Brown v Board: 50 years of sucking up to negroes

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

N.C. State study to focus on racial gap

In thousands of elementary schools throughout the nation, the racial achievement gap is never smaller than on the first day of kindergarten.

It's a frustrating reality that researchers trace to various factors, including the critical roles of parents and others outside of school.

But the most practical place for educators to close the gap is inside the classroom -- the place where two N.C. State University professors will soon focus a five-year, $3.6 million study.

Ron Tzur and P
tricia Marshall, both associate professors in the university's College of Education, will eventually work with 120 Wake County teachers from kindergarten through second grade as part of the project paid
for by the National Science Foundation.

Focusing on math instructio
n, the two will use dozens of research assistants to help monitor the way teachers explain math concepts to children of different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Extra attention will be given to the way in which teachers work with minority students.

"We know that math is more than calculating," Tzur said. "It is also about how people communicate ideas to each other and apply reasoning."

It is also obvious, the researchers said, that the average scores of minority children lag behind those of white students.

"To what degree is it beneficial for teachers to relate to a child's cultural experiences when teaching concepts involving math? That is the question we wan
t to explore," Marshall said. "Are we really communicating with all kids about math in a way they understand?"

The university's effort is expected to dovetail with a new
push by Wake school officials to alter the district's approach to math instruction. Instead of relying on rote memorization, teache
rs are being told to make sure students also understand the fundamental logic of mathematical concepts.

"Sometimes we assume that a child can't succeed mathematically because they are poor or maybe a minority," said Lee Ann Segalla, Wake's senior director of elementary school programs. "My dad would probably say these are the kids who aren't book smart, but they are street smart."

But children who are street smart are also children who understand concepts, which in turn means they can understand math, Segalla said.

Math instruction criticized

Supporters of traditional math instruction have been critical o
f the national effort among educators to find a balance between the importance of understanding math concepts and the need to perform rote calculations. The effort, they say, inevitably leads to mud
dled instruction that leaves children poorly prepared.

Tzur and Marshall counter by saying the current system already produces countless children with weak math skills, especially
poor and minority children.

They also think the design of their project will provide specific answers about the importance of teaching students within the context of their cultures -- the routines, habits and expectations that are most familiar to the children and their families.

The two investigators will formally begin their study this summer, when they meet with national experts to discuss the final details of such issues as the best way to work with teachers and log classroom observations. Wake administrators, who have already talked at length with Tzur and Marshall, are expected to suggest specific element
ary schools for the project by early 2005.

After a summer orientation program, 30 teachers from five schools will have their math classes regularly videotaped by research assistants begin
ning in the fall. The teachers also will meet weekly to discuss the successes and failures of specific teaching strategies.

In the second year of the program the first 30 teachers will train 30
new teachers. Those 60 teachers will then train 60 more teachers in five additional schools during the third year of the project.

Throughout the study, Tzur and Marshall will collect test scores, work samples, teacher summaries and observation notes from each classroom. The entire process will take several years, but preliminary analysis will begin as early as spring 2006.

The results will be compared against a control group of five other similar schools.

Karen Banks, who oversees research and testing programs for Wake schools, said the way in which the results of the project are measured will be crit
ical to its credibility, given the many disagreements over how math should be taught and the inherent difficulty in measuring something like cultural sensitivity.

Positive atte
ntion

But Banks thinks the attention brought to the issue through the teacher training sessions, recording of classroom lessons and regular discussions about students' cultural differences can't help but infor
m teachers.

"It's an interesting question, the kind of question you think someone would naturally want to know more about," Banks said. "But collecting the data is so labor intensive we could never afford to do this ourself. It's a great opportunity for us."

******************

But children who are street smart are also children who understand concepts, which in turn means
they can understand math, Segalla said.

What an idiot. This is doomed to fail. Why is it that bef
ore integration the U.S. had no problems with math instruction? We built the A-Bomb. We built computers, TV sets, all kinds of electronics devices. Electronics is math heavy. You can't do electronics if you can't do math. Every continent on the planet earth has contributed to the knowledge of mathematics except two, one of those is Antarctica, the other is black Afreaka! Suddenly, we don't know how to teach math anymore, well, that's not exactly true, we don't know how to te
ach math to n-ggerS! Screw 'em! Put your money on a horse that has a chance of winning!

