Dr. Howard Fuller Taps in

101.7 is truth.

So I'm gonna officially tap in with your girl, Jazz Tyler.

Happy Monday, Milwaukee.

Thank you so much for tuning in today.

Hope you had an incredible weekend.

For once, I was able to take some time for myself, my family, chill out a little bit, stay out the way.

Again, happy Monday.

Thank you all so much for tapping in.

Today we are...

going to get right down to business.

There's a lot going on.

We know that it's elections week.

But I want to speak about something that hits home personally for me as not just an educator, but as a mother who has three children who have been in multiple different school districts.

And what I mean by that is my children were.

And three different different school districts while they are all work in school at the same time and the reason and being is because they learn different They have different personalities a different talents and we're gonna get more into that But the question that I have for you all today is who gets to choose a child's future right school choice poverty The parent choice opportunity and the fight over who gets access when choice really isn't a choice

The conversation we're having today is not political.

Trying to make it political without making it partisan.

But underneath all of the campaign speeches and the talking points, there's a lot of arguments about vouchers, public schools, private schools, and funding.

And there is a child.

That somehow gets lost inside of all of the rhetoric So I want to strip all of the politics away for a minute and ask something much simpler my hard question for this hour True nation is who gets to decide where a child should go to school?

Is it the government?

Is it the school district?

Is it a zip code?

Or is it the parent who had that child and gets that child up every day for a school?

Wealthy parents, they already have a choice when it comes to what their child future looks like, right?

If a wealthy family doesn't like the neighborhood school, they can move, they can buy a home in another district, they can pay tuition, they can hire tutors, they can choose private school, boarding school, college prep, but they have a choice.

There's options, right?

Not just with school, but we know when money is involved in finances and when you are able to live a certain type of life, choices presents themselves.

And whatever it is that you disagree with or don't necessarily like, you have the ability to make a choice.

And that choice that you make is going to determine the future of not just your child, but your family.

But when we're talking about...

the family who lives in the outer city.

And when I say outer, uh, resting piece of Tupac, we're talking about the inner city, but we say outer because the inner city is left out of everything.

When we're talking about a family who lives in the inner outer city in poverty, and they say this school not working for my child, I need another option.

Suddenly we want to have a debate about whether she deserves to have that choice.

Um,

As if majority of our lives, when I say us, I mean black people overall who have lived in poverty, majority of our choices has not been made by us.

Majority of our choices has always been made by the government, right?

We already know this, dating back to when welfare started and it pushed the black man out the household, right?

So when you sign that birth certificate and your child is now property of the state.

If you're on state assistance for health care and EBT, you still don't have a choice.

And this isn't a slander because we know what we've been through as a people in this country.

We know that we were not given equal opportunities initially and that we have to do what we have to do.

But the reality is.

when it comes to us as a people, a lot of our lives, there is something or someone or an entity or a branch of government that is constantly and consistently making the choices for us.

And that is where today's conversation begin, right?

I think that oftentimes we utilize the word choice inappropriately, right?

For some families, choice means which excellent school do we prefer?

For other families, choice means what option?

My child, which option is best for my child to make it out of these circumstances, right?

Growing up, how many people do you know that lived in the same neighborhood as you, but because they had a talent?

They were able to go to a school outside of the neighborhood, right?

Or that may be the case for you and your family.

Especially if you have students who play sports, whether it's basketball, football, whether they play volleyball, or if they're simply just in a music program and they have a talent.

Some of these schools you couldn't even get into, even some public schools you couldn't get into unless you were picked, right?

You had to apply.

Similar to go to my year, similar to shout out to my Samuel Morris Middle School alumni.

We had to write an essay.

We had to have a certain amount of grades and a certain GPA in order to be enrolled inside of the gifted and talented school.

If you went to high school of the arts, you had to have some type of talent in order to get into that school, right?

So we still seen some of that inside of the public school system, but for a lot of families who are currently living or has lived in the outer city in poverty.

Nine times out of ten when we say hey, I need my baby to go to a different school a is safety is Because a lot of times our children only way out may be a scholarship if they play basketball or football not to say that academics isn't important Right, but initially for a child who is living in the outer city a child who is mature in their mind that is in high school specifically

They feel the weight of the world on their shoulders.

They feel that's when a child becomes old enough to say I got to get my mama about this house.

I Got to take my family out this hood Right basketball is going to take me there football is going to take me there My academics is going to take me there, but if I'm stranded based off of The neighborhood school and I know that I'm smarter than that or there's better resources outside of that I may not have that

opportunity.

And these are two different realities, right?

Families who can't relocate, families who have transportation barriers.

So a lot of people don't understand what some of the private schools and the scholarship and the way that it works.

There are more resources as it pertains to covering transportation.

Parents working multiple jobs, children who neighborhood schools may not meet their individual needs.

Children who need smaller environments, discipline, arts, athletics, specialized programming, and the fact that no single educational model works for every child.

I am a huge advocate for this because I witnessed it firsthand with my three children, right?

And it was a very, very difficult time in my life because I was extremely tired, waking up two and a half to three hours early before work.

Just to drive an hour and a half to drop all three of my children off in different To different schools because it did not work for them all to be in one school They all learn differently.

They all had different personalities.

They all have different talents, right?

It didn't make sense for me.

I tried it I tried the whole all my children going to the same school.

It doesn't work for everybody

So having that choice is why my daughter is able to receive a scholarship and attend Mount Mary University.

Having that choice is why my son was second team all conference, his freshman year playing basketball at a public school.

That choice is why my daughter was able, my youngest daughter was able to attend a private school.

And now she's on a fifth grade level and she's just now reaching the fourth grade.

So when we talk about choices, especially when it comes to

the educational piece, I think is very insulting to take away a choice from a parent who knows what it means for their child or their children to obtain a specific education outside of the norm, outside of their neighborhood.

You can't judge people in the way they learn based off of where they live, because that's exactly how it comes out.

Because they live in this zip code, because they live in this district,

they need to go to their school.

Okay, well, if that's the case, then make sure y'all are pouring the resources into that neighborhood school.

But what you're not going to do is tell me that my children have to go to a school in a neighborhood that is not even safe for them to walk to school.

A neighborhood that a school, it doesn't even have the resources it need in order to help these babies become successful.

You're not going to tell me that I have to do that.

and not provide an alternative option, right?

There has to be an alternative option in order for our babies, specifically black and brown babies, to be successful.

And it's not anyone's fault.

Everyone didn't grow up with things being handed down to them by their families.

Everyone is not a trustful baby, right?

We're all trying to figure this thing out.

So my call to action is, again, the question, one of the questions I have for you all.

Did changing schools ever change your life or your child's life?

833-212-1017.

How many of y'all went to private school or went to a school outside of your district?

and it changed your life.

We got to go to break.

When we come back, I want to deal with something people rarely say out loud.

America always has a choice.

The question is whether people in poverty should have one too.

And I'll explain what that means right after this break.

It should grow a jazz title of 101.7 of

Truth.

11.7

the truth you are officially tapped in with your grudge ass Tyler welcome back Milwaukee before the break I made a statement that may have bothered some people I said America always has a school choice and I stand on that because money has always purchased educational freedom right whether or not our people has access to it is a different conversation but

There's a reason why I'm saying this specifically before we want to break one of the questions that I asked is, did changing schools ever change your life or your child's life?

