Education

Yesterday I got to see how local government can provide tools to help fight for a level playing field in athletics. Together with the Sankofa Project, the Center was proud to be recognized for their work on a bill introduced by D.C. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie with unanimous Council support.

The proposed legislation would require D.C. public schools to disclose certain key athletics equity data by gender on an annual basis, such as

• enrollment and sports participation numbers by gender and race;
• coach-to-athlete ratios;
• compensation, qualifications and duties of coaches;
• funding sources and spending;
• scheduling and post-season play;
• training and academic support; and
• quality of facilities and equipment.

Under the bill, all of this information would be required to be publicly available on the city’s website. Read more »

Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we hear stories about problematic school policies all the time. But this story out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is particularly egregious: a charter school’s policy around hairstyles left seven-year-old Tiana Parker feeling alienated and her father with no choice but to transfer her to a new school.

Tiana Parker was sent home from Deborah Brown Community School due to her dreadlocks.  According to the school’s policy, “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable” because they might “distract” students.  It’s not clear to me why dreadlocks and afros are considered “faddish” – these are common natural hairstyles in the black community that have been worn for centuries.  What is clear to me is that this school may need some education about the federal laws prohibiting programs that receive federal funding from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin – Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  And let’s not forget Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.  Read more »