, etc.  Black kids were getting the shaft by the school system in the parish. (See Table for black to white ratios of schools in TPSS). If you have never been to a board meeting, perhaps it is time you went.  If you disagree with the board or have a complaint, you have 3 minutes of public input before they dismiss you. (Also see table for funding of schools)

Patricia Morris, an educated black woman holding a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration; a Masters Degree in the same field, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications with a Concentration in Journalism is not the type of black woman to dismiss.  "She has the backbone of 3 men," as former School Board Member Donnie Williams often says.

To understand her plight, one must shake some fundamental stereotypes.  Black children do not bring academic scores down.  That is proven in our own back yard as well as across the United States.  Let's take a look at West Feliciana Parish who holds as the #2 schools in the State of Louisiana in the following table:

Noticeably, the only real difference between Tangipahoa and West Feliciana is the poverty rate.  Tangipahoa has the best opportunities for employment being nestled between two large cities (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), it has the best opportunities for growth being at the i-55 / i-12 corridor, and we have an entire University and can't manage to teach children while West Feliciana touts Angola as one of its primary employers (also Entergy) and manages to bring the education of its workforce up to embarrassing levels when compared to Tangipahoa.

Good Job West Feliciana - you saw the writing on the wall years ago and educated your workforce, now your economics and quality of life are way up.  We hope our business community understands the vision your leaders had years ago.

Description	Tangipahoa	West Feliciana
Percentage of Black Students	45%	54%
Percentage of White Students	55%	45%
Total Student Population	19,000	2400
Budget per year	$172 Million	$20 Million
Average budget money per student	$9000	$8333
State Ranking	45th of 68 districts	2 of 68 districts
Average School Star Rating	**	***
Residents with income below poverty level in 2007	51.2%	19.9%
Residents with income 50% below poverty level	29.5%	9.2%
Black residents with incomes below poverty level	51%	No data
White residents with incomes below poverty level	12%	No data

 The Morning Advocate recently did a story about poverty in Louisiana.  Click here for the story.

A paper on at-risk students (click here) A very good read!  This report covers at-risk students (a fancy word for kids who have potential to drop out).  There's tons of information about how to prevent this, but no one is utilizing it.  As you read about children who have struggles just to survive, put yourself in their shoes.  What if you had been born into a cycle of poverty where dispair is a part of your every day life.  If you are one of the fortunate ones, you are blessed.  You must consider that if we break the cycle of poverty (and education is the ONLY way), everyone in the parish wins.  Crime goes down, quality of life goes up, the workforce is educated and business wants to be where there is an educated workforce.

 Go to:  Step 2 - School Board Reaction to Pat  |  Step 3 - How the board has handled the case  |  Step 4- The real truth about how Tangi schools are measuring up  |  Step 5 - Your money and how they spend it  |  Step 6 - The Deseg Plan and what you can do to have a voice