Justice Comes 'Round ...

0 comments:

Down the Rabbit-Hole

Alice Caterpillar Cheshire Cat Jabberwock Mad Hatter Queen of Hearts White Rabbit Character descriptions Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ost popular characters: Alice (AAiW & TtLG; all chapters); Caterpillar (AAiW; Chapter 4, 5); Cheshire Cat (AAiW; Chapter 6, 8); Jabberwock (TtLG; Chapter 1); Mad Hatter (AAiW; Chapter 7, 11); Queen of Hearts (AAiW; Chapter 8, 9, 11, 12); White Rabbit (AAiW; Chapter 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 12); Alice (AAiW & TtLG; all chapters); Caterpillar (AAiW; Chapter 4, 5); Cheshire Cat (AAiW; Chapter 6, 8); Jabberwock (TtLG; Chapter 1); Mad Hatter (AAiW; Chapter 7, 11); Queen of Hearts (AAiW; Chapter 8, 9, 11, 12); White Rabbit (AAiW; Chapter 1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 12); March Hare (Chapter 7, 11); he is holding a tea party with the Hatter and the Dormouse. The party will continue forever, as they live in a frozen time.

Dull Hatchet Job

By John R. Butcher

The RT-D on Dec. 21 published a hit job on Richmond School Board member Kimberly Gray. The piece is based on a really sloppy hatchet job by Ron Broadbent, who appears to be on the staff of the Darden Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education at UVa.

Broadbent’s report is a three-page cover memo to LeAnn Buntrock, Executive Director of the Partnersip, with eleven short memos, each two pages or so, summarizing Richmond School Board meetings during 2010 and one longer memo gushing over the school board’s retreat at Darden on May 21-22.

The RT-D story focuses on Broadbent’s criticism of Gray “who was cited for speaking out and not following protocol during meetings.” The story overlooks the much juicier content in Broadbent’s report.

Who is this Broadbent?

Broadbent’s reports all are directed to the Darden Curry Partnership but neither the Darden faculty directory nor the University’s People Search lists Broadbent.

Broadbent’s cover memo tells us that he is a “former public school educator with over thirty years of experience, twenty-four of which were in administration.” Whatever that experience may have been, it did not leave Broadbent a friend of the Mother Tongue. For example he says:

Warning: Do not read this if you already have a headache:

· James Pughsley in January of 2007 [et al] are examples of where they (sic) board had training on how to be a more effective board . . .

· One of the most positive aspects of the Richmond Public School Board meetings is when . . .

· The board spent 25% of the meeting hearing a final presentation on the proposed budget for 2010-2011, discussing and voting on.

· Ms. Gray voted against the measure sighting (sic) the need for public comment and input.

· Further more, it would appear to be a violation of school board policy and protocol in my opinion.

· By a 5-4 vote, the school board voted to approve an alternative sight (sic) for the Patrick Henry Charter School . . . .

· The board spent 91% of its time . . . on matters related to the Balanced Scorecard. This is the highest percentage in quite sometime.

Perhaps it is a good thing Broadbent got out of teaching and went into administration, where his illiteracy wouldn’t directly harm the kids.

What did he actually say?

As reported in the RT-D, Broadbent criticized Gray repeatedly for speaking out. For example, regarding the August 16, 2010 meeting, Broadbent reports:

Ms. Gray continues to attempt to dominate with her numerous comments and personal opinions on practically every agenda item. Towards the end of the meeting so as to keep the board on task and be able to vote on the “consent agenda”, (comma sic) [Chairman] Bridges had to request of Ms. Gray that she end her comments and questions.

Read that carefully, please: Gray is being assertive (bad!) while the Chairman is not doing her job (no comment!).

Again, regarding the 8/2/10 meeting, Broadbent criticizes Gray for speaking “five different times regarding the audit and four times during the discussion of the A.D.A. report.” He neglects to mention that the Chairman allowed this.

In a related vein, Broadbent chastises Gray & Murdoch-Kitt for voting against the budget on Feb. 16: “By its 7-2 vote, the board did not present itself as a unified/cohesive board with respect to the proposed 2010-2011 budget.”

Then Broadbent praises the board for its deportment on May 3 in the 5-4 vote on the temporary Patrick Henry relocation (Bridges, Gray, Murdoch-Kitt, Scott, & Coleman voting aye; Page, Smith, Wilson, & Henderson, nay). As to the latter meeting he reports: “Concerns: None.” Apparently “no” votes by Page, Smith, Wilson, & Henderson are fine but those by Gray and Murdoch-Kitt demonstrate a lack of cohesion.

Conclusions

1. Broadbent’s reports broadcast both his biases and his inability to tell a straight story, not to mention his distant acquaintance with the English language.

