A year ago today I shared an essay on Medium detailing parts of my journey working for WEPOWER, an astroturf group funded by a local charter school expansion organization called The Opportunity Trust. The Opportunity Trust is, in turn, funded by wealthy local and national school privatization investors, all on a mission to burn down public education in the St. Louis region. I’ll have to admit that it was one of the bravest things I’ve ever done, but though it was scary, I’d do it all over again.
Within an hour of the article’s release, hundreds of emails, texts, phone calls, and Facebook messages poured in. One of the first calls I received was from someone who was not aware that the article had been officially released. This person had heard chatter and warned me to remain silent because I still needed to be able to work in this town. Thankfully the call was too late and this threat could not deter me. I have since joined the St. Louis Public School District as a parent liaison.
Many people said they also knew that “something was up” with WEPOWER and The Opportunity Trust, but rather than say anything, they simply stopped their engagement with these organizations quietly, as I was warned to do. Others asked me why I chose to speak out at all. I was confused by this question. Why would so many people remain silent?
During my conversations, I learned that I was not the only one to bear witness to comments made about destroying our public schools — but while some were denouncing them in secret to me, they were still accepting money from, and working with, The Opportunity Trust in public. I believe some of the seemingly private conversations I had with people who had reached out to me were staged in order to share information with my former colleagues. One of the conversation recaps even ended up on Facebook Live. I’ve come to the sad conclusion that money is ruling this city and destroying our sense of right and wrong.
In the year since I left WEPOWER, so much has happened. Honestly, it feels like a lifetime has gone by. What I initially had suspicions about manifested, and the so-called “conspiracy theory” — that there was indeed an organized, well-funded, and intentionally disguised effort to demolish and privatize the St. Louis Public School District — was confirmed as an actual conspiracy, no theory involved.
As my view shifted towards a different lens, I realized that many of the key players I interacted with while at WEPOWER had some role in dismantling public education, and ultimately eroding democracy along with it. For instance, I watched the business partner of Eric Scroggins at The Opportunity Trust, Marcus Robinson, occupy the Normandy superintendent seat knowing full well that he would not earn the state-mandated credentials he needed in time to enable the district to earn full accreditation.
At the same time, I became familiar with bills at the state level being heavily lobbied and supported by charter proponents to remove more than $18 million per year in funding away from St. Louis Public Schools. I witnessed my own alderman stand alone and vote against a much-needed moratorium on new schools in the city, in service to the expansion of new charter schools. I read articles about corrupt charter school administrators (Kairos) sidestepping regulations and engaging in questionable business practices as they go about running their school. I even watched a group of privatization supporters (Better Futures), attempt to co-opt the Board of Education’s city-wide plan process.
Every one of these examples illustrates work in service of dismantling SLPS and surrounding public school districts (which happen to all be predominantly Black districts). Every one of these efforts was led by those who see profits to be made by privatizing one of the country’s largest public institutions — our public schools.
Despite all of the disheartening actions being levied against the district, and against public education nationwide, I’ve also witnessed some glimmers of hope.
District parents are beginning to wake up and lean into their own discomfort to do something they haven’t before. A group of parents boarded a bus and made the journey to our state capitol in Jefferson City to speak with our legislators and stand up for St. Louis Public Schools. I believe that a sleeping giant is being awakened, and the true people power I had hoped to play a part in encouraging at WEPOWER is on the horizon. Parents of St. Louis Public School students represent a voting block of more than 17,000 city residents, and many of them are choosing to equip themselves with knowledge and join the conversation. I am proud of us.
What the next year will bring is unknown, but it will not be without us.