ANCHOR IT'S SUMMER BREAK FOR
: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STUDENTS,
BUT THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW, IF
YOU'RE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING
FORTUNE SCHOOL'S NEWEST CAMPUS.
EDIE: WE CAN SHOW YOU THIS,
RUN
BY THE FORTUNE SCHOOL OF
EDUCATION.
IT IS OPENING ITS KINDERGARTEN
THROUGH 2ND GRADE CLASSES THIS
YEAR.
WE CAN TELL YOU FOR THE NEW
SCHOOL, ENROLLMENT WILL OPEN TO
-- ON SATURDAY, CLASSES STARTING
IN AUGUST, AND WHAT MAKES THESE
UNIQUE AS THEY WERE CREATED WITH
THE GOAL OF A RACING THE
ACHIEVEMENT GAP FOR
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS AND AT
THE SAME TIME RAISING THE BALL
-- BAR FOR ALL STUDENTS.
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE, AND
WE
TAKE YOU INSIDE ONE OF THOSE
SCHOOLS, WHERE STUDENTS ARE
THRIVING UNDER SOME VERY HIGH
EXPECTATIONS.
REPORTER: WHEN THESE
STUDENTS
LOOK AHEAD TO GRADUATION, THEY
ARE ALREADY FOCUSED ON COLLEGE
GRADUATION.
THE GOALS, THE EXPECTATIONS.
THEY ARE ALL PART OF A MASTER
PLAN BY THE SCHOOLS COFOUNDER,
MARGARET FORTUNE.
SO I CREATED FORTUNE SCHOOLS
IN ORDER TO ADDRESS SACRAMENTO'S
AFRICAN AMERICAN ACHIEVMENT GAP
.
REPORTER THERE ARE 5 FORTUNE
: CHARTER SCHOOLS IN SACRAMENTO,
AND A SIXTH OPENING THIS YEAR.
WHEN FORTUNE MADE THE CASE FOR
THE SCHOOLS IN 2011, 60% OF THE
COUNTY'S AFRICAN AMERICAN
STUDENTS IN GRADES K-8 COULD NOT
READ, WRITE OR DO MATH AT GRADE
LEVEL.
THE SACRAMENTO COUNTY BOARD OF
EDUCATION FOUND A QUOTE SEVERE
AND PERSISTENT AFRICAN AMERICAN
ACHIEVEMENT GAP IN ALL 13 SCHOOL
DISTRICTS.
I THINK THAT AFRICAN AMERICAN
STUDENTS SLIP THROUGH THE
CRACKS.
THEY'RE NOT THE SUBJECT OF
FOCUS.
THEY MAY NOT BE IN ENVIRONMENTS
THAT HAVE THE HIGHEST
EXPECTATIONS OF THEM.
I HAVE A DREAM THAT ONE DAY
THIS NATION WILL RISE UP AND
LIVE OUT THE TRUE MEANING OF ITS
CREED.
REPORTER ON THE DAY WE VISITED
: THE FORTUNE SCHOOL, IN
JANUARY, THESE STUDENTS, LIKE
MILLIONS OF OTHERS, WERE GETTING
READY FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING
DAY.
BUT WHAT'S DIFFERENT HERE, IS
THAT BLACK HISTORY IS JUST,
SIMPLY, HISTORY.
IT TRULY IS A YEAR ROUND
ENDEAVOR FOR US, AND I THINK
WHEN YOU HAVE AS MANY AFRICAN
AMERICAN STUDENTS AS WE DO, 70%,
YOU TEND TO BE MORE SENSITIVE TO
WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE
ENVIRONMENT AND TO BRING IN MORE
OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE AND HISTORY JUST AS A
MATTER OF COURSE.
REPORTER:
PARENTS TOLD US THIS
WAS THE FIRST SCHOOL WHERE THEIR
CHILDREN'S WERE HONESTLY
WELCOMED.
EVERYONE
LOOKS UP LIKE, WHY
ARE YOU IN HERE, AND WHAT DO YOU
WANT?
GET AWAY FROM OUR KIDS.
INSTEAD OF HI THIS IS OUR
SCHOOL.
A PLACE FOR FAMILIES AND
CHILDREN, SO COME ON IN.
A KNOW YOU HAVE A CHILD.
THEY MIGHT HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE,
BUT THEY DO NOT GREET YOU BY WHO
YOU ARE.
REPORTER: MARGARET FORTUNE HAS
BEEN THERE.
I'M A NATIVE AFRICAN AMERICAN
AND I HELPED INTEGRATE OUR
SCHOOLS IN SACRAMENTO AND I WAS
FREQUENTLY THE ONLY ONE.
THAT'S AN ALIENATING EXPERIENCE
.
REPORTER STILL, SHE'S FACED SOME
: TOUGH QUESTIONS.
INCLUDING WHETHER THESE SCHOOLS
ARE A FORM OF SEGREGATION, THE
VERY THING THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT HAD FOUGHT.
OUR STUDENTS LIVE IN A
COMMUNITY WHERE THEY ARE THE
MINORITY, YOU
KNOW, AND THAT
THEY HAVE THE EXPERIENCE THAT
THEY ARE THE MAJORITY AT SCHOOL
I THINK WILL ONLY MAKE THEM
STRONGER.
FORTUNE ARGUES
THAT THESE ARE
CHILDREN THAT RTO OFTEN NOT SEEN
AT ALL, SO HER SOLUTION IS
SCHOOLS WHERE THEY ARE THE
FOCUS.
IT HAS GOT TO BE AN OUTRAGE
FOR ALL SACRAMENTO AND'S, THAT
THAT ACHIEVEMENT GAP EXISTS FOR
OUR BLACK AND LATINO CITIZENS.
WE SHOULD ALL BE UP IN ARMS
AROUND THAT, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL
ONE COMMUNITY.
REPORTER: SO AGAIN, THAT FORTUNE
SCHOOL IS STARTING TO IN ROLL
STUDENTS, AND THEY WILL OPEN