the mold the carpet the walls itself the
classroom the teachers everything that
you need in the school or could use in
the school it's not there at this point
it's just like a daycare for teenagers
students at block High School in rural
Louisiana say conditions at their school
are so bad that they're struggling to
get an education that building there be
building it is completely unsafe but we
still do go in there as far as using the
auditorium these are the textbooks they
were given at the beginning of the
school year teachers across the country
continue to go on strike but public
education in rural areas gets little
national attention we traveled to
Catahoula Parish Louisiana one of the
poorest parishes one of the poorest
states in the country to see why
students are speaking out in what
conditions and deep south schools are
like more than six decades after
desegregation they try to make you a
world history teacher geography teacher
and a a CT prim and a standardized test
you prep teacher and are you certified
free I'm almost certain I the physical
education their athletic coats Bennie
volt inspired his students to speak out
I thought history for a while I thought
I taught the amendments you know the
First Amendment you have the right to
protest it made you teach history so you
said okay I'll teach him history I'll
teach him the history of protein history
world's a coverage sign of the protest
and black high school
you know what you're doing how you
expect me to do block high school is
situated in Jonesville the poorest
section of Catahoula parish nearly 70%
of seniors are black and about 60% of
students here do not go on to college
after graduation but 13 miles away
there's another school in the same
school district that looks a lot
different nearly 90 percent of the
senior class here is white they perform
better academically and enroll in
college at a higher rate so we just
tried to film inside Harrisonburg high
school but the superintendent won't let
our cameras inside they don't want the
principal's to talk to us on camera but
there's a clear notable difference in
how the school looks compared to black
high school dr. Gilley Freeman is in
charge of all schools in the district
including block and Harrisonburg high
school when we talked to students and we
talked to families at black high school
they compared it to Harrisonburg they
say Harrisonburg has beautiful
facilities why do you think they're
saying there's such a difference several
of the other schools communities with
past Bondi's she's specifically around
facility renovation and refurbishment
and in the recent years Johnsville
hasn't passed any such issue to address
their schools Freeman says that the
state of Louisiana gives a set amount of
money to school districts but individual
towns can raise additional money by
issuing a bond or a tax this has allowed
them to do is to create inside a single
school district high schools that are
really inequitable in terms of their
funding when it comes to facility
maintenance in a way that creates
schools that are economically segregated
and usually segregated Belinda Davis is
a public policy professor in education
advocate at Louisiana State University
we showed her video from inside block
high school the entire school board a
Catahoula parish ought to be ashamed
halli school and that district that is
in that kind of shape do you think it's
fair the system as it is right now well
that's a perception issue overall
funding for public education for a
district has reduced over the period of
time the demographics and the population
of our parish has decreased and quite
frankly because of economic conditions
are a lack of business and industry
Block high school graduate Tomiko blood
saw works as an accountant at a local
sheriff's office
she says the school districts budget
shows how unequal the funding is this is
their 2018-2019 budget Jonesville has
three schools that they're funding this
is some amount of revenue that's brought
in for just Jonesville schools upkeep
for the building and the grounds come
out to be about $22,000 you have to
divide that by three schools is that
enough money no it's going to get fixed
no not compared to the other schools but
you come to Harrisonburg one school they
get a total of $20,000 $20,000 whereas
black high school is getting like 7,000
yes
these parents are getting ready to meet
with school board members in the
superintendent to demand that block High
School get fixed how did that meeting go
what's gonna happen is
to a matter of integrity and
accountability are they going to be a
board and district of their word is
thought to do what we need them to do
for the vision of our children and
whether or not they're going to hold the
necessary people accountable one
potential solution that people talk
about to fix the schools here is just to
consolidate all the schools in the
district but we just got off the phone
with a school board member who says that
parents at Harrisonburg high school
don't want their kids going to the same
school as bloc students because of their
quote moral character I have some
friends to go to Harrison Berry school
but they've talked about this in and
came back and my friends are no longer
friends with them because of the
comments and things that they've said
what kind of comments racial comments
students there have said things about
students and teachers look what kind of
things like I'm not coming down to teach
those animals or you know stuff like
that
sure cold wants to go to college but she
says she's not ready honestly I don't
know what I'm going to do after high
school I might go to college and I might
go into the army because I don't think
I'm mentally prepared for college as far
as the education that I've lacked so far
and I just don't want to really go
through that struggle so you don't you
don't feel like this school has prepared
you for college no sure you don't feel
like you've gotten the education you
need
who do you think should be held
accountable for this honestly I think
they all should be held accountable
because it starts at the top
it takes us children to protest to have
people like you come down and talk to us
it's been going on far too long and they
go a little too late
