Gonna Wait ‘Til the Midnight Hour

Three slices of this week’s education pie being served around here:

Slice one: It’s one thing if Milwaukee School Board members want to go all night talking about the matters in front of them – it might not be a very good way to do business, but it only affects Board members, some MPS administrators, and a handful of others. It’s another thing when they have public hearings that go deep into the night. On Tuesday night, a Board committee considered fifteen requests to open new charter schools, renew contracts with existing charter schools, or close existing charter schools. The 6:30 p.m. meeting didn’t end until around 1 a.m. The committee was still taking up new requests after 11:30 p.m. There were people from out of town who waited for more than five hours while entirely different business was considered. Hundreds of people were present, including parents and students, and many endured lengthy waits before the item they cared about was brought up. This is a chronic problem. It’s rude. It discourages public participation. And it could be changed so easily – how about spreading discussions across several evenings? How about issuing a schedule with set times (7p.m. for this item, 7:30 for that item, etc.), and making an effort to stick to it?  If you’re not going to take up something for hours, it would be far more respectful of people to allow them to spend their time better.

Slice two: This hasn’t been the most satisfying time for people who are eager to change the status quo in education in Wisconsin.

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Filip Expresses Concern About the Return of Sentencing Disparities

jailed womanFormer U.S. Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip warned at Tuesday’s Hallows Lecture that disparities in sentencing by federal judges are returning since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled five years ago that sentencing guidelines are only advisory.

Filip, who also is a former federal judge and now practices with a Chicago law firm, said that United States v. Booker in 2005 reduced the import of sentencing guidelines that dated to the late 1980s, “returning us to an era of indeterminate sentencing.” While he said that commentary on Booker from both judges and defense lawyers has been generally favorable, data on sentencing patterns since the decision show that in different parts of the country, significantly different sentences are being given for comparable convictions. 

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Everyday Eviction

Eviction has become a special burden for low-income African American women, many of whom live in run-down rental housing and are raising children in single-parent homes. University of Wisconsin sociologist Michael Desmond, quoted in an article in the New York Times, argues, “Just as incarceration has become typical in the lives of poor black men, eviction has become typical in the lives of poor black women.”

In Milwaukee, one tenant in every 25 renter-occupied units is evicted annually. Poor African American women constitute 13 percent of the City’s population but 40 percent of those evicted. The impact of evictions on social connections, school enrollments, and credit ratings should not be underestimated.

To the extent it pays attention to housing issues, the media has of late focused almost exclusively on mortgage foreclosures, and, to be sure, the damage subprime lenders have done to the hopes and dreams of the working class has been huge. However, there is a socioeconomic class trying to carry on without even the assets and income of the working class. We might reflect on its plight when we drive through the center-city and see the humble furniture and other possessions of low-income African American women stacked alongside the curb by landlords who have just finished evicting. But, then, how many of us even drive through the center-city?

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