I’m sorry to see that in the face of opposition to a proposed daytime curfew for school-age children, the Kansas City Council has folded like a flimsy tent in a thunderstorm.
As you probably know, a City Council committee on Wednesday put the proposed curfew on ice, partly because home-school advocates have launched a full-scale assault on it.
I have a suspicion, however, that racial politics is the main reason the proposed curfew is not headed to the full council. The home-school bit looks to me like a big smokescreen.
It’s preposterous that the council would back down to the home-school “community” or that the home-school contingent could even be much of a factor in this issue. What’s to worry about? That a group of wild home schoolers are going to cut Mommy’s algebra class, go down to the Nelson Art Gallery and egg Henry Moore’s bronze sculptures?
Come on…
The main thing fueling my suspicion is Lynn Horsley’s Kansas City Star account of Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting. She reported that Councilman Michael Brooks, a committee member who is African-American, took a strong stand against the curfew, which would affect all 12 or 13 school districts located wholly or partly within the city.
Horsley’s story said that Brooks “wanted to see more intervention programs from the public schools, such as alternative schools and social workers, before the city adopts a potentially punitive approach.”
To me, that sounds not just like putting the idea on ice but putting it at the back of the deep freeze and forgetting about it. What is the likelihood of the Kansas City School District establishing more alternative schools just to find out if they helped reduce truancy?
No, Brooks wants the idea to go away. And I would suspect that most of the other black council members do, too. It’s got to do with this: “Don’t stick your nose in my business; how I choose to monitor my children is my business.”
(For the record, the other members of the Public Safety Committee are John Sharp, Scott Taylor and Jermaine Reed. I don’t know if a vote was taken or if the measure was held by consensus.)
Now, let me say…I don’t like announcing that racial considerations are the reason I think the ordinance stalled, but, in my opinion, racial politics has been a major factor in the Kansas City School District having been mired in quicksand for 40 years. And it just keeps getting thicker.
A council majority ought to tell the home-school advocates to go back to their three-hour-a-day teaching schedule and stay out of the truancy issue, which has about as much to do with home schooling as T-ball does to fast pitch.
A council majority ought to stand up to what little is left of Freedom Inc. and Brooks and any other council members who are dragging their feet and vote the curfew into law. I’ll bet Mayor Sly James would resist the expected, conventional back peddling on this issue and would vote for it.
Remember the flash-mobs-on-the-Plaza scare last year, when James had to go to the ground after shots were fired on a Saturday night? He came out a day or so later and said, in so many words, “Parents, take responsibility for your children’s whereabouts.”
Passing the truancy-prevention ordinance would hold parents more accountable for the whereabouts of their children (parents of truants could be fined up to $100 per occurrence, after the first violation) and, yes, it probably would reduce property crimes caused by bored kids.
Let’s give credit, however, to freshman Councilman Scott Wagner, who lives in the Northland, for bringing this controversial proposal forward. He has said he is motivated by one goal — to get kids back in school…I can’t imagine any ulterior motives he might have.
What’s to be lost by putting a daytime curfew in place?
The kids should be in school during school hours, shouldn’t they?
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Editor’s Note: Today marks the second anniversary of the First Post on JimmyCsays. Since March 23, 2010, I have posted 251 blogs. It’s been a fun run so far, and I want to thank all of you for your readership, your support and, most of all, your comments, which are the lifeblood of any interesting blog. With that, into year three we lurch!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
jim how are you doing ? i agree with you all the way. councilman wagner seems like hes the only one with balls big enough to do this. you would think that last summer would have taught them a lesson. i’ve seen kids at the mall during school time and wondered where their parents really are…keep up the blog; i enjoy reading your posts.
I’m doing well, Jack…thanks. In his blog today, Tony Botello — tonyskansascity.com — says that Mayor Sly James left Wagner “hanging out to dry” on this issue, even though Sly was full tilt behind the Plaza curfew. Tony alleges that Sly generally pushes hard only when it’s his initiative, not somebody else’s.
Wagner, the freshmen councilman, needed all the backup he could get, but no one came along to help. He’s probably to blame for failing to round up significant support before he put the bill on the table, although it’s very possible that he had some oral commitments but the voices went silent in the face of opposition. Yet, as I said, I think he deserves credit for bringing forward a very solid proposal. The voters will remember that part a lot more than they’ll remember that he was unsuccessful.
Happy Anniversary Fitz!
