“I was disappointed to see state Senator Marty Knollenberg’s racially insensitive comments in the senate Education committee yesterday. As everyone knows, a child’s ability to learn has nothing to do with their race but everything to do with support in and outside of the school. It is unfortunate he made that statement, and I’m hopeful this can be a teaching moment so Senator Knollenberg can get a better grasp of what challenges school districts face by a diverse array of students across the state.”
To view his comments, please visit the following link (42 min mark): https://misenate.viebit.com/#zXX6VU1fTSbB
A transcript of the comment is below:
“You mentioned why these schools failed, you mentioned economically disadvantaged…..the non-white population……um, that are contributive to that….and you know….we can’t fix that…we can’t make an African-American white…it is what it is, we can’t fix that, but…we have this situation. And we find our schools serving these children faced with these factors, and ….there should be no failing students.”