Reference:
Welcome to a Mathematical Journey through Time

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Cast Out

Under the Savannah-Chatham County Schools Student Code of Conduct, rude language might warrant a time out, but derogatory language can get a student suspended for five days. A fight could result in detention but battery is punishable by expulsion.

In the 2003/2004 school year, Savannah-Chatham County Schools suspended 4,321 students and 2,276 of them were black males. The district expelled a total of 178 students and 122 of them were black males.

Although they make up about a third of the student population, black m
les accounted for 53 percent of all suspensions and 69 percent of all expulsions.

It's an area in which they can least afford to take the lead.

Many of suspended children are se
nt home where they are without instruction, direction and in many cases supervisi
on. During the time away from school many fall further behind academically or grow disillusioned with the academic system. Some get supplemental instruction in the ways of the street.

"We all know when they're not in school nothing good is going on," said Lisa Colbert, a local attorney who works with the Truancy Project, a collaborative effort among the Savannah Bar Association, Chatham County Juvenile Court and CASA designed to get truant teens back in school.

Fifteen year old Phillip Mitchell is a Windsor Forest High School student. Phillip will be repeating the ninth grade. His grades suffered after he was suspended from school for ten days. John Carrington Savannah Morning News
This year, 1,
309 Savannah-Chatham County elementary school students were suspended and 11 were expelled. Black males accounted for 60 percent of the elementary school suspensions and 82 percent of those expelled.


The district's 11 middle schools suspended 1,633 students and expelled 40. About 53 percen
t of those suspended and 75 percent of those expelled were black males.

On the high school level, black males accounted for 45 percent of the 1,379 suspensions and 58 percent of the 127 expulsions.

In his research of school discipline, University of Indiana professor Russell Skiba found that disproportionate number of minority expulsions and suspensions have been occurring nationally for 25 years. Skiba attributes the imbalance to racial and cultural differences and social stereotypes.

"No support was found for the hypothesis that African-American students act out more than other students. Rather, African-American students appea
r to be referred to the office for less serious and more subjective reasons," Skiba reported in his 2000 study called "The Color of Discipline."

He
found that teachers are typically uncomfortable with active mannerisms, physical communication styles, which are popular among black males, and perceive them as combative
or argumentative.

"Fear may also contribute to over-referral," he wrote. "Teachers who are prone to accepting stereotypes of adolescent African-American males as threatening or dangerous may overreact."

In turn, some black males exacerbate the problem by using their teacher's fear and frustration to manipulate them.

In Chatham County the relationship between black males and their teachers has been rocky, all but two of the elementary school students expelled in 2004 were black males and 30 of the 40 expelled middle school students were black males.<
/b>

According to the district's Student Code of Conduct, students can be suspended for up to 10 days for using profane or derogatory language, fighting, or skipping class. And a stude
nt can be suspended more than ten days or expelled for any conduct deemed substantially disruptive by the principal. It is a serious issue because the punishments can lead to academic failure and criminal records.

[
b]Researchers believe the disproportionate numbers and the adverse effects on black male students could be improved by training teachers to better understand and interact with black males and by implementing an organized suspension program to provide academic services to students who have been removed from the normal classroom setting.

Currently Armstrong Atlantic State University offers one such course and money isn't available to change current system of school punishment.

Fifteen year old Phillip Mitchell, a Windsor Forest High School st
udent, with his mother Gena Mitchell. Phillip will be repeating the ninth grade. His grades suffered after he was suspended from school for ten days. John Carrington Savannah Morning News <
br>"Right now we do not have a comprehensive in-school suspension program," said Savannah-Chatham County Schools spokesman James Harvey. "The cost is just too great."

But the price society pays when disillusioned students leave the education system
and enter the criminal justice system is even greater, according to Colbert.

Colbert said policies which remove at-risk students from academic and structured settings as punishment discourages them from coming back - particularly a school board policy which holds children back after 10 absences and a state law which enables them to drop out at age 16.

Just ask 15-year-old Windsor Forest High School student Phillip Mitchell.

"I don't want to go back there," he said.

When his freshman year began Phillip was excit
ed about starting high school, finding out where he fit in and making new friends.

But the thrill didn't last long.

"At the beginning of the year I was struggling
in civics and I got moved to another class," he said.

Then as the term progressed it became harder and harder to keep up in other courses and the quiet, self-reliant teen didn't feel as if he could go to his teachers for additional help.

"They just told me to go to summer school if I failed," he said.

By the
end of November, it seemed as if the only thing fun about school was goofing around with friends. But that didn't last either.