We have a caller on the line.

Al, are you there?

Yes, well, I know when Reagan was in there, you used to be able to go to college for free.

And I do know over in Israel,

And when the kids are born, they get money that goes into an account until they're 18.

So you can either start a business or go to school.

But I wanted to ask you a question because I've been having these deep-rooted conversations with my friends.

This one is sometimes I feel poverty is a mindset.

and some people choose to be in poverty.

And then the second one is where they always say the government took the man out of the household.

Now, I feel like if you have a man, there should be no need for you to be on welfare of any kind.

And I understand everybody's situation is different.

But when I looked at my mother, when she graduated from high school, she went straight to work.

She wasn't playing cutting weight and getting no $6.73 or getting pregnant to get an extra $300 or anything of that nature.

And I understand everybody's situation is different.

I understand when my grandfather came down here, he barely had education and they had about 14 kids.

And she wasn't playing that welfare stuff neither.

So I kind of like sometimes when I hear this, people say, well, they say government took the men out to household.

Well, I'm like, well, if you have a man and he's making all these kids, why would he want you to go on welfare anyway?

So I will talk about that before I do.

I want to ask you a question.

Has changing schools ever changed your life out or your child's life?

No, because I was I went to public.

Okay,

but I always but I was always an independent thinker as well Got you, but I'm pretty sure it's bad.

I'm pretty sure it's better You know in private because you know, it's you know more diversity and they do You know a little more but sometimes I feel it is the parent's job to provide the best

education within their means or if there's another opportunity, use that up the other opportunities.

I mean, white folks use all kind of opportunities.

Some of them was even doing welfare fraud or even down in New Jersey where they was having seven or 14 kids and the man was in the house

and it

was on welfare and none of them was black

and they

barely could speak English.

I understand that.

Thank you so much for calling out.

And one more thing, and they wasn't Mexican either.

Come on now.

Say it.

All right.

I'll hang up and listen.

OK.

Thank you so much for tapping in, Al.

To your point, you know, I am going to get back to that as far as the comment that Al made regarding.

you know, the man being taken out out of the household and so on and so on.

But before I do, I want to stay on the topic of having that choice, right?

If I can afford a $600,000 house in the community with an outstanding school district, I have a choice.

If I can write a check for tuition, I have a choice.

If my child struggles and I can pay for private tutoring, not the tutoring at the school, but private tutoring, five days a week, I have a choice.

If the school isn't working, I can relocate.

I have a choice.

So again, maybe the argument has never truly been, should parents have a choice?

Maybe the real argument is that changing schools, I'm sorry, should parents without money have the same ability to exercise it?

And again, this is based on circumstances.

Not everybody has the same circumstances, especially when we're talking different generations.

So for example, my mom, she was born in the fifties and grew up in the sixties and seventies.

And she went to Rufus Park, Keefe Avenue Park Middle School in Rufus King.

And if you lived in that area, that was the rotation for everybody.

But this was a time where you could actually go to a public school system.

Again, this is no slight to.

the public school system, but it is the truth.

This is a time where you can go to the public schools and have the education that you need and you were getting hot cooked meals and so on and so on.

Prior to the funding being removed, now we're in a completely different time.

For those who did go to high school in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, this generation is dealing with something completely different.

Not just

here in the city of Milwaukee, but throughout this entire country, right?

We have families who cannot afford to pay for a private school.

They barely can afford to pay their bills due to inflation, due to maybe some bad decisions too.

But every family that's in poverty has not necessarily made a bad decision.

Especially if you're coming from a family that has nothing to leave you, right?

If you're coming from a family where your mom may have not been a teacher and your dad may have not worked at A.L.

Smith, you know, everybody's story is different.

But at the end of the day, a zip code should not change the type of education that your child needs, that these children need.

Because at the end of the day, it's about them.

They didn't ask to be here.

They didn't ask to live in these neighborhoods.

They didn't ask to have the life that they have.

It's almost as if they don't have a fair shot as soon as they enter this world.

And that is a harsh reality for some of our families and our youth out here.

So should parents without money have the same ability to exercise it, right?

Choice can't mean lower in standards.

Like we give parents options and then be silent if one of those options fails the child.

So it goes both ways.

Right for the parents who may be in these circumstances If you are one of the parents who have the option of sending your child to a private school Make sure that you are utilizing that to your best to the best of your ability Because there is another family who could be utilizing that right don't take don't take it for granted not saying that You have to bow down to the fact that someone gave you an opportunity but is one up

You gotta leg up, right?

Utilize it to make sure that it doesn't make your life harder going forward.

Take full advantage of the opportunity.

We give parents options and then be silent if one of those options fills the children.

If a choice school cannot educate children, parents deserve better.

If a charter school can't educate children, parents deserve better.

If a traditional public school cannot educate...

Children parents deserve better.

So no matter how you dress it up.

It's the same doesn't matter if it's private public charter religious Whatever the case may be the loyalty has to be with the children and not the build not the buildings We cannot be loyal to a system when it has showed us multiple times that just this one specific system It does not work for everybody We've seen it throughout the entire

two to three decades.

I am someone who went to public school.

I've never been to a private school, never been to a charter school.

I went to public schools.

And I truly believe that my generation probably was the last to fully experience MPS for what it was known for in the 90s and the 2000s.

Don't understand why there is an issue to have multiple options if they bring up the taxes and all of that stuff Come on y'all know these people get tax credits like stop playing Stop playing with me for real There should not be any type of back and forth when it comes to a child's education It should not you should not be able to

Negotiate a child's education based off of where they live because the truth of the matter is that's exactly what's happening when we're talking about removing parent choice school choice any of those choices You are making a conscious decision to say I know what's best for you and your family more than you know I'm doing this because

I'm trying to make sure we save money on the back end, even though this other system has proven multiple times that they cannot serve the masses of the people at the rate that they would like to.

As somehow we have to find a solution that says, well, we have found the solution.

We have to find a better solution when it comes to the public school system.

And we have to maintain this choice program so that families

can have a way out.

That is the bottom line.

A lot of our babies are highly intelligent and then they go to school and they be all over the place and they say, they got ADHD, put them on medication and slow them down.

No, they're bored because nine times out of 10, they understand this in a way that they don't understand if that makes sense.

And then that causes boredom and that causes them not to want to participate in school.

So instead of us sending them to a school that meets their expectations education wise academic wise on top of the sports We send them to the school counselor who then sends them to a therapist who diagnosed knows diagnosed them with ADHD or ADD and then puts them on medicine to slow them down to make sure that everybody in that building is on the same plane This is the system that we are talking about

That is the reality that's coming from a mother who has three children that was in school, an educator, and someone who was also a part of a part of this system as far as a public school system.

We got to go to break, but.

I want to bring sports into this conversation because when we talk about school choice, everybody talks about test scores.

But if your child's pathway to college starts on a basketball court, a football field, a track, a stage, or in a music studio, is opportunity a part of the educational piece, right?