No surprise that our light in the loafers City Council turned tail on this. Too PC. Instituting the curfew is the responsible thing to do if we are really concerned about our “scholars”. I’m sure there is an acceptable way to validate one’s absence from the classroom in the name of home schooling, medical appointments, etc.
Until we are willing to admit that we have a problem in the African American community, and we can blame LBJ and Arthur Benson, and are prepared to tackle it head on, things will only get worse.
All one has to do is look at the local Hispanic and Asian communities where education is VALUED and excellence in the classroom is demanded by parents, grandparents and all means of extended family.
Mayor Sly, who should be channeling MLK on this issue has turned into Pee Wee Herman…just jerking off. Shame on you, mayor! YOUR PEOPLE are suffering and you can’t summon the courage of your convictions to LEAD.
I’ve found more about what happened at Wednesday’s meeting, which can be viewed online at the city clerk’s website — http://www.kcmo.org/clerk. Click on “Video on Demand” in the left margin.
Sly James did, indeed, speak in favor of the curfew ordinance, so my first instinct was correct there. (Don’t know where Tony is coming from on his assertion that Sly left Wagner “hanging out to dry.”) I also learned that the other African-American member of the Public Safety Committee, Jermaine Reed, was, like Brooks, opposed to the ordinance. Scott Taylor, one of two white committee members, along with chairman John Sharp. made a motion to send the ordinance to the full council, but the motion died for lack of a second.
That completely confirms what started out as mostly a suspicion on my part: The issue is rooted in race. A lot of KCMO district kids are being coddled, and many parents and some politicians are not courageous enough, or smart enough, to insist that all kids be in school and that the KCMO district have a rigorous academic environment.
First off, Jim, congratulations on your second anniversary as a blogger (and the “world’s most dangerous blogger” at that). You have proven yourself to be quite knowledgeable with respect to the issues of the day (which is more than I can say about myself, I’m afraid), and your commentary and analysis is both helpful and engaging. Hey, and you didn’t have to give me any money to say these nice things!
Anyway, Dad’s father taught at East High from 1926 until 1946, and I shudder to think what he would say if he had the chance to look at the Kansas City school system today. What a mess! You’re no doubt correct – race is an issue here, but until the black community is willing to begin Step 1 of the 12-step program (i.e., “We have a problem”), then we shouldn’t expect any real progress anytime soon. Busing isn’t the answer. Magnet schools aren’t the answer. Watering down the curriculum isn’t the answer. Public-private partnerships aren’t the answer. But making education a high priority in the home is the answer, or at least a big step in the right direction.
Happy anniversary, Fitz!
In your honor, I just launched MY blog, you can follow me at TracyKCConfidential.com. (I’ve followed you all this first year, Fitz. Very thoughtful pieces by and large.) Man, I am rusty at blogging and links, but will figure it out. Feel free to coach me. I had to leave Hearne’s KCConfidential.com because a few of the commenters were mean, full of ad hominem attacks, and since Hearne has STILL not gone back to WordPress, as promised by last Labor Day, he cannot moderate comments without deleting them entirely, so–I had to leave. I still feed him stories.
As for yours today–
nobody mentioned the obvious national news about the black youth murdered in Florida. So–the Council was wise, in my opinion, to sidestep this for now. Nobody needs Rev. Al Sharpton coming to town, ranting. And nobody wants to vote FOR chasing down black kids who are out “after curfew”.
They need to arrest that man who murdered him. He was in training to be a cop–don’t forget that!!!
Fondly,
Tracy Thomas
I guess the specter of the Florida case could have been a factor in the committee’s unwillingness to advance the curfew ordinance, but that reasoning wouldn’t make a lot of sense to me. A kid’s chances of getting killed while wandering around on the streets would be immeasurably higher than if he (or she) was in school.
…Here’s one caveat about the curfew that I didn’t mention earlier. As a veteran substitute teacher, I know that the kids who don’t want to be at school are the most difficult to deal with. I had some doozies in the Turner School District, at the Grandview Alternative School, Bishop Ward and even a few in the Shawnee Mission School District, where I have subbed exclusively the last three years. (Every other place was too damned challenging on the disciplinary front.) Consequently, if I was just looking at it from a selfish standpoint, I’d rather not have a curfew because the worst kids would not be in my classroom. I realize, however, that those kids — disruptive as they are — need to be at school and that a curfew in Kansas City would be a good thing. You’d just have more kids in ISS (in-school suspension).
You knocked this one outta the park Fitz.
Tracy, I am so glad to hear the news!
You are the best!
Thankya, Chuck!