"We were messing around and it escalated," Phillip said. "He was still playing in physical science and he poured water on my book bag."

Phillip said the teacher sent him to the office to report the incident to the vice-principal, then excused his friend from class to cool down.

But instead of cooling down his frien
d followed him to the office.

"He got all up in my face," Phillip said. "I pushed him off and he rushed me. We both got suspended for 10 days."

The
time away from school didn't help his grades.

"I couldn't understand much of it and the only help I had was my books," he said.

When he returned to school he said some teachers offered 30 minute tutoring blocks after school, but he was too far behind to catch up.

His mother, Gina Mitchell, is a single parent of four. She said she was relying on the school to provide her son with the help he needed
to get through the year.

"I assumed there were school programs there to help," she said.

She figured no phone calls meant there was no problem.

Then the progress report came home.

"I had never got Fs before, but I ended up with Fs in world geography, comp lit, physical science, computers and civics," Phillip said.

His mother hired a private tuto
r and started working part-time so she could spend more time at home to help with academics. But when the school year ended they received a notice in the mail saying Phillip woul
d have to repeat another semester in the 9th grade.

"It's hard to motivate him now," his mother said. "He just feels like they don't care."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Black male suspension and expulsions

Whether the school was predominantly black or white didn't make much of a difference, black males were typically suspended or expelled most often.

Below is a chart that details the percentage o
f black makes enrolled in each school and the percentages of black males suspended and expelled out of the total number of students who were suspended and expelled at each school during the 2003/2004 school year.


School.....black males enrolled....black males suspended...black males expelled

Elemen
tary school

Bartow.........43 percent............73 percent.............0

Bloomingdale..9 percent.......20 percent.............0

Butler...........47 perc
ent......69 percent.............0

East Broad ....51 percent......79 percent......75 percent (3 of 4)

Ellis..........25 percent.........39 percent......100 percent (3 of 3)

Gadsden.....48 percent.........70 percent..............0

Garden City.37 percent........30 percent.............0

Garrison......50 percent.......67 percent............0

Georgetown...18 percent...... 48 percent.......... 0

Gould...........24 percent......45 percent...........0

Haven...........48 percent......76 percent..........0

Heard...........35 pe
rcent......59 percent...........0

Hesse...........17 percent......48 percent............0

Hodge........50 percent......63 percent......100 percent (1 of 1)

Howard......10 percent......27 percent.............0

Islands.......41 percent....
.... 69 percent............0

Isle of Hope...29 percent...52 percent.............0

Largo-Tibet....38 percent ...56 percent........ 100 percent (1of 1)

Low...........49 percent........68 percent.......... .0

Marshpoint ...16 percent...43 percent .............0

Pooler........10 percent...26 percent.................0

Port Wentworth..17 percent.....46 percent..................0

Pulaski....41 percent......100 percent (3 of 3)......0

Smith...27 percent........48 percent.................0

Southwest.27 percent.....51 percent...............0

Spencer....51 percent.....66 percent..............0

Thunderbolt 44 percent...64 percent.............0

West Chatham..19 percent......29 percent...........0

White Bluff...37 percent...63 percent..
...........0

WindsorForest...31 percent.........0.................100 percent (1 of 1)

Middle school:

Bartlett.......42 percent...57 percent.......100 percent (1 of 1)

Coast
al...... 16 percent...49 percent.......100 percent (2 of 2)

DeRenne...40 percent...62 percent.......100 percent (1 of 1)

Hubert......53 percent...65 per
cent..........100 percent (4 of 4)

Mercer......31 percent...46 percent....................0

Myers.......45 percent....64 percent....................0

Oglethorpe .18 percent... not provided.......100 percent (1 of 1)

Shuman....37 percent......63 percent.....................0

Southwest..29 percent......51 percent........100 percent (3 of 3)

Tompkins..48 percent......... 0.............69 percent (18 of 26)

West Chatham20 percent...28 percent.......50 percent (1 of 2)

High school:

Beach......43 percent......47 percent.......86 percent (12 of 14)

Groves...28 percent......40 percent..........27 percent

Jenkins....32 percent......47 percent
.........60 percent

Johnson....30 percent......45 percent..........33 percent

Savannah Arts 6 percent...0...................
.....0

Savannah High.43 percent.....70 percent.........62 percent

Windsor Forest...24 percent..38 percent .........43 percent

Suspension and
expulsions

Total students: 33,722

Black male students: 11,141

Elementary

Total suspended : 1,309

Total of expelled : 11

Black males suspended: 787

Black males expelled: 9

Middle

Total suspended: 1,633

Total expelled: 40

Black males suspended: 871

Black males expelled: 30

High

Total suspended: 1,379

Total expelled: 127

Black males suspended: 618

Black males expelled: 74

On the web

For a chart that details suspensions and expulsions at each school during the 2003/2004 school year, go to www.savannahnow.com and click on Cast Out.