And I know this is going to resonate with a lot of y'all, especially if you are a parent who has a child that plays sports, or you are a parent who used to play sports.

When we come back, let's talk about it.

Shagrull Jazz Tyler 101.7 of Truth.

101.7 of Truth and Shagrull Jazz Tyler, you are officially tapped in.

Welcome back.

Before we went to break, we were talking about education and having a choice of the school that your child goes to, the importance of it.

Now, this is where the educator in me really wants people to listen because every child is not going to arrive at an opportunity through the same door.

Every opportunity is not going to be given to the same child.

Some children have to work harder than others.

Before we jump into that, I got a shout out to all of my listeners out there.

Please do not forget to like and subscribe on our YouTube channel 101.7 to show shout out to the chat.

Felix said my son did great last year in MPS high school and before some of my family members saying, oh no, don't go there is blah, blah, blah.

It wasn't, it was great, and he's looking forward to going back.

I am proud of him.

You know, I have, my daughter just graduated from an MPS school, but she did three years at a charter school.

And I actually enjoyed both of the combinations.

The charter school education was top tier for sure.

the NPS, not so much, but the resources that they had.

If there's a way we can combine all, man, listen, I'm all for it.

But as I was stating, when we're talking about giving opportunities to children, right, we love telling children that education is key.

But education is bigger than just a textbook.

Sometimes a coach sees something in a child that nobody else sees, right?

Sometimes music is what keeps that child coming back to school.

And I know that firsthand as a music educator.

Having a studio inside of that school.

I can't tell you how many youth we have saved from being out on the streets Just because they know when they go to school.

They have something to look forward to sometimes basketball gets a young person into college where academics eventually will change their life sometimes a theater debate Robotics band film entrepreneurship all of all of the above right the activity may be the doorway Education is is what happens

after they walk through the doorway.

So when we're talking about athletes and we're talking about having a choice of what school they should be able to go to, right?

Think about a child who can run, throw, shoot, wrestle, volleyball, all of that, right?

And then think about the resources that comes with it, the coaching, the exposure, the facilities, right?

Relationships, adults, we all know, we say this saying all the time.

It's not what you know, but who you know.

So if you are keeping students and youth trapped in the very environment that's making them sick to begin with, what do you expect?

How do you expect for them to be successful?

Again, this is not going back to, hey, we shouldn't have a choice because of poverty, right?

We're saying we're not totally blaming everything on poverty, but these are the circumstances.

This is the reality.

A lot of the students

who benefit from this choice program live in the Outer City.

They're left out of everything.

This may be their only chance to make a great life for them and for their family.

At the end of the day, I know we all know one person.

If it wasn't you, I know you know one person who was in the same neighborhood as you, but could hoop his butt off, or he could play football so well.

and try doing it in the public school system.

But it didn't work.

So he had to go to a Martin Luther, right?

Or they had to go to another school, a different private school, in order to obtain those resources and to build those relationships.

Because the truth of the matter is, a lot of our students, again, this is coming from personal experience, both of my children play basketball at the highest level.

My daughter team with the state,

probably the past five to six, seven years in a row.

She's played upstate, right?

And I know charter schools are a little different because they still kind of operate off of MPS, but it's not.

It's different.

Callie, my youngest, she went to a private school in New Berlin.

Her time there has put her above any other student in her class.

because of the education in the resources.

And when we're talking specifically about athletes, I wanna take this picture for you.

Think about your favorite athlete.

And I want you to think about what high school they went to, and then think about if they transferred from their high school and went to a prep school, which is a private school, hello.

Then they went off to college, then they went off to the MBA or the WNBA.

Obviously we know not everybody is going to make it, but the goal is to get them through the threshold by getting them into college.

I guarantee you, a lot of the best to ever do it did not stay at the school that they were at.

They had to leave and go to a better school with better resources.

A, so that they can focus.

B, so that they can be safe.

Because a lot of, imagine,

Imagine the neighborhood that you grew up in.

And imagine we were living in these times right now.

Let's say I grew up on 14th of Berlai.

If I needed to go to elementary school, my neighborhood school would be La Follette.

If I was a child right now, and I was growing up on 14th of Berlai, my elementary neighborhood school would be La Follette.

If I needed to go to a middle school, I don't even know what the closest middle school is.

Over there, high school and north division.

You can do that exercise around any neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee, in the outer city of Milwaukee.

That's a reality.

Can you imagine if you lived in that neighborhood in your child?

That means no transportation because they have to walk to school.

It's in walking distance.

Would you feel comfortable with your child walking to your neighborhood school?

Would you feel comfortable with your child?

Sitting down in a school that has no air conditioning.

Or lunch that looks like jail food.

Are you comfortable with your child?

Having books that your grandmama probably had when she went to that school.

We're talking about access and resources.

We're not talking about capitalizing off the babies.

We're just saying access and resources.

So back to the sports in particular, right?

And for some families, we're going to be honest, an athletic scholarship isn't simply a trophy.

It could be the only realistic way that that family can afford college.

So by granting the parents the opportunity to have a choice and to make that choice and say, you know what?

I see something in my child that's bigger and greater than their environment and their circumstances.

And I refuse to let my child be a statistic.

Therefore, I'm going to work twice as hard.

Let me change this narrative for those who say the parents who want to blame it on the parents that's in poverty.

I'm going to work two jobs to make sure that I can send my child to a private school, right?

Yes, they get a scholarship with the choice, but guess what?

There's still fees, especially if they need before and after care.

They have to pay for it before care, after care, and when you go to a private school, it covers the tuition, but it's not covering, again, those additional fees.

So now you're in a position, okay, you know what?

I'm gonna work two jobs.

I'm gonna take this check, and I'm gonna pay for gas to go back in 430 to 40 minutes away.

or to make sure that the transportation is set up.

They don't have free lunches, so let me make sure I'm paying for my children to eat that lunch too.

The uniform fees, the school fees, there's fees on top of, so this idea to the citizens who disagree with the choice program based off of who has to pay for it, taxpayer dollars, these parents are still paying.

They're still paying fees.

The only thing that's covered is the tuition.

There's still other fees that has to be paid So you're taking your child and putting them in an environment because a you love them I Did that for my children

I don't want my children wrapped up in street nonsense.

I don't want them to die.

I want to teach them how to live.

I want them to know that their talents and their gifts can take them wherever it is that they want to go.

And that can't be a subjective tool, a district line, or a zip code, or a neighborhood, or an address, or my skin color.

It cannot be based off of that.

This scholarship No debt a degree a network a career a different economic Plan for the entire family, right?

This is very very very very very important and again I'm not don't take it out of context if it doesn't fly apply let it fly we're not saying that hey

In order for my child to be successful, especially as an athlete, they have to go to a private school.

We're saying that we know it's hard to raise our children in the environment that made us sick while keep them safe, while keep them fed, while keep them focused around these distractions.

We need, when we see something in our babies, we want them to have a better life than us.

So some of us has to make decisions, hey, this school ain't gonna work.

This public school system is not gonna work for my child.

I need to send them somewhere else.

As long as they can stay focused and what they're good at, their gifts will make way for them.

But if they don't have the choice to make from the begin with, you are already setting them up for failure.

You can dress it however you want.

