EUGENE KANE; IN MY OPINION; Oprah's School Not Immune From Trouble

Nov 06, 04:00 PM

Current Headlines: By EUGENE KANE

It looks like bad news from Oprah's "choice" school in South Africa.

Oprah Winfrey founded a school to provide a high-quality education choice for a select group of poor girls in that country. Her Leadership Academy for Girls opened early this year with much fanfare, including lots of media coverage and famous friends of Oprah who traveled to the opening ceremony.

At the time, most people hailed Winfrey for her compassionate decision to build a $40 million campus outside Johannesburg with her own money.

But some critics - OK, I was one - noted the irony of traveling to South Africa to create a first-class school for low-income black kids when Winfrey could have made a powerful local statement in any one of hundreds of inner-city schools in America with large populations of black students in need of better education.

Few could dispute Winfrey's right to build her own school wherever she wanted. But some did wonder about her priorities. When she was asked why there and not here, her answer spoke volumes:

"The sense that you need to learn just isn't there (in America)," she told Newsweek. "If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

For some people, that was a pretty harsh statement, particularly from a talk show host who occasionally gives away cars or gadgets to audiences filled with screaming adults. But Winfrey, known as a benefactor for a variety of causes, didn't suffer much of a public relations hit. She is Oprah, after all.

The scandal at Winfrey's school involving abuse allegations against a dormitory matron reportedly has left Winfrey feeling devastated but still committed to her vision. A group of students went to the school's chief executive with their allegations against 27-year-old Tiny Virginia Makopo, who has denied guilt in response to 13 counts of abuse and assault.

The scandal shouldn't reflect on Winfrey's decision to open her school. There are bad people everywhere.

I wasn't really surprised Winfrey considered her South African school a better investment than trying to turn around a public school in Chicago or some other American city. It's the same rationale used to defend the parental school choice program in Milwaukee, where some are willing to invest taxpayer money in start- up schools that have never graduated a student before they will give it to Milwaukee Public Schools.

It's almost a mantra for some school choice advocates: Anything must be better than MPS.

That's clearly not true. There are lots of good schools in MPS, along with good choice and charter schools that all need support instead of their interests always being played against each other.

With her unlimited bank account, Winfrey can take care of her current problem by writing more checks. She has very few qualms about spending her money on the things she values most. Too bad we can't take the same approach here - witness the latest taxpayer revolt over increased property taxes in the MPS budget.

Without Winfrey's money, we have to make each dollar count as we try to win over the people who feel no money spent on improving MPS is ever money well-spent.

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Contact Eugene Kane at (414) 223-5521 or ekane@journalsentinel.com.

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