Invocations at Escambia County School Board Meetings: Group DEMANDS That We Stop!

....But our attorney says our practice, the way it is structured, is not in violation of the Constitution. I believe our attorney over the group in this letter (see below). And after our discussion last Thursday--where board members agreed unanimously to keep the protocol just as it has been done--I don't see us changing our policy. These guys can send all the letters they want, but we won't be arm-twisted by these special interest groups. The Satanic prayer people are not going to force us to change as long as I have a say in this!

Imagine Being Accused of This?

Updated 9-16-14

District has completed examination of the tape and no definitive answers could be ascertained from the tape.  The parent has been notified, and he intends to come to the school board meeting and speak on this topic.  Staff have invited this parent to view the tape.

Original Story below:

“My son says he didn’t say it, and I believe him!” The parent exclaimed in a voice that exuded concern.

He is a good student, quiet, and he just would not have said that,” the father continued.

He went on to say “I asked them to let me see the tape and they said no.  The school’s administration has totally blown this off—but now my son is being bullied and harassed over this!”

“I want to see the bus tape from the afternoon ride back to ______ ________ Apartments- September 9^th.”  That’s when this all started and the tape can show he did not say this” the father pleaded.

The horribly stigmatizing claim being made, by a couple of students riding the same bus as “Will” (name changed), is that he, Will (a Caucasian 6^th grader) called a student of a different race a.....

“Monkey --A­­_ ­_ed –N_ _ _ _er!”

“They got up on the bus and made a big deal about it” the dad says.  “They said..’Will just called 

Context of the Quote

The PNJ story in today's edition captures a portion of the flavor of the conversation I had with David Suhor after our last school board meeting.  There is a bit of a history of back and forth between he and I, no question about that.

But with respect to the quote, I simply reacted to what he has stated in writing and to the comments he has made online, and that I perceive these comments and statements as both a demand and a threat. 

Essentially this individual, David Suhor,  has stated that unless we allow him to come as our individual, hand selected invited guests whenever and as soon as he wants , he will do a "Satanic Prayer" when he is eventually invited by one or more members of the board to come and bring greetings.   

I did tell him that I would never allow him to be my guest and represent me.  I told him that would never happen, ever.  The issue is not about the content of whatever message he wants to bring, it is about him trying to muscle his way into our meetings by making demands and threats.

I also told him I'm not sticking around to listen to his Satanic Prayer, ever.

Our attorney researched this issue and has stated that our current practice of allowing each board member, on a rotating basis, to bring an invited guest to the meeting for the opening prayer is legal, and does not need to change. 

Another board member has already stated she would invite him to come to our meeting to give the invocation, but he declined her invitation. 

So at this stage I can only assume, as I've thought all along, that this individual is out to make a headline, a splash in the media.

Not on my turn to select to guest he won't. 

Welcome to Conesville!

I’ve been contacted recently by a concerned parent regarding drop-off/pick-up issues at Cordova Park Elementary School.  Unlike other district elementary and middle schools that have very prescriptive protocols for drop-off and pick-up—Cordova Park allows the option for parents to drop-off and pick-up by waiting in a long car rider line at the beginning and end of school ---OR ----they allow parents to park and walk the students up to school in the morning and then pick these same students up at the end of the day at the flag pole area of the school.

So some parents wait in the car rider line and some parents park and walk their children to and from school.

But the neighbors don’t like the parents parking in front of their houses.

Last year, the closest neighbor put cones out in the street in front of her house to discourage the parents from parking there—even though the street is a public thoroughfare and the homeowner really does not have the right to do this…

This year, the two next closest neighbors have joined in.  So now parents have to walk further in the rain, heat, or other conditions, due to neighbors installing “cones.”  Three houses now have made this street look like “Conesville”.  What will it be next year, 10 houses?  More?

One parent simply moves the cones into the corresponding yard, and parks there anyway.

“It’s not their street, we can park here if we want to” he has stated.

But that could lead to trouble with the homeowner if the parents and homeowner tussle over this issue.

It could lead to “cone-rage”

Meanwhile, the school has not addressed the issue, and neither has the PPD, who have been noticed that the homeowners are creating a street lined with cones, potentially constricting the flow of traffic illegally.  I wonder why the PPD won’t simply ask these homeowners (or, technically, tell them) not to do this.

Looks like an issue that will have to be addressed by the school, PPD, and the neighbors in question….