And I get it, you have to try and appease certain people, right?

But the reality is, no one suffers more than the child.

While the adults are bickering going back and forth No one suffers more and when we're talking about pulling that choice understand that it affects Legacy to there's people who fought for this there are people and we're gonna be joined by one at five o'clock dr. Howard Fuller So we there is no more back and forth about opinions we're gonna talk about facts directly from somebody who was a part of making this happen

Right when we come back before dr. Howard fuller joins us at five I want to talk about the name you cannot leave out of Milwaukee school choice history Polly Williams the legendary Polly Williams because before a school choice became a national political football There were black parents demanding power over their children's education That history matters and we'll talk about it when we come back from break do not touch that down should girl jazz Tyler 101.7 the truth

I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that, I like that.

is called People's Program.

It's advanced if your child is bored, and this program will prepare you for college.

Yes, I am familiar with that, too.

And I don't want to make it seem as if this is a battle between a charter, private, and NPS.

These are just facts.

Again, these are choices, right?

If we're going to talk about school choice, honestly, in Milwaukee, we have to talk about where this fight came from, right?

Long before today's campaign ads.

before Republicans and Democrats turned education into another battlefield, families in Milwaukee were asking, why should the families in poverty in the outer city be trapped by where they live, right?

And one of the most important names in this fight was the late Polly Williams.

The reason why this is important is because we all know that without the correct information, we cannot make correct decisions.

And what I mean by that is,

A lot of people are familiar with the Choice Program, but they don't understand how it started.

This is where we go wrong as black people, right?

When we allow someone to tell us their opinion on why they should remove this option based off of taxpayer dollars, they're also not mentioning that they are completely dismantling an entire legacy.

And y'all know how I feel about legacy.

If you don't, go back.

Go back to a few clips.

Rewind these shows back.

Let's talk about it.

There is people who put in work to make sure that we have an option based off of the information that they were receiving from the Black families in the city of Milwaukee.

So for those who are not aware, Ms.

Polly

Williams the late great may she rest in peace was a woman of many things But she was an elected official from Milwaukee who served 10 terms as a Democratic Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly She was active in civic affairs serving on the board of or advisory council of such organizations as Urban Day Intercity Council of alcoholism the Wisconsin Health Systems Agency women's black women's network was constant women's

Wisconsin Black Women's Network, Central City Bicycle Safety Program, Family Services of Milwaukee, and the Wisconsin Black Women's Assembly in 1975.

She became the Secretary of the Northside Unit of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, moving up to first Vice President in 1977.

And in 1980, she won the Democratic nomination.

and what was the 17th Assembly District by a vote of 1291 to 762.

Not only did she do that, but she was the first advocate, the first freedom fighter for this choice program.

And what she did was work alongside Governor Tommy Thompson, former Governor Tommy Thompson to get this approved and with the advocacy of Dr. Howard Fuller and others as well.

So when we talk about again, the choice program, we're talking about people who stood toe to toe.

This is in the late 80s and the early 90s.

Think about that climate.

Think about what the environment was like, what the culture was like, who was in office, not just at a state level or a city level, but a national level.

Think about the state of our people.

Think about the state of the leaving out of the crack era.

Coming into welfare Let me set the scene for you Understand what we were dealing with during this time and when you go back to think about that you'll understand that we are still dealing with the same things To this day is just dressed up a little differently So let me give you a little background information and I have to do this because I know that this is going to impact somebody out there somewhere and if you don't feel like

Being educated on or you don't have time to look it up.

I'm gonna tell you that's what I do That's what I'm here for it.

Right.

Let's talk about it.

So Wisconsin is home to the nation's oldest private voucher program the Milwaukee parental choice program it was created with bipartisan support in 1990 and now provides education option to almost 30,000 students in Wisconsin largest city, which is the city of Milwaukee

So let me take the picture for you in 1990.

This program was conceived actually in 1989 in response to Milwaukee families who felt failed by the education status quo.

The program was very controversial and faced heavy criticism.

School choice champions such as Polly Williams, Gary George, Susan Mitchell, and Dr. Howard Fuller fought tirelessly on behalf of Milwaukee families.

And in the end, they succeeded.

In 1998, fast four or eight years later, they were able to include the religious school.

So for those who go to a Martin Luther or a heritage Christian, right?

These private schools are a part of that program.

These private schools are a part of that program that was implemented in 1989.

In 2002, the school choice spreads, right?

Milwaukee school choice model quickly became replicated across the nation.

By 2010 years after it was created, Florida, Ohio and Arizona had all created a school choice program.

That program started right here with Polly Williams.

Again, going back to 1990, why did she create this?

Because she had been receiving information.

from families, specifically families in the outer city who were not satisfied with the education system within this city that was being presented to them and their children.

And there was nobody else who would fight for this.

So she went and got her team and was people that she probably met along the way and they did what they had to do.

Now during this time,

Dr. Howard Fuller ended up becoming the superintendent of the Milwaukee Public School System, right?

So that's interesting.

You know why it's interesting?

Because as a superintendent of Milwaukee Public School System and somewhat an advocate to fight for a school choice, he still understood that work had to be done within that system.

So he placed himself

In a position to where he could become the superintendent to work on that and Polly hey we got this out the way let's work on that too but at the end of the day there are two options.

Families have options and whichever choice you choose we want to make sure that both systems work for you.

That is the point that we're missing.

The point that we're missing is it's becoming a blame game.

NPS isn't doing this.

We don't want school choice because of that.

How do you make both systems work?

Why should families and children have to pay because one system is filling them?

Why should they be responsible for that?

So when we're talking about dismantling the choice program, we're talking about dismantling an entire legacy.

I could understand more if we've reached a point in our education system to where we can honestly say, hey, we may not need it as much anymore because we've built up the public school system so great to the point that they have the same, if not exact similar, resources that these private schools have.

But to my knowledge, that is not the case.

Which is why, again, it's extremely important for us to be able to have a choice.

These choices matter.

When we're talking about the youth and the rate that they're going, we're talking about everything that's happening in this city.

You have to understand that education is a part of it.

The entire education system is a part of this as well.

And we have to figure out a way to make both of it, both of these systems work.

I'm not about dismantling the legacy of someone who purposely put us in a position to win.

I'm not about that life.

I'm about adding on to the legacy and figuring out how to continue to make it work.

But I can't be a supporter in

disrupting the legacy of Polly Williams or Dr. Howard Fuller or any other person who came before us to make sure that we have a choice.

If that means I'm on a back burner, if I'm the black sheep, hey, I'll be it.

But at the end of the day, we all deserve a choice.

Especially if you laid in that hospital bed and you pushed out that baby, you have a choice.

If you're feeding that child every day, you have a choice.

You're the doctor, the mother, the nurse, the father, the caretaker, you're everything.

You have a choice and you have to understand that your choice and your voice matters.

When we return, Dr. Howard Fuller will join me.

We're gonna talk about the late great Polly Williams.

We're gonna talk about school choice, public schools, politics, accountability.

That's what we're talking about today, right?

Accountability.

We got to go to break, do not touch that dial.

At the five o'clock hour, we will be joined by the legendary Dr. Howard Fuller, she's girl, Jaz Tyler, one on one point seven to truth.

