Ms. Mica’s Thoughts on the Charter School Pageantry on Display

The Charter School meeting that was held in Alamogordo by the New Mexico Public Education Commission was held on Thursday and was attended by about 40 individuals plus a few of us witnessing the events online as the public hearing was also streamed. For the members of the Sacramento School of Science and Engineering Board, Ms. Mica has a recommendation, do not  ever play poker girlfriends as you looked like a deer caught in headlights on several occasions.

Highlights from the meeting are covered in a story by Mr Edwards for AlamogordoTownNews.com and KALHRadio.org titled Charter School Hearing: Hard Questions for Founders, Funding a Grave Concern, he covers the details of what transpired.

My commentary is as an observer of the hearing and the close up visuals on video which was a classic case of a group of individuals that certainly were not used to being questioned and their position or “white privilege” showed in the facial expressions as being pained, at times unprepared and certainly uncomfortable when pressed. Their response were expressions of “shock and awe” that would be classic for a rap video. 

There were a few Jasmine Crocket style moments when the chair of the commission pushed hard on financial questions and begged for the details. The answers received were nonsense in the making by Mrs. Perry or “Dr. Michelle” as one board member referred to her and Mrs. Stong’s deferrals to Perry were viewed onscreen as pass offs for doublespeak but no real concrete explanations. A great pass the buck move but Mrs Stong would have been better served replying that she would need to get back to the commission with a more in depth explanation. 

Some of the most amusing moments of the dialogue however was not the drilling by board members or the probing of public comments.

Joanne Vullo of LULAC educated the community on representation and inclusion of which was not well received by the charter founding board whose whiteness and privilege was fully on display. Ms. Vullo reminded the commission of the lack of inclusion from the beginning and that the board had failed to reach out to any members of the Latino Community, Black Community, LBGTQ Community, Native American Community, Disability or Special Needs communities nor those economic challenged. The response was classic whiteness as they claimed they were on the radio and in the news. When asked if there was a Hispanic Newspaper or radio station in the area that they had contacted you would have thought they just tasted a mud pie by their facial expressions. One audience member asked why they did not have a “table at the recent Juneteenth” events, since they were referencing “tabling” as their favorite outreach methodology. The response was Lori Black referring to a Heritage Festival that Flickinger hosts.

Let’s see if there’s drag queens and LBGTQ representation at the 2024 Heritage Festival, Mrs Black? If you are so inclusive of all of the area’s heritage let’s see all community heritage represented to include LBGTQ heritage! 

When pressed on each board members qualifications by the commission, the stand out moments of laughter were Lori Black; a founding charter board member referring to her years of dance instruction as if they qualifies someone to establish a charter school. But that is not all, this woman of no formal education attempting to establish herself with “street cred” with the black and Hispanic community by attempting to claim that she was instrumental in delivering a break dancer into her mix of dance school successes. Girl you never appeared more white than in attempting to justify your “tolerance” because you have a mixed grand baby and had a break dancer you taught once going to nationals with and placing third. 

And then the most amazing moment of the hearing was a statement by Dr. Klump. When asked about his credentials one would have thought he would have referred to his years as a doctor of dentistry and why math and science is critical to the health profession and tie that relevance to the mission of the STEM programs this charter is offering. Instead he went on a tangent about his affiliation with Mrs. America pageants and how young girls need a better education and how Mrs America provides more scholarships than any other program for young girls in America. The relevance of Mrs. America to a charter school in Alamogordo is beyond me unless the charter somehow plans to incorporate pageantry into the curriculum? 

Even more out of touch with the realities of a well rounded educational experience was when questions were posed around curriculum around the arts. Mrs. Black tried to impress upon the board that 4 or 5, 1 hour performances open to school students through the Flickinger Center a year provides all the necessary exposure to the arts a student would need. Wowza, when a commissioner expressed that there is a direct correlation to music and math education outcomes the charter founders looked like lost sheep. 

The whole thing reeked of a charter founding board, that while the concept of what they are attempting is sound, the execution of the application failed to garner confidence and in fact failed in many ways.

Rather the commission approves the charter application or not there is certainly a lot of ground to be made up in mending fences with people of color and a variety of underrepresented communities.

However Alamogordo has a history of not addressing the issues of race; economic disparity and inequality in access to resources and services.

The LULAC representative reminded the room of Alamogordo’s whiteness; the NAACP was noticeably absent and MIA and a dialogue which the national organization has been vocal. Alamogordo’s inner circle of few continue to wave its flag of privilege and yet the town continues to remain entrenched on the government tit and with widening income disparity. The Charter school dialogue has only deepened the divide among the various factions that make up the city or Alamogordo.

As woman of color and an outsider the irony on display is the klan of followers that believe themselves part of that privilege and yet still sit on the fringe looking inward daily.  

To the charter board: ladies take it from a girl from Oakland, today’s display was not a positive pageant performance but a look or amateurs vying for the big leagues.