2. Kudos to the Times-Dispatch for posting the Broadbent reports that it so badly misreported.

3. Great Praise to Kim Gray for standing up to the school board that is wasting tens of millions of dollars every year.

VGLA Math Participation Rates/Richmond Public Schools 2009-2010

Bellevue Elementary 76%

Overby-Sheppard Elementary 70%

Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary 67%

Woodville Elementary 65%

George W. Carver Elementary 61%

George Mason Elementary 56%

Lucille M. Brown Middle 55%

Ginter Park Elementary 52%

Blackwell Elementary 50%

Henderson Middle 50%

Albert Hill Middle 48%

Binford Middle 46%

Martin Luther King Jr. Middle 45%

Chimborazo Elementary 45%

Thomas C. Boushall Middle 41%

Fred D. Thompson Middle 40%

Westover Hills Elementary 40%

Fairfield Court Elementary 40%

Miles Jones Elementary 39%

Clark Springs Elementary 38%

G.H. Reid Elementary 36%

Summer Hill/Ruffin Road Elementary 35%

Amelia Street Special Education 34%

J.L. Francis Elementary 33%

John B. Cary Elementary 32%

Broad Rock Elementary 30%

Elkhardt Middle 30%

E.S.H. Greene Elementary 26%

Southampton Elementary 25%

Maymont Elementary 24%

J.E.B. Stuart Elementary 23%

Swansboro Elementary 22%

Linwood Holton Elementary 20%

J.B. Fisher Elementary 15%

Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary 14%

Mary Munford Elementary 11%

Source: Virginia Department of Education

VGLA Reading Participation Rates 2009-2010

Overby-Sheppard Elementary 75%

Woodville Elementary 75%

Bellevue Elementary 68%

Blackwell Elementary 68%

George Mason Elementary 68%

Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary 67%

George W. Carver Elementary 67%

Clark Springs Elementary 59%

Lucille M. Brown Middle 55%

Miles Jones Elementary 52%

Fairfield Court Elementary 52%

G.H. Reid Elementary 52%

Chimborazo Elementary 51%

Thomas C. Boushall Middle 50%

Albert Hill Middle 49%

Martin Luther King Jr. Middle 48%

Ginter Park Elementary 47%

Henderson Middle 47%

Westover Hills Elementary 44%

Binford Middle 43%

John B. Cary Elementary 42%

Swansboro Elementary 41%

Summer Hill/Ruffin Road Elementary 41%

J.L. Francis Elementary 39%

J.E.B. Stuart Elementary 39%

Linwood Holton Elementary 38%

Fred D. Thompson Middle 37%

Amelia Street Special Education 37%

Broad Rock Elementary 36%

E.S.H. Greene Elementary 35%

Elkhardt Middle 31%

Southampton Elementary 31%

Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary 24%

Maymont Elementary 24%

Mary Munford Elementary 17%

J.B. Fisher Elementary 6%

William Fox Elementary 0%

Source: Virginia Department of Education

Confronting Inequities in Education Report

The key contention in this report is that grantmakers in education will have the most success in advancing equity and access if they focus a great deal of attention and funding on marginalized populations and if they do so by addressing systemic inequality.

This need not entail a wholesale devotion of resources to those singular goals; education grantmaking also can be extremely effective when focused on other pressing needs and worthwhile projects. But this report explores the tensions and tradeoffs, concluding that a far greater focus on marginalized populations and systemic inequality would be beneficial.

http://www.ncrp.org/files/publications/Confronting_Systemic_Inequities_in_Education_lowres.pdf

FREEDOM IS NOT ENOUGH

The voting rights bill will be the latest, and among the most important, in a long series of victories. But this victory--as Winston Churchill said of another triumph for freedom--"is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

That beginning is freedom; and the barriers to that freedom are tumbling down. Freedom is the right to share, share fully and equally, in American society--to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school. It is the right to be treated in every part of our national life as a person equal in dignity and promise to all others.

But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.

You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.

Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.

This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.

For the task is to give 20 million Negroes the same chance as every other American to learn and grow, to work and share in society, to develop their abilities--physical, mental and spiritual, and to pursue their individual happiness.

To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough. Men and women of all races are born with the same range of abilities. But ability is not just the product of birth. Ability is stretched or stunted by the family that you live with, and the neighborhood you live in--by the school you go to and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the little infant, the child, and finally the man.

Virginians with Disabilities Act (VDA)

In the 1980's, sixty-four disability organizations formed a coalition known as INVEST (INsure Virginians Equal Status Today) to accomplish passage of the Virginians with Disabilities Act (VDA). This landmark civil rights legislation declared the state's commitment to support and encourage persons with disabilities to participate fully in the social and economic life of the Commonwealth. It preceded the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by five years, and is considered by many to be the model for the federal legislation that created the ADA.