101.7 and Truth is your girl, Jazz Tyler.

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Milwaukee.

We had an amazing conversation today with Dr. Howard Fuller.

I am a proud.

educator at Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy.

I am, for those who are unaware, I am the lead producer and educator inside of our Notes for Notes studio.

Shout out to Dayhill, Dev, Ryan, Nick, Casey, the entire squad.

And obviously, as I said before, I can't tell you who to vote for.

All I can is bring you the information on how important this is.

But as a parent who has utilized this system,

It is crucial that we understand how it started, who helped started, and where we are today.

And something just don't sit right with me when a person tells me that I can't make the choice of which school my child goes to based off of them attempting to save money, them attempting to be a part of whatever games are being played.

But most importantly, you are limited.

limiting my children from a fair chance at life, right?

A fair chance at life.

We should have the choice to be able to say, I want my child to go to public schools, charter schools, or private schools.

Doesn't matter which one you choose, your choice is yours.

But ultimately, the choice should be there.

So again,

Major shout out to Dr. Howard Fuller is not often that we still have some of our prominent leaders with us today.

It was a pleasure being able to sit down with him and get the facts, right?

He walked us all the way back to 1985.

The things that they had to go through just to be able to present an alternative, right?

And so dedicated to the point where

He became the superintendent for Milwaukee Public Schools while still assisting the late great Polly Williams with the parental choice program.

If that doesn't show unbiased, I don't know what does.

Again, at the end of the day, the point is to make sure all of our babies have the proper education that they have equal and fair resources as everyone else, but most importantly, so that we are not failing them.

So that they have the option to go one and be whatever it is that they want to be.

So we're going to remove the politics, the parties, the school system.

We're going to remove all of that for context purpose.

And I want to talk directly to you all who are listening, right?

If your child wakes up every morning and says, I hate school, the grades are horrible.

They're lacking confidence.

They may be getting bullied, maybe bored.

Maybe gifted but not challenged.

Maybe athletic, creative, whatever the case may be.

And you say, I want to change the school that my child attends.

And that person on the other end says, sorry, this school is assigned to your address.

And y'all know, y'all feel me when I say that because it has happened to me.

Hey, these are all the things my child is facing at this school.

And they say, sorry, I can't help you.

There's nothing we can do about it based off of where you live.

What are you going to do?

Have you ever had to relocate yourself or your child because a school wasn't working?

833-212-1017.

Let's talk about it.

Y'all all know what I mean when I say that.

You all know what it means when I say this and again it goes back to what I talked about at the beginning of the show The fact that we have to have a conversation This is me being transparent with our truth nation The fact that I have to have a conversation about somebody that I pushed out of my room about what school they go to is insane The fact that you're telling me there may be a chance that I won't have a choice to do so

Because, nevertheless, who knows their child more than the person that gave birth to them, including the father?

I know where my child lacks.

I know where they are gifted.

I know where they need assistance.

And if you are an even greater parent, despite of your circumstances, you are going to make sure that whatever it is you see inside of that child.

You're able to pull it out of them and you have to be able to do that by making choices No matter how difficult it is I was so faithful To my children being successful.

I had one one child in public school one child and charter one child in private.

I Had to be at work at eight o'clock in the morning.

I was driving an hour and a half extra Before work in after

dropping my babies off and picking them up to make sure that they had the proper education that fits their needs specifically.

The way my son learned was not the way that my oldest daughter learned.

And my baby girl is completely different from both of them.

It's a nine and 10 year gap.

She's completely different.

I couldn't imagine what type of child education wise Cali will be.

Had I not made the decision to put her in private school because I noticed something inside of her that wasn't even in my other two children Because I made this decision my daughter now has a scholarship to play basketball she has an academic scholarship first and foremost And she plays basketball for Mount Mary Because I made that decision for her to say I feel like based on the way you learn your personality

And the things that you need to be fulfilled, I am choosing to send you to a charter school.

My son, he's more social.

He needs to go to a public school.

He's okay.

The way he learned, that's completely fine.

And Cali needs to go to a private school.

Had I not had that choice, I'm not sure.

Based off my parenting skills, I'm sure about certain things, but based off environments, based off of lack of resources and other things, I'm not sure which direction my children will be in.

Again, this is a different generation, right?

We're expecting for our babies to be the best that they can based off of their environment and what they are around.

Think about all of the AU teams That's for moms and father Think about all of the summer leagues think about all a lot of these relationships a lot of this this exposure is a part of your child being able to build their skill sets up and Attend a private school of your choice

if that is your choice or a charter school or a public school.

But at the end of the day, you have that choice.

When that choice is removed from you, it's not just about what's making it easier because of a drive.

It's about what's making it easier so that your child can survive.

The analogy I gave when I first got on air was imagine if I was a child in this generation I grew up on 14th and Berlin again.

This is no slight This is no slight to the school system the area.

This is a harsh reality It could be the same for somebody who lives on the south side.

It can be the same for someone who lives in brown deer But if I was

a A school child.

Going up where I grew up at right now, 14th of Berlai, my neighborhood school would be Lafayette and North Division, right?

Those would be the main two schools that I would be required to go to.

Now let's say that there, because it is closed, there is no transportation.

So now I have to walk.

But let's say I was an A student.

I got amazing grades.

I also played basketball.

And I was into other activities as well.

Now I'm going to school.

I'm super hyperactive because the work that's being introduced to me is work that I supersede.

Work that I know already.

Just off of me being intelligent.

And then the teacher complains to my mom.

about me disrupting the class saying I'm causing all of these issues despite of my grades being the way that they are.

Now let's play advocate here.

Let's say my grades wasn't and there was confliction.

The solution will still be the same.

Send that child to the school counselor and then make a referral to send them to a therapist and diagnose them with ADD, ADHD, some type of anything.

just to be able to put them on mess and slow them down so that they're on the same level as every other child in that school or that classroom versus my mom saying, hey, I see how intelligent you are.

And although it may be easy or for me to send you to school down the street, I'm going to send you to a school across town so that you can get the education that you need in order to be the person that you need to be.

These are real-life scenarios.

These are real-life situations.

Again, we are talking about the parental choice.

What's gonna happen after elections in the event a specific candidate gets in and say, no more parental choice?

Are you prepared to deal with the aftermath?

It's your girl, Jazz Tyler.

Do not touch that doubt.

We gotta go to break to pay some bills, 101.7 the

truth.

101.7 and truth is your girl Jazz Tyler looking to discover and support local businesses in our community to make sure you tune in every Friday at 8 a.m.

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Truth in the Nation.

Thank you all so much for tapping in with me today.

It's been a rough look.

I just slipped up on a couple words, but my mind is racing right now because I have so much to say, so.

Again, I apologize, but we had an amazing conversation with Dr. Howard Fuller today.

That was near and dear to my heart because it's not often that again, I referenced this in the interview I had with Homer last Monday.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out, please like and subscribe to our YouTube channel on 101.7 the truth, but

We had this conversation last week about legacy, about, you know, being able to sit across from people who have paved the way for you and have these conversations.

And most importantly, just receiving the information overall, right?

