Photo by Michael Starghill
This post has been updated with a statement from DC Public Schools.
As DC Public Schools prepares to open its only all-boys public school, more opposition has arrived, this time in the form of a research report. After collecting data from D.C.’s public records and other sources, the American Civil Liberties Union and its local chapter released a report today that charges DCPS to axe the concept of its forthcoming Empowering Males High School.
Leaving Girls Behind focuses on the exclusion of women and girls in D.C.’s Empowering Males of Color Initiative, which has several components, including a school that is slated to welcome 9th grade boys this fall in Deanwood. It notes that girls of color suffer from many of the same problems as their male counterparts “including poverty, a highly racially segregated school system, overpolicing, racial bias, and high incidence of family violence and trauma.” They also face “unique obstacles, such as gender-based violence, teen pregnancy, and family obligations that undermine their academic progress,” the report continues.
The high school’s academic programs will focus on reading, writing, and languages like Spanish and Latin. The curriculum will also push math and technology proficiency as well as college and career preparation.
“I think what we need to do overall is give our young men a place where they’re comfortable trying to prepare themselves,” Dr. Benjamin Williams, the school’s principal told DCist earlier this year. “I’m excited about the opportunity because we really get to individualize the academic program, we’ll get to know where students are intimately, and gear our instructional practices toward helping them reach their goals.”
Such offerings could help remedy issues for girls, the report says, however, the school isn’t for them.
According to a U.S. Department of Education regulation, if a school system creates a same-sex public school for one gender, they must also provide substantially equal opportunities for the other gender. But among other findings, the report says that the District “does not appear to have considered whether existing opportunities are sufficient to meet the needs of girls of color.”
The ACLU is suggesting that DCPS reopen its school lottery, and create new spots if necessary, to allow girls to enroll. “In short, DCPS should abandon its hasty and poorly planned proposal to format the new school as an all-boys school,” the report says. The group also suggested recommendations to augment other programs in the Empowering Males of Color Initiative, including its grant and mentoring programs, as well as special events.
Last February, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh questioned the fairness of opening the school, which was echoed by the ACLU; the organization has brought lawsuits and filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education to block single-sex schools in several states that they believe violate its policy. But after looking into the plan, Attorney General Karl Racine said that opening the all-boys school would not undermine similar educational opportunities that already exist for girls in the District.
DCPS has responded to the ACLU’s report with this statement:
DC Public Schools works to provide world-class, differentiated programming so that all students are prepared for college, career, and beyond. By all students, we mean all backgrounds, all races, all genders, and all sexual orientations. We believe in supporting each students’ interests and needs by providing differentiated programming and opportunities that align to those interests and needs. The Empowering Males of Color initiative is exactly that—one avenue to engage our male students of color and support them toward graduation.
