The American Civil Liberties Union has sent a letter to Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaking out against the possible closing of Benton Harbor High School or any potential state takeover of the district. ACLU Racial Justice Project staff attorney Mark Fancher tells WSJM News the main issue the organization has with such a move is that it would deprive the community of its political rights.
“It’s our position as a civil rights and civil liberties organization that the people who live in a city have the democratic right to elect people to make those kinds of decisions for them,” Fancher said.
The governor is in talks with the local school board about turning Benton Harbor Area Schools around. She has somewhat backed off a proposal to shutter the high school. Fancher says she needs to be transparent and forthcoming while respecting local concerns that a high school closure would just be a land grab.
“If the state is to be involved, then at least it should be in consultation and possibly in deference to the ideas and the decisions and the plans and the proposals that are made by duly elected school board members.”
Fancher also points out school closures and state takeovers seem to only happen in predominantly African American communities in Michigan. The ACLU’s letter tells the governor it strongly urges “against any inclination to revive the idea of unilaterally closing the high school, or to resort to state control of the school district in some other form.” You can read the full ACLU letter below.
