A public forum sponsored by the Unity Group on the state of education in Hamilton County allowed community members to voice their hopes and fears for local schools.
Issues discussed Sunday at Eastdale Village United Methodist Church included inequity, lack of investment from the community, and how those factors affect the five lowest-performing schools – the iZone schools.
“There will be no educational excellence in Hamilton County until this county takes a serious look at racial and socioeconomic inequities in the schools, and not only looks at it, but develops an action plan to attack it,” said Jonas Barriere, executive director of UnifiEd, a nonprofit created to help improve local schools.
Barriere said UnifiEd is forming a 27-member steering committee to work on just such a plan. UnifiEd will gather and submit “thousands of opinions” from around the county, and the committee will draft one or more equity policy platforms. More community feedback will help shape a plan that will be presented to local officials in hopes it will be implemented in the 2018-19 school year. UnifiEd hopes to complete the process by late winter or early spring.
“It’s not a one-year fight; it’s going to be a five to 10, 15, 20-year problem,” Barriere said, adding that the schools will need more money.