C.A.R.E. Opposes BOE Decision

The Citizens Addressing Racial Equity Committee (C.A.R.E.) strongly condemns and opposes the decision of the Stratford Board of Education to demagnetize Stratford Academy, realign the school district, and cut transportation needs.

A few weeks ago many of us were living our quiet and private lives. Then several parents and countless others came out of their comfort zones to speak out and set things right. Our concerns are not petty grievances but rather matters of serious concern about needlessly removing our children from their established schools which can adversely affect their academic achievement and social and emotional well being. Furthermore, these concerns extend to the acknowledgement of the troubled history of racial injustice and deep insights into the flawed nature of the human condition.

The vote taken the other evening may not in the near term but can very well gradually over time lead back to schools that are not as racially balanced as they presently are. The parent leaders of the No Plan No Action Committee and others submitted alternative and thoughtful ideas and proposals to the Board of Education that should have been given careful consideration in order to avoid all this disruption.

In the classroom we teach our children about planning ahead, Democracy, and the American Ideal, yet the Stratford Board of Education gave us all a lesson on impulsiveness, political expedience, and how economics supersedes values.

It is not clear if there is anything additional to be done to prevent these changes from being implemented. That being said it will be the task of the CARE Committee going forward to be attentive and monitor the roll out and implementation of this realignment to be sure it complies with all state and federal civil rights and racial balancing laws.

The CARE Committee made it views known directly at several public forums. We also tried to appeal to the moral law that dwells inside each of us in an attempt to persuade our elected leaders to change paths. That sometimes is perceived as perhaps a naïve way of thinking in a society that often times is obsessed with status and material things. However, it is those prerequisite qualities of courage, honesty, decency, and integrity through which all our other analytical abilities, gifts, and talents depend upon and thrive and serve as the noblest ingredients in the social and intellectual life of mankind.

There are no doubt lingering divisions and honest differences of opinion, however, in large measure many have come together across our community over this issue. New friendships and connections have been made that will last a lifetime and no one can take that away from us.

We must always strive to live up to the sacrifices, high aims, and sense of purpose of those who have come before us. They speak to us across time. We owe it to those who fought for the Civil Rights Movement. We owe it to the Names that Grace Stratford Veterans Memorial Park. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our children, our teachers and many others.

The work now continues and the CARE Committee will always do its best to serve as long distance runners for justice.

Sincerely,

John Fahan

Chairperson, C.A.R.E.