Signed in 1985 by former Gov. Charles S. Robb, the law was a landmark in the protection against discrimination in employment, housing, education, voting transportation and access to public accommodations.

Today, the Virginians With Disabilities Act protects nearly one million state residents.

The act declared "it is the policy of this Commonwealth to encourage and enable persons with disabilities to participate fully and equally in the social and economic life of the Commonwealth and to engage in remunerative employment". The Act protected Virginians with disabilities from discrimination under any state program or activity, by employers in hiring and promotion, by educational institutions receiving state funds, in the use of public places and in places of public accommodation, in housing, and in the exercise of the right to vote.

Law Lesson for RPS School Board:

From the Virginia Code:§ 22.1-140. Plans for buildings to be approved by division superintendent. No public school building or addition or alteration thereto, for either permanent or temporary use, shall be advertised for bid, contracted for, erected, orotherwise acquired until the plans and specifications therefor have been approved in writing by the division superintendent and are accompanied by a statement by an architect or professional engineer licensed by the Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects that such plans and specifications are, in his professional opinion and belief, in compliance with the regulations of the Board of Education and the Uniform Statewide Building Code. The division superintendent's approval, architect's or engineer's statement, and a copy of the final plans and specifications shall be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(Code 1950, §§ 22-97, 22-152, 22-153; 1954, cc. 257, 291; 1959, Ex. Sess., c. 79, § 1; 1968, c. 501; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 161; 1975, cc. 308, 328; 1978, c. 430; 1980, c. 559; 1991, c. 550; 1993, c. 227; 1998, c. 27.)

Dare to Ask Why the Richmond School Board Refuses to Let This Happen Here

We live in a nation in which one out of every four African-American males will either be incarcerated, institutionalized or dead before they are 21 years old. Our city school system continues to suspend and expel far more students than it graduates. Yet, our elected leaders refuse all efforts to open their minds to the possibility that we can -- and must -- do better for the sake of all our children and our city.

As you read the Chicago Tribune story, please know that the members of the Richmond School Board, Supt. Yvonne Brandon, Mayor Dwight Jones, the Legislative Black Caucus and the Crusade for Voters are all absolutely opposed to charter schools -- which means that as long as this mindset prevails, Richmonders cannot ever hope to share in the success that these students in Chicago recently experienced.

I hope you will dare to ask them to re-think their positions. How many more generations must be sacrificed because adults cannot act in the best interests of our children?

And, remember the immortal words of Robert F. Kennedy:

"If we fail to dare, if we do not try, the next generation will harvest the fruit of our indifference; a world we did not want - a world we did not choose - but a world we could have made better ...."

According to the Virginia Code ....

Duties of Superintendent , Duties of School Board,
Duties of Board of Education: The Board of Education is charged with general supervision of the public school system·

The "core" of Virginia's educational program is the SOL's, created under the first Standard of Quality. The Board of Education has authority to seek compliance with the Standards of Quality and can sue to compel compliance. ·

The Board has the duty and authority to see that the truancy laws are enforced. The Board can fine, suspend, or remove a division superintendent for "sufficient cause."

Courage Under Fire & Suspensions of Disbelief ...

Two members of the Richmond School Board struck a blow to help dismantle the "School-to-Prison Pipeline" when they voted June 15th against the pro forma acceptance of the RPS Code of Conduct.

By their votes, Adria Graham-Scott (4th District) and vice-chair, Kimberly B. Gray (2nd District), each demonstrated "Courage Under Fire" to stand up to -- and apart from their colleagues -- on behalf of RPS children.

The good news is that the RPS School Board, thanks to a change in state law effective July 1, will no longer be able to suspend students for tardiness or truancy.

High fives to Richmond Free Press reporter, Danny C. Yates, who kept the group honest when some members postured that the action originated with the RPS Board.

"The new suspension policy is the only major change from last year's Standards of Conduct. Some members hoped for additional revisions," reported Yates in the most recent edition of the Richmond Free Press.

Indeed. Change is needed.

RPS' excessive use of school suspensions and abusive zero-tolerance policies are well-documented -- thanks to the hard work of Style Weekly reporter Chris Dovi and Style's editor, Scott Bass.

Click here to read about how RPS suspends far more students -- by 10,000 -- than the Washington, D.C. public schools do. Although the D.C. public schools have 46,000 students — nearly twice Richmond’s enrollment -- only 2,245 children were suspended last year, here to read Jason Roop's excellent article detailing the "how and why" CCP (Community Education Partners) came to be in Richmond and why RPS needs to re-think its zero-tolerance disciplinary policy.

Save Our Schools

Pages

Justice Comes 'Round ...

0 comments:

Post a Comment