We are dealing with something that can potentially affect all of us, especially those who have the reason why I keep bringing up scholarships and athletes, not just basketball, but football, volleyball, academics, whatever it is, is these schools outside of the public school system offer resources, as you know, and opportunities and relationships that a lot of us would not have had our child not gone to these private schools, right?

And what ends up happening is majority of us who live in the outer city, again, the outer city is the inner city, but we're left out of everything.

Majority of us who have lived or currently live in the outer city, we all know the saying is not what you know, but who you know.

So when you have the option to go and play ball at a private school or just attend a private school because you are highly intelligent, it opens up doors.

for you and your entire family that had you going to um your neighborhood school that may not be the case and the reason why this is important again because me being me someone who i'm never going to bring something to you or that i have not experienced myself i am a mother of three who have went to every

Public charter in private all at one time spending an extra hour and a half every day in the morning in in the evening to drop off and pick them up to make sure that they had a choice to make sure that they Become successful based off of the way that they learn Who who is anybody to take that right away from you so again, we were talking about the choice program

Shout out to the chat.

Shout out to Marty.

Shout out to be Joe Jasmine West.

Thank you all so much for tapping in with us.

Um, as we begin to evaluate this, right?

And again, I don't want to make it political, but the politicians made it political.

There is a specific multiple candidates who do not want the parental choice program and they're looking to have that removed, which if you don't know,

affects majority of the black population in the city of Milwaukee.

With that being said, as a parent, my daughter, she went to Milwaukee Academy of Science the first three years and graduated from Hamilton to high school.

And when she was at MAS, I was a parent advocate.

I was an advocate on a basketball team for the school, period, because I understood the assignment.

I seen how it was effective.

Not just because somebody asked me, but I seen how effective it was with my daughter being there academic wise.

So much to the point that by the time she reached 12th grade, she had half day and she had dual enrollment.

My daughter was enrolled in college while finishing her last year of high school.

So I've witnessed firsthand.

the difference in being able to send your children to different school districts if you please.

With that being said, as someone who has experienced it, the best advice I can give you all parents, no matter what type of school it is, whether it's public, whether it's charter, or whether it's a private school, you have to begin to evaluate.

You have to begin to evaluate your child's education.

Not just looking, oh, they're getting great grades.

They're going to school.

They seem happy.

The teachers have nothing but positive things to say.

Or even if it's the opposite, either way, we cannot afford as a people to miss a step.

As you can see, they are coming for our education system.

And you will be a fool to think that this does not affect you.

Even if you don't have any children who utilize this program, it's still going to affect you somehow some way.

So from one mother to another mother or a father, despite of the politics, despite of it all, what I'm telling you based off my experience first is to evaluate.

Evaluate the academic performance and growth.

Study the curriculum.

Especially if you're in a public school setting, you can literally go to the school's website and pull up the curriculum to see what they're learning and how they're learning it and who the instructor is.

Evaluate the school culture.

Does the people who are teaching at your child's school relate to that demographic?

And I don't necessarily mean they all have to be black or brown.

What I mean is if you are far removed from the people you are serving, there is no way that you can meet the people where they are.

There is no way you can cater to my needs and what it is that I deserve or my child deserve because you don't have the basic understanding of what I've been through and why I got here in the first place.

Is the culture safe?

Do they listen to the students or do the students feel oppressed?

evaluate the safety, evaluate teacher retention.

This is a big one.

How many of y'all have children that's in school right now and the turnaround rate on staff is out of the room, off the charts?

That is a consistency issue.

That is a relationship issue.

That is an attachment issue.

When these students begin to trust their teachers, and all of a sudden,

They are removed from the environment based off of whatever ego pride, whatever is happening behind scenes, it affects that child.

When we was growing up in school, our teachers was there the whole time, from elementary to eighth grade.

Sometimes when you walk in school, in some schools now, the teachers that was there last week is gone.

The leadership is constantly changing, but yet we want our children to stay on track.

You got to evaluate the teacher retention, the class sizes.

Are they effectively learning based off of how many children are in this one class?

Special education support for those who have IEPs.

What type of support system is this school providing you and your family?

We're not talking about just support while they're going to school.

We're talking about wraparound services.

We're talking about conversations.

Solutions, the arts, and sports, athletics, what does that program look like?

Graduation outcomes, college and career pathways, one of the biggest reason why I supported Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy in this position is because the amount of children that has to college, the career pathways, the college pathways.

That's another reason why I chose to send my children to the schools that they went to.

Because of the outcome, what's going to happen once my daughter reach her senior year in high school?

How effective are these AP classes?

How effective is your partnership with UW-Milwaukee system?

Because a lot of MPS has partnerships with them as well as charter schools has partnerships with other schools.

How effective is what she's learning?

So much to the point where it gives her or him enough confidence to be successful in school so that they can go on to go to college.

The discipline philosophy, right?

When something happens, how are they mediating the situation?

Are they quick to write them up and put them?

The solution is always get them out of here.

Or are they more open to, hey, let's have a conversation and see how we can make this work because I want to see you succeed, right?

There was a situation in particular.

We talked about it on ear with my former student Torian.

30 days before graduation, Torian got caught with some gummies or a gummy wrapper in his locker and was about to head out of there.

Not knowing he had got shot at 14.

That's PTSD.

Hello.

Not knowing he has already been in and out of the juvenile detention facility and the only reason why he still was coming to school is because he didn't want to give up on himself.

But had he not had an advocate, what would have been his outcome?

The school that your child goes to, they don't have to get into altercations like this or situations like that.

But in the event it was them or their friends, how easy is it for your child school to give up on them?

Whether their specific child feels known or supported.

That specific child.

Have you had a conversation with your child to see how much they feel supported at the school that they're at?

Do they have a family, a true family oriented vibe or is it all for looks?

All of these things matters.

Every last one of them.

I know we got two jobs.

Some of us working two jobs.

I know that some of us is in our entrepreneur bag.

Some of us is out here getting to it to the best of our ability.

But I'm telling y'all, somebody that's on the inside, these are things that you have to pay attention to.

If don't nobody else tell you, I'ma tell you.

Everything I just mentioned, you gotta pay attention to it because it's critical and ultimately is going to determine how successful your child will be.

When we come back from break, let's continue to have these conversations.

What matters most when you are choosing a school, A332121017, then we'll go on to talk about the children.

Have you ever thought about asking them?

Do not touch that down, it's your girl, Jaz Tyler, 101.7 of Truth.

You are officially tapped in.

Happy Monday, Milwaukee.

Thank you all so much for joining us today.

In case you missed it, we were joined by Dr. Howard Fuller earlier on in the show, and we had an amazing conversation again.

It was very, very imperative and important to me for us to sit down and have this conversation with him because he is one of our elders who are still around, who was there from the beginning.

And whatever has been put out in the media, he was there to correct it, right?

Dating all the way back to 1985, the purpose of creating the Parental Choice Program.

In his words, he did not, he wasn't worried about, he didn't want the schools to dictate it because that's how they make the money he wanted the parents to.

And because of the segregation and how much money was being made off of them transporting black babies.

Him and Polly Williams decided to approach and say, hey, let's have our own district, right?

They didn't want that.