********************

He found that teachers are typically uncomfortable with active mannerisms, physi
cal communication styles,
which are popular among black males, and perceive them as combative or argumentative.

"Fear may also contribute to over-referral," he wrote. "Teachers who are prone to accepting stereotypes of adolescent African-American males as threatening or dangerous may overreact."

Gee, so much here I don't know where to begin. Let's look at homicide rates for young men and women. Please notice the scales on the y axis are different for whites and blacks for both males and females.

It appears that University of Indiana professor Russell Skiba is full of feces, so much so that it's probably pouring out his
ears.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

NAACP chastises Fryer for F schools

The Jacksonville branch of the NAACP on Monday called on Duval County Public Schools to transfer highly qualified teachers to Jacksonville's failing schools and for Superintendent John Fryer to take personal responsibility for the district's worst performers.

Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People demanded the changes because of "extreme disappointment and grave concern about what is happening to the schools in the African-American community," sa
d Isaiah Rumlin, president of the Jacksonville branch.

Eight Duval County schools earned at least two F grades in four years based on scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. That mea
ns their students may transfer to better-performing public schools or req
uest vouchers for private schools. Three others received their first failing grades in the past four years.

Nearly all of the students at those schools are African-American. Students who don' pass the FCAT in high school don't receive diplomas.

"This is a crisis in the community," Rumlin said. "If the community isn't upset with the conditions in failing schools, something is wrong with the community."

The organization released a list of 25 recommendations for the School Board. Rumlin said he would deliver the recommendations to school officials.

One calls for tying Fryer's salary increase and contract extension to the schools' success. If the district doesn't e
liminate all failing schools by the 2005-06 school year, the NAACP suggests limiting Fryer's contract to one year and offering no raise. Fryer is in the middle of a three-year contract.

&q
uot;This administration has failed our children," said Tom Diamond, pastor of Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, which founded
the failing charter school Horizons Unlimited. "Why do we punish the children and let the superintendent keep his job? ... We're paying big salaries and our children are coming home with certificates of completion and not diplomas."

Equal ... or not?

The NAACP is planning a summit in October to discuss the differences in educational opportunities for white and black children.

Fryer said some problems are out of his control -- such as getting children ready to learn before they enter the school district or making sure "totally irresponsible" parents bring young children to school on time.<
/b>

"Neither of us can work miracles, either you or the school district," Fryer said. "... This finger-pointing doesn't help."

He said the community should cele
brate the district's progress. Fryer cited the increase in A schools since he became superintendent in 1998, from 10 to 51 this spring.

NAACP Education Chairwoman Olivia Gay Davis asked parents to keep their children in their o
riginal schools instead of transferring them -- and their funding -- to new schools. She said Ribault High School earned its third consecutive failing grade this year because many top-performing students left. If students stay at their home schools, their teachers and principals can monitor their progress over time, she said.

The NAACP also called for placing highly qualified teachers in the worst schools and paying them extra to be there. Failing schools should have only nationally certified teachers, according to the recommendations.

Other suggestions incl
uded enforcing a dress code, giving laptop computers to students struggling in math and reading, and opening school media centers after school and on weekends to tutor students.

&q
uot;Our schools, once a pride of our community, are now a source of controversy and inequity," Rumlin said, reading a statement. "We have watched with dismay their descent into confusion and failure. If our schools are to offer their population of min
ority children access to the American dream, a powerful political force must move into the educational arena and demand change. That is exactly what we intend to do. The alternative is complete failure and destruction of urban schools."

School Board Chairwoman Martha Barrett said she has "full confidence" in Fryer and would wait to comment on the NAACP's proposal until she sees Fryer's plans for the failing schools, scheduled for release Friday.

Improving the district's worst schools is "our greatest challenge,&qu
ot; she said. "We're very concerned about it. We won't be happy until all F's are erased."

Fryer said his plan for failