Why does Jalen Rose oppose an NAACP resolution calling for a moratorium on new charter schools?
Consider this: If a moratorium on new charter schools had existed in 2011 (the year it was founded), the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Detroit never would have been allowed to open.
The hundreds of students who have found a pathway to a brighter future at JRLA would have been forced to find a different school. If a moratorium on new charter schools had been in place in 2011, the success they’ve enjoyed at the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy never would have happened.
This innovative and high-achieving school – where almost every graduate goes on to college – wouldn’t exist if a charter school moratorium had been in place in 2011.
For that reason, school founder Jalen Rose recently joined 160 other African-American educational leaders from across the country in opposing an NAACP resolution calling for a moratorium on charter schools.
Rose, a member Michigan’s fabled Fab Five who later spent 13 seasons in the NBA, is currently a broadcaster for ABC and ESPN. A Detroit native, he founded JRLA in 2011 in his hometown in order to give students there a road to a better and brighter future.
Jalen Rose recently spelled out his reasons for starting JRLA in a piece in the Players’ Tribune
Why does he join other African-American educational leaders in opposing the NAACP resolution on charter schools? Here’s Jalen, in his own words:
“I think about the thousands of kids who are not able to go to school because of the “sick-outs” and the poor conditions in Detroit’s public schools. It only makes the work we are doing at JRLA that much more important. JRLA went from being just a feel-good endeavor, to a necessary one. Because without JRLA, where would our 400-plus students end up?”
You’ll find Jalen’s complete piece in the Players’ Tribune here.
