Group holds protest against NAACP charter school plan

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - On Saturday, protesters took over a part of Fountain Square to send a message to the NAACP. The group is fighting against the NAACP's resolution to ban private charter schools.

"We want to have a choice. We want healthy competition and charter schools have changed lives in our community," Memphis Lift protestor Sarah Carpenter said.

The protesters staked out in front of the Westin Cincinnati because members of the NAACP were holding a lunch there. The group was forced to leave, but a member of the NAACP did come out to try to calm them down.

"There are people who have done studies on charter schools and how they have privatized and how they're taking money. In some cases, not in all cases, in some cities kids are not getting what they're supposed to get," NAACP member Jonathan McKinney said.

The NAACP passed the resolution for the moratorium Saturday.

They released a statement saying, "We are moving forward to require that charter schools receive the same level of oversight, civil rights protections and provide the same level of transparency, and we require the same of traditional public schools."

The president of the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools agrees that more needs to be done to improve the schools, but the NAACP is taking the wrong approach.

Parents involved in the protest said that the NAACP is disconnected from the people they fight for, and they will not be silenced until the resolution is amended.

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