The ACLU often plays an important role in the protection of constitutional rights, but the organization can sometimes take an inappropriate adversarial approach based upon outdated information and inaccuracies. That is the case with the recent charges against Lewiston schools.
Last year, I met with Zachary Heiden, ACLU legal director, about the ACLU and Lewiston public schools working collaboratively for the betterment of Lewiston students. I was heartened by this meeting and Heiden’s follow-up email ended with “We will reach out again after we have had a chance to think some more about some of the issues you raised.”
Then, last week, I received calls from two different reporters asking about my reaction to charges by the ACLU — the press had received the letter before I did. And there was a column in Sunday’s Sun Journal by Heiden, Courtney Beer, who is the directing attorney of KIDS Legal at Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and Atlee Reilly, managing attorney at Disability Rights Maine.
As Heiden never did reach out again, I wrote the ACLU Board of Directors with two questions:
• Does the ACLU Board of Directors expect its employees to honor the representations they make to others?
• Has the ACLU abandoned any interest in moving from its traditional “call-out” culture to the more collaborative “call-in” culture?
Most sadly, the public release of the letter and the column has detracted from our efforts in Lewiston and impugns the hard work of so many to improve the image of Lewiston across the state. Unfortunately, the ACLU is more interested in headlines than improving student outcomes.
As to the charges themselves, there are many inaccuracies.
We have a few African-American educators in Lewiston public schools and are just now beginning to see more applications from college graduates of all races who want to return to Lewiston. We hire all qualified applicants.
As to students with disabilities, some immigrant families have denied services for their children because of the stigma they perceive. This attitude is changing and identification rates, despite language challenges, are approaching the rates for non-immigrant students. Interpretation services are provided for all non-speaking parents. We welcome more than 200 newcomers per year, and we now have more than 30 languages in our schools.
Another untruth is the charge about students stuck in non-credit courses. All courses are for credit. The ACLU advocates that we lower our standards for core English credit, which would be a step backward. In fact, the graduation rate for our English-Language Learner population is higher than for the non-ELL population.
As to discipline, throughout Lewiston schools we are moving to restorative practice models and our suspension rates are dropping accordingly.
The hostile environment of which the ACLU writes is only being created by the ACLU. Lewiston educators will continue to work hard at improving the outcomes for all students.
Bill Webster is superintendent of the Lewiston School Department.
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