Voices From The Community

Charter Schools Are Not The Answer

Guest columnist Emiliana Dore makes the case for preserving public schools as a way of fighting racial injustice in our communities.

“We have a long way to go before we reach an equitable education system in this country, but charter schools are not the answer.”

- Emiliana Dore

New Year’s Day is celebrated as a chance to move on from past mistakes and take the opportunity of a fresh start. After the year that was 2020, this is needed now more than ever. In this spirit, I have asked representatives of communities throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to express their concerns about the district and how they would like to move forward.

In this first article in the series, parent Emiliana Dore writes about the role of public schools and the fight for racial equity. Dore is a Los Angeles copywriter and longtime public school advocate who is grateful that her kids have grown up with an incredible and diverse group of anti-racist role models at their local public schools…

Dore with one of her children supporting Los Angeles teachers during the 2019 strike

In a recent op-ed piece for education blog The 74, Rebecca Nurick explained why she created a school to teach her children about kindness, caring, and an awareness of diversity. A founding parent of Citizens of the World West Valley Charter School, Ms. Nurick asserted, “My daughter will grow up to be an anti-racist role model. She, and the peers in her generation, will unify us rather than divide us. She will soon be a first-grader at CWC West Valley, where she’ll be taught to engage with, listen to, and learn from students different from her. Because of our school, I am confident my child will grow up to be part of the solution. I only hope that more parents will have an opportunity to enroll their children at schools that offer the same promise.”

I would like to introduce Ms. Nurick to some incredible anti-racist role models from our communities. There is Tyler Okeke, who served as our LAUSD Student Representative, before moving on to help lead youth support for Proposition 15. Andrew Charroux started a…