Well, we got to have something.

How about the parental choice program?

And there's been rhetoric surrounding, hey, he don't support public school system because he's supporting this.

This all took place and was taking place as he was the superintendent at the Milwaukee Public School System.

Which means that he was advocating for parents to have choices no matter what side of the fence you chose.

At the end of the day, you should have a choice.

Before we went to break, we were talking about how to properly prepare your child for school as far as making the best decision for them.

Some of the things that parents should pay attention to, academic performance and growth, the school culture, safety, teacher retention, class sizes, special education support, arts.

athletics, graduation outcomes, college career pathways, and whether or not that child feels supported.

So I want to talk specifically about the young people because adults love deciding what children need without asking them.

And trust me when I tell you, I understand.

You know, I grew up in that era of a child and got no business, being in an adult's conversation.

And if I'm talking, you're going on in the other room and mind your business.

Now that I'm older, I understand that that applies to certain aspects of that child's life.

So in my house, my children have a voice to a certain degree, but they have a voice.

And the reason being is because nobody can tell you but your child because they're experiencing it firsthand.

And I know a lot of times.

It's difficult for us to believe our children, especially when they're constantly into something at school.

But parents start listening to your child.

I'm telling you, a lot of these, but a lot of the depression is still meant from school.

Because they're not happy with the school that they're at.

And I understand that not every parent can make that decision to say, hey, you know what?

I'm going to send my child to a private school or charter school or a different school for that matter.

They have to do what works for their situation.

But trust me when I tell you, if you want your child to be successful in life, that's what parenting is about, making sacrifices.

There are certain sacrifices you're gonna have to make, no matter how inconvenienced it is, even if it means that it's going to save your child's life.

And if you don't think it's that serious, send them to your neighborhood school.

If you don't think it's that serious, send them there.

Or send them to a school that...

that you necessarily wouldn't want them to go to, but it's convenient.

And pay attention to the outcome, right?

So when you're talking to your child or students, start asking them these questions.

Do they feel safe?

Do they feel challenged?

Do the teachers know their name?

Does somebody notice when they show up?

How are they being received?

Is their voices heard?

Do they feel like a student or a number?

You will be surprised at how many students you will be surprised at how many youth Can tell you how they truly feel good and bad they're not done They pay attention to every single thing But they also know in the back of their minds mom's going through this my dad going through that

I have to just make life easy.

I'm gonna just deal with it even though I don't wanna be here.

We have to start receiving the information from them.

Hey, I know you're getting good grades, but how do you feel about the school overall?

Right?

Start paying attention to who's sitting on these boards.

Who is over the board at your child's school?

If it's a public school, who's the superintendent?

First and foremost, because a lot of us don't even know that.

Their background, where they come from, what they specialize in, then you have the school board supervisors who has districts.

You have to pay attention to who that is as well.

And if your child goes to a private school or a charter school, you need to be paying attention to who sits on those boards.

Because ultimately, they have a choice.

They are making some decisions as well.

And they are there to be your advocate.

You put them in office.

You put them in that seat.

So whatever questions or concerns you have, it should be brought to the forefront.

We have to go into this next election, which is tomorrow, understanding what's at stake.

This is not a biased opinion.

This is not me telling y'all who to vote for.

This is me being a honey, which are despite of one of the things we got to do as black people is we got to get out of our feelings.

Right?

Even if do you know, do you know how many Europeans dislike each other that our businessmen and women but still do business together?

Even if you feel a certain way or you have your opinions about politics or about a specific candidate, especially one that comes from that's homegrown, have them.

But at the end of the day, it's not about just you.

It's about your family.

It's about the people you are around.

And again, even if you don't have a child that goes to a school outside of the Milwaukee public school system, or if you do,

it's still going to affect you regardless.

Taking away the parental choice program is not only a slap in the face to the Dr. Howard Fullers and the late Polly Williams, but it's a slap in the face to us as families, as parents.

It's an insult.

You are telling me that I am not competent enough to dictate the best option for my child.

Based off of what I know who I know them to be Because of where I live Make it make sense.

I don't have an option to I can't have an option to say I want my child to go to school across the town Based off of what I have analyzed as their parent That's a problem and it's coming from people again who don't understand this demographic who has not

taking the time to even try to have this conversation.

I don't know about y'all, but for me, I dictate what's best for my children based off of being their mother, based off of their experiences in the past, and based off of conversations that I have with them.

I don't know if my children would be as successful as they are had they gone to just the neighborhood school, even if they were.

I still have the choice to say yes.

Yes, I want this for them.

Yes, they want it for themselves.

And I know Dr. Fuller mentioned that he don't believe in legacy, you know, and he gave his take on it.

But I do.

And when we get to undoing things like this, they do it so sneaky and so fast in a way to where we're not paying attention that they're undoing.

The legacy.

They're undoing the work.

They're undoing what people have fought so hard to make sure that we had.

All of that is being pulled out and thrown out the window with everything else.

All based on a political party, opinion, support, campaign, whatever their reason it is.

And I don't I personally don't agree with it with it.

I don't support it whatsoever as someone who has been able to see the fruits of my children's labor because I did choose to send them to two different, three different schools.

Private charter in public.

I can't tell you public schools is better than charter schools.

Charter schools is better than private schools.

But what I can say is all three of my children went there individually.

And I made that decision, not even looking at it from a private charter or public, but looking at it from a what works best for them.

It just so happened to be a private public in charter school.

But ultimately, I still had that choice.

I still had the choice to say, my son don't do good here, but he does good here.

He doesn't do good in a charter school, but he does good in public school.

My daughter doesn't do good in public schools, but she does good in charter schools.

My youngest baby doesn't do good in either.

She needs to go to private.

I still had that choice.

So again, ultimately, no matter where you stand at the end of the day, your choice should not be taken away.

That is your choice, especially when...

You have people who fought for it because they understood back then what the dynamics were and what the climate was in which it's still similar to today.

We are still facing and going through some of the things that we have went through during the time when this was created in the first place, which still says a lot.

When we come back from break, let's do our call to action and continue to.

dive in on what this looks like for us.

Let's talk about it.

Phone lines are open A332121017.

How do you feel about the parental choice being taken away?

And will it affect you?

Shagrull Jazz Tyler, 101.7 of Truth.

101.7 of Truth and Shagrull Jazz Tyler, you are officially

Tap in.

Happy Monday, Milwaukee.

You already know what time it is.

Listen, we had an amazing conversation today with Dr. Howard Fuller in.

His call to action was, we got to fight.

He said, he didn't already did the work.

He's looking to support us.

And I wholeheartedly agree.

Shout out to the chat.

Mahdi says, my kids grew up in Burlington, Wisconsin.

They had a menu to choose from, to eat.

Anytime they won different, different rules, they was homeschooled.

Yeah, they had options.

I've homeschooled Cali a little bit too, but there's options.

And when you have options, that means you can make whatever choice works best for you.

But ultimately, what this entire thing is saying is that, A, black and brown people who live in the outer city, remember outer city because we're left out of everything, is not competent enough to make a decision on their child education.

on their child's education.

