THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701010010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 55 lines
The lesson of Washington's Marcus Garvey Charter School is that there are no panaceas on this Earth.
Even the best of ideas can spawn unintended consequences when carried out by the wrong hands. But the solution in most cases is to fix the problem, not discard the concept.
Take the case of Marcus Garvey, conceived as an Afrocentric institution aimed primarily at black boys. Given the challenges facing many African-American youngsters in the nation's capital, the idea of a special school zeroing in on the development of black males seemed a good one.
But a Dec. 3 incident illustrates the gap that can develop between theory and reality. A Washington Times reporter interviewing a Marcus Garvey student was allegedly kicked, pummeled and made the brunt of racial epithets by students and administrators.
Reporter Susan Ferrechio, who is white, said the fracas erupted when principal Mary A.T. Anigbo grabbed her notebook and threw it across the room.
Anigbo, who said Ferrechio had no right to be in the school, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on misdemeanor charges for assaulting Ferrechio and two police officers who later returned with the reporter to the school. A kindergarten teacher and school secretary, who is Anigbo's niece, have also been indicted.
Critics of charter schools and of Afrocentric education are viewing the incident, and the failure of D.C.'s elected School Board to take disciplinary action, as proof that such schools are a bad idea and can't perform.
That's extrapolating overly broad conclusions from a narrow set of facts. Actually, if the charges against Anigbo are correct, what the incident proves is that Marcus Garvey needs a new principal and charter schools must be monitored.
Anigbo reportedly ran Marcus Garvey as her own family fief. She and her brother are on the board of the school. In addition to her niece, the school secretary, her nephew is the school's security guard despite multiple felony convictions. All in a school serving only 60 students.
As the national experiment with charter schools grows, there inevitably will be some failures. Experimentation entails risk. The test of whether Afrocentric education or any other innovation works should be the educational achievements of the students.
That said, part of a good education is learning good manners. That's a test the Marcus Garvey school failed last month. And an appropriate response is required.
That doesn't mean tossing charter schools - or even the Marcus Garvey school - out with the principal. It does mean insisting on good stewardship.
Granting schools greater latitude to attempt educational innovations is a fine idea. But so long as public funds are involved, there will be need for strict oversight to prevent boondoggles and nepotism of the sort Anigbo was apparently presiding over.