When telling truth is politically incorrect

Once upon a time, telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth was considered an admirable trait. Today, to be that blunt can be a liability that is likely to bring instant criticism and harsh social media attacks.

To counter this possible reprisal, we hold back, pull our punches, measure our words.

Last month, Bethlehem Area Superintendent of Schools Joseph Roy, a plain-speaking kind of guy who was named “Superintendent of the Year” in Pennsylvania in 2016, was commenting on why he believed parents send their children to charter schools. Here is what he said, which caused immediate backlash, even a call for his resignation by a board president of a neighboring district.

“The honest fact is, not all, but some parents send their kids from urban districts to charters to avoid having their kids be with kids coming from poverty or kids with skin that doesn’t look like theirs,” Roy said. “That’s a fact.”

Understand that Roy also mentioned other reasons, too — longer school days, specific academic programs, bus transportation and dress codes.

But it was his inclusion of race among the reasons that angered charter school proponents, including parents of charter school students in his own district, and Shamim Pakzad, president of the Saucon Valley School Board, who called on Roy to resign or be censured.

Roy has refused to apologize for telling the truth, and Bethlehem School Board President Michael Faccinetto and the rest of the board support Roy and wrote a letter to the neighboring district’s board.

“Let me be crystal clear: This board — all nine publicly elected members — support Dr. Roy and echo his comments,” Faccinetto said. “We will not back down in the fight for charter reform, and we will not ask Dr. Roy to back down or be silenced because a few unelected lobbyists disagree with the facts.

Faccinetto said of Pakzad, “He has no right to use his access to the dais to attack another superintendent.”

Just as with many area districts, Bethlehem’s charter school bill has been growing dramatically. More than 2,000 Bethlehem district students attend these schools, and this costs the district’s taxpayers $30 million annually.

Saying he personally knows of families who send their children to charter schools for this reason, Faccinetto said when an uncomfortable topic such as this is raised and hits home, there is angry reaction.

Joining the opposition to Roy’s comments was the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, which characterized Roy’s statement as “malicious, defamatory and false.”

But a study by Steven Glazerman and Dallas Dotter of Mathematics Policy Research confirms Roy’s assertion. The researchers tested a number of factors as to why parents choose schools, including proximity, test scores, after-school activities, uniform policies, class size, crime and the racial and socio-economic makeup of the student body.

They found that just three of these categories were major factors in choices. Parents preferred high test scores, schools closer to home and schools where their own child would be alongside more peers of his or her race and class.

White and higher-income applicants had the strongest preferences for their children to remain in their own predominantly white group, while black elementary school parents were essentially “indifferent” to a school’s racial makeup, the researchers found. The findings for Hispanic elementary and middle school parents were not statistically significant, they said.

Roy has been a frequent critic of how charter schools are funded and how badly needed taxpayer dollars are funneled to these alternate schools at the expense of public schools throughout the Commonwealth. He has joined Gov. Tom Wolf in calling for a revamping of the charter school system.

As for Roy “telling it like it is” on this topic, a recent survey by the More in Common international initiative found that a large majority of Americans, even young ones, are sick and tired of the trend in political correctness.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com