More Stringent Requirements to be Put in Place for Matriculation from Middle School to High School

Sometimes it pays to be persistent.  And I have been on this issue, as I have felt for some time now that we were moving too many students out of middle school unprepared for the rigor of High School with a miniscule, almost non-existent hurdle to jump over to get there. 

I blogged about it here, and I discussed the issue last year as well when the student progression plan was being brought for the board's consideration.   I also brought it up in 2011. I simply felt, and continue to feel, that there should be some meaningful requirement above just having straight "D"s and level "1"s across the board and then being welcomed to High School.

Many non-academic factors were given as the justification for not making the matriculation requirement more robust, and the worst one I kept hearing was "Many of these students have already been held back multiple years."  Or "What if they quit?" 

We don't want kids to quit, we want to motivate them.  But we must stop socially promoting them, which we have been doing for quite awhile now.  It must stop, this could be a first step.

I have always liked the carrot and stick approach;  If you want to play football, basketball, and take part in other HS extra-curricular activities-you have to do more than the bare-bones minimum in MS. 

HS extra-curricular participation is the carrot.

Because those that slide into HS having barely escaped middle school with borderline failing grades and the lowest possible scores on the FCAT--those students are the ones being set up for failure, and they are the ones most likely to drop out and/or not complete within four years.

Often we know these same students, (the socially promoted ones) out of frustration or for whatever reason, are a large source of significant discipline issues once they reach high school.  Not being prepared for the rigor of HS exacerbates this phenomenon..... So we need a carrot, and a stick.

So now, the stick is in place if the new plan is accepted.

With this year's Student Progression Plan, to move from 8th grade to 9th grade, students must meet a 2.0 GPA in their MS coursework.  If not, the newly proposed rule that the board will consider for advertisement next week specifies that students who fall short of this GPA requirement will be subject to possible retention in MS or compelled to participate in a "transition" program over the Summer. 

So I'll be asking a lot about what this "transition program" is, though, as this is my one big area of concern.  If we set up a procedure where the "good cause" exemptions from the GPA requirement "swallow the  GPA requirement"  Then we won't be accomplishing anything and this plan won't be effective and I won't support a list of  200 "good cause" exemptions for this new policy. 

I'm going to ask a lot about this transition program, but I'm also going to enthusiastically support this change to the progression plan which I feel represents much forward, incremental progress.

we are, apparently,  finally addressing a long-standing issue.

2013-2014 District-Wide Discipline Statistics

Do We, or Don't We, Value and Embrace Diversity?

We are bombarded all around by people clamoring for more diversity.  Diversity is the huge buzzword these days. 

The reason __________ is not successful is that there is not enough diversity. (you fill in the blank)

The Police forces in St. Louis County Missouri are not diverse enough.  Many departments are not according to this intriguing NY Times article. 

So wait a minute.  

Do we or do we not embrace diversity?

If diversity is good, then why is there any problem at all with a room full of white students being taught by an Asian?

 

Can a black police officer be effective policing a primarily white population-or must officers of color only police in black cities and neighborhoods?  Whaaaatt? 

Was there really a problem when a Jazz history class at San Diego State full of white students was taught by a distinguished musician and professor who also happened to be black?

I did not perceive that to be a problem-I was in Dr. Meadows’ class!

And, along that same line of thinking, what is wrong with a room full of primarily black students in an urban elementary school being taught by a young white female? 

Answer-there is no problem, or at least there should not be if we truly embrace diversity and the people filling these jobs are qualified.

Now we’re told that in order for   _____________    (you fill in the blank, school district, police force, government agency, high tech social media firm, etc. etc.)  To be effective and successful, these organizations MUST be made up of a representative makeup, racially, of the populations they serve. 

I disagree. 

And if anyone claims to value diversity, how could they not disagree with this absurd claim?

Diversity is good, and it can be good, but don’t organizations have a first responsibility to hire the best candidate for a job?  I think they should.

Otherwise, are we to believe that the NBA, comprised of 75-80% Black players cannot be as effective and/or successful as it could be--because its makeup does not reflect the population it serves?   Ditto for the NFL at 65% black.  (US population stats--roughly 60% white, 18% Hispanic, 12% Black, and 10% Asian and Other)

By the same token, must the high-tech firms recently accosted by Jesse Jackson for not being “diverse” enough-must these firms that are dominated in the employee ranks by White and Asian males really be more diverse in order to be successful?  Or does the same