User talk:Teog0627/sandbox

Leading Section
"Paul Parks (May 7, 1923 – August 1, 2009) was an American civil engineer. Parks became the first African American Secretary of Education for Massachusetts, and was appointed by Governor Michael Dukakis to serve from 1975 (needs to be 1974) until 1979. Mayor Raymond Flynn appointed Parks to the Boston School Committee, where he was also the first African American." (Taken from original article)

Parks fought as a combat engineer for the U.S. Military and was most notably known for being present on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Following his service in World War II, Parks was renowned for his work and dedication to desegregating Boston public schools through his role in the execution of the Boston Model City program, a program designed to use federal funding to develop selected areas in Boston and achieve economic stability. Parks was also a member of the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in which he was involved in the development of METCO, a program dedicated to resolving segregation in Boston public schools through desegregated busing and increased enrollment of black students in predominantly white schools.

Public Service Career
Parks was well known for his involvement in desegregating public schools in Boston, Massachusetts. He was appointed as Massachusetts' Secretary of Educational Affairs, succeeding Joseph M. Cronin, who was the first to ever assume that role. Parks was appointed by Governor-elect, in 1974, Michael Dukakis. Parks was the first African American to be selected as a member of Dukakis' cabinet. As the Secretary of Educational Affairs, Parks was also the Executive Director of the Boston Model City Program, with the overarching goal of desegregating Boston schools and busing. Parks formed a council that would frequently report back to Governor Dukakis amidst a host of issues arising from the busing programs. Two decades following Parks' appointment as the Secretary of Educational Affairs, Parks then became the chairman of the Boston School Committee.

As the Chairman of the NAACP Education Committee, Parks was responsible for the Boston Model City Program. Parks was able to identify the growing economic issues found within the selected areas the program was in effect, noting that the unemployment rate was four times that of metropolitan Boston. Parks attributed these economic downfalls to the funding cuts to the program and advocated for it to remain in effect amidst several discussions of its termination. A statistical analysis conducted by Parks and his colleagues estimated that continued cuts to funding and termination of the program would cause more than $51 million in economic damage and a loss of 5,000 jobs. The program used federal funding of approximately $20 million to provide aid to 60,000 individuals in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, and Roxbury, the latter of which was subject to a march in 1963 to protest segregation in Boston schools prior to Parks' appointment as Chairman.

Parks, in 1964, as a member of the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, met with other members of the committee to revise evidence suggesting segregation in Boston public schools at that time. Parks and colleagues found that reading scores in black schools were far less than that of all-white public schools. Furthermore, they found that school administrators preached separate but equal quality of education for black and white students, despite evidence insisting the opposite. The Kiernan Commission, spearheaded by Dr. Owen Kiernan in 1964, gathered exceptional individuals working in the field of education and business to assess the status and quality of education in Boston public schools. They returned with evidence to back Parks and the committee's claims of unequal quality of education and found that at least 32 schools were subject to this. Despite the condemning evidence presented to the Boston School Committee, they rejected the proof and dismissed the report. In 1965, Parks and the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights founded Operation Exodus, a program that buses black students to white schools outside of traditionally black neighborhoods in Boston. Additionally, Parks worked on establishing the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a program that further supported racial desegregation in Boston schools by diversifying the student body and urged black students to enroll in predominantly white schools.