The ‘Good’ Side of Kansas City Failed Kids, Too

During middle school, I attended two well-funded, predominantly black schools in Kansas City, Missouri. They were violent and dysfunctional, as I shared in my memoir. By 2000, shortly after I attended them, the district became so broken that Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) became the first district in American history to lose its accreditation. I watched impoverished kids of all races get failed by adults who persistently violated students’ civil rights and alienated parents.