Secondly, they're also saying that even though in the same breath, even though we know the public school system is short when it comes to funding and staff so much to the point that they begin to seek employment outside of Wisconsin, they're going to recruit teachers, former teachers from the Chicago public school system.

Even though...

We know that half of these public schools don't have central air air conditioning The food is like jail food Right and again, this is not to pin public school systems against charter schools or private schools But these are facts and these are facts that are being told by the very people who are running for office Even though we know all of this we're still going to remove

If elected governor, I'm still going to remove the parental choice program from you, even though I know NPS ain't got nothing to offer you and that we're trying to rebuild it.

Do you understand where that puts you at as a parent in this community?

So for those who like to say, this don't affect me, I don't have no children in school or my children, they all go to public school.

But guess what?

What about the children that live next door to you?

or the children that lives across the street, or the children that lives in that neighborhood.

If it affects you, if it affects them, it affects you.

Point blank and simple, no matter how you dress it up.

It affects us all.

So again, we have to make sure that we are paying attention to what is happening.

We can no longer have these excuses.

We can, if you...

was not privy to this information, or if you did not know and wasn't aware, you got the inside scoop today.

You got the truth on how it started, by who, why it was created.

It was created by the people for the people.

The Parental Choice Program was created by the people and for the people.

Due to segregation issues, end up making boatloads of money.

off of our black babies, transporting them.

So much to the point where Polly Williams said, hey, hey, man, listen, this ain't gonna work.

Let us have our own district, hiring Dr. Fuller.

That's not gonna work for us.

Okay, well, guess what?

Something got to shake.

Based off of the families that I am serving in catering to this is the information We're receiving and we're telling you on behalf of them that something has to happen now when you compare and contrast Those times during that time to now is not a huge difference Which is why we still need the program Hello We got to wake up and pay attention the information is there

The choice is there.

Now we are being threatened with our children's education and we all know how hard it has been education wise specifically in the city of Milwaukee and if you are someone who don't have time to show up to parent-teacher conferences or to do pop-ups or if you just don't have any children and haven't been inside of the school system, step a foot into the school.

In decades or years, let me be the first person to tell you as an educator and a parent that is needed.

Let me be the first person to tell you why you should be asking questions when it comes to the type of school that your child goes to.

Let me be the first person to tell you how impactful this can be with removing that choice.

We have to, again,

pay attention.

Whether we want to or not, we can no longer, now I'm talking to us as a people, the accountability, we can no longer afford to be blind.

We can no longer afford to not pay attention to us being displayed right in front of our faces.

I get it.

It becomes too much work.

You're like, I got to look this up, look that up.

Yeah, educate yourself.

And if you don't feel like it, I'm going to do it for you.

I wasn't there, but I can bring you the person who was.

Shout out to Dr. Howard Fuller.

Shout out to the late great Polly Williams and everybody else who played a part in making sure that this happened.

And for my generation specifically, the late 30s, early 40s, y'all most definitely should be listening up.

Our children are still in grade school, middle school, and high school.

And I know a lot of parents who benefit from the parental choice program.

So again, if you are unaware of how this would affect you in the event a specific candidate was to be elected, I'm not talking about Crawley because Crawley is for parental choice.

In the event, a specific specific candidate, because it was multiple ones.

Who wanted to remove who wants to remove the parental choice program understand how it's going to affect us all?

Elections is tomorrow if you are still undecided that just means that you haven't done your homework enough You got to pay attention to everything and education is the biggest of them all We are experiencing first-time college graduates

in our family, you understand?

You understand how important that is?

And it's all stems from us having a choice.

I got a choice on what school I can send my child to, which means I have a choice on how their life is, which way it goes.

Okay, I know my child is like this.

I know we live in this environment.

I know that if I keep my child in this environment, there's distractions.

Again, not to say that white is right or that private schools is always better because that's not necessarily the case or even charter schools or public schools.

Again, the point of it all is just so that we can have a choice.

It's like being in a relationship and somebody lies.

I always say, don't lie to me.

Not because I want control over you, but because give me the option on how I want to respond.

If you give me all the facts, I can work with that.

If you give me the truth, not honesty, because honesty is dictated based off of how you feel.

I don't want your honesty.

I want the truth.

If you lay the truth out in front of me, then I will know what to do, right?

Choices.

Choices, we have a choice in everything we do.

up until we don't people, and they're showing you and telling you, oh yeah, I wanna defund this, I wanna do that.

But by the way, I wanna get rid of the parental program.

And we just in here like, oh, okay, whatever that means, you benefit from it, hello?

You benefit from this program, so does your children.

So as I leave you today, my call to action is,

A, the primaries are tomorrow.

Make sure you are making the best decision for you.

Do not be blindsided by the rhetoric and by the fluff.

Get your tail in there and go vote for David Cronk.

Vote for whoever you feel is best, but I'm telling y'all, it's your play cousin here.

We voting for DC, man.

I don't care how you feel.

I don't listen.

You can have whatever issues.

That means nothing at the end of the day.

He's homegrown.

He know what time it is.

He's been around where we've been at.

He's tangible.

You can touch him.

He gonna pull up.

We want him for DC.

I want you all to educate yourself, man.

Continue to fight.

Shout out to Dr. Howard Fuller for joining us today.

He said he is out of the fight physically, but he is here to support us.

So make sure y'all keep up the good fight.

Tap in tomorrow.

Again, we bringing the culture Flyer John, man.

If you're from the crib, you know what time it is.

We got Flyer John coming on, man.

The number one when it comes to marketing and street promotion.

Make sure y'all tap in 4 p.m.

to 7 p.m.

tomorrow, Monday through Friday.

It's your girl, Jazz Tyler.

Have a safe evening, Milwaukee peace.

Ye Lang Zhang was born in Wasaw, the son of refugees who fled communism in search of freedom.

His parents taught him that freedom comes with responsibility.

And for Ye, that means being accountable to every person he serves.

School board treasurer, county supervisor, village trustee, a non-profit leader.

Ye Lang Zhang has managed multi-million dollar taxpayer budgets at every level.

And now, he's ready to be a watchdog for Wisconsin.

One-on-one point

seven and shoot the sugar jazz Tyler.

We are live and direct Listen, I can't express how honored I am to be able to invite our next guest

on to this platform.

He has spent decades at the center of the fight over educational opportunity, his best known for his community organizing work that he did in Durham, North Carolina as an employee of Operation Breakthrough and as a co-founder of Malcolm X Liberation University in 1969.

He served as the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools from 1991 to 1995 and is currently a professor

of Education and Founder and Director of the Institute for Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

And if you didn't know, his name is on a building at the school that I teach at.

Three of them to be exact.

Dr. Howard Fuller, thank you so much for joining me today.

It is truly an honor and a pleasure to have you with us.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Okay, so while we're working out, I think he's muted right now, but while we're working that out, again, if you are just joining us, we have Dr. Howard Fuller here.

He's joining us virtually.

We're going to talk about school choice.

parental choice, just choices overall.

What choices do we have as a community, as a parent, when it comes to the education of our children?

And the reason why, again, this is important because we all know that there are multiple things happening that is pretty much taking away the choices that we have.

It's not anything that

can be overlooked.

It is not anything that we should not take seriously.

It is something that we need to have a conversation about.