The Breakdown That Really Needs Fixing

Since Fenty adamantly opposed that idea when Mayor Williams proposed it a few years ago, it would be nice to know what caused his about-face. But frankly, that isn't of burning interest to me today. The school-governance issue is a distraction from what ails us. Besides, as Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, put it: "The organizational boxes do not mean as much to the improvement of achievement as what the people in the boxes do."

Yes, schools are a problem. But they aren't the problem, as anyone who has honestly looked at the city knows.

Can the system use more talented teachers and principals with high expectations? Yes. Better textbooks, classroom resources, clean bathrooms, new buildings? Yes. Well-run schools with motivated teachers can help raise achievement. And most District students are eager to learn.

But teachers and kids can go only so far without help from the home. And that is where the breakdown has occurred.

No, racism does not get a pass. It can break the spirit, deplete hope, crush expectations. It has had a debilitating impact on black family life. As a lifelong Washingtonian, I know its virulence all too well.

But family breakdown is the reason funeral homes and jails are doing great business in the District. It explains the presence of neglected and abused children in our foster care system. It also has a strong bearing on student performance.

Fix the schools? Here's a greater but unavoidable challenge if we are to become a whole city: Fix the family. Anything less, political rhetoric notwithstanding, and we'll just keep fussing about the schools, inventing new Band-Aid programs and digging those burial plots.

kingc@washpost.com