June 24, 2007

To Ms. Jeanne Collins and School Board Commissioners:

We wanted to let you know that the Burlington Education Association (BEA) Equity Action Committee met on Wednesday, June 20, updated each other, and talked about the role we could play in supporting SEI.

The BEA is proud to support socio-economic integration.  Decades of challenges at Wheeler and Barnes in meeting standards, the inability to obtain sustainable success at these schools (regardless of the high quality of the teaching staff and the support provided), combined with the task force’s unanimous recommendation for SEI as the critical strategy for changing this dynamic in low income schools, results in our committee’s unequivocal support for SEI.  We insist that the focus stay on means of implementation rather than questioning integration as necessary or not.

We understand this is a difficult and complex issue and that the concerns of the community need to be considered.  We also believe that the concerns of teachers, especially those at Barnes and Wheeler, need to be considered in this process.  However, the bottom line for us is that it is unacceptable that a significant percentage of our student population continues to face major obstacles to their educational potential because of the socio-economic makeup of their school population.  The School Board needs to be respectful and responsive to the community, but understand that it is ultimately responsible for the education of all of the children in the school district.   

Whatever changes the School Board decides to make, it must in the end achieve SEI.  Anything short of that continues to inadequately serve the children, their families, and the teaching staff at Barnes and Wheeler, and implicitly supports the status quo of class-based segregation in our school district. The task force has created an historic opportunity for the Burlington School Board to take bold action on a moral issue that is mostly ignored in our country.  We commend you for having the courage to address this complex issue of inequity in our schools, and now expect you to have the courage to do something serious to change it.   

Finally, the committee would like to request time to visit a staff meeting in September at each of the elementary schools in order to promote SEI and gather teacher input about successful implementation.  We are also planning to more actively encourage teachers to share their input and expertise regarding the crucial need for creating SEI schools.  

Thank you,

The BEA Action Committee