One More Black Man Out of Work

Dr. Bernard Taylor’s unproductive reign as Superintendent of the KCMO School District is over.

Taylor’s final days were marked with unexpected support from a few members of KC’s middle class Black community (read: welfare pimps). Pillars of the corrupt, old school and out dated Black leadership like Rev. Dr. Wallace Hartsfield came to Taylor’s defense to no avail. Supporters pointed toward the district’s provisional accreditation during Taylor’s tenure as a sign of progress. But this failed to impress the eight school board members who voted against him.

Only in the Black community is probation considered a positive step forward.

Ultimately, Taylor’s record is marked by persistently declining enrollment, high dropout rates and his inability to achieve a workable strategy to deal with budget cuts. Parents in Kansas City have virtually given up on the district and actively seek out alternatives. One stat that no media outlet will mention is that the KCMO District is more than 80% Black in a city that is still predominantly white. Every year or so, I nearly laugh my guts out when the local news profiles a class of Black kids at a KCMO school taking part in an African drum lesson and one lonely white kid is there banging on the drum for all he’s worth; lest the natives make an example out of him. Whites have abandoned the district wholesale and the tyrannical Black administration bitterly seeks to serve only their kind (poorly); in the wake of this feuding the shameful Latino dropout rate is all but ignored.

Still, the makeup of the district and the politics of this city will guarantee that the next Superintendent will also be a highly educated and talented Black person who will ultimately have their spirit broken and reputation ruined by the dumbass kids of this town. The district is a wounded beast in its death throws and nothing will save it except for an honest assessment of its top heavy administrative configuration, better wages and higher standards for its underpaid teachers and an abandonment of the political/racial bullshit that has only served to hamper progress. Sadly, education officials will probably never learn from their continuous string of failures and the education of kids in KC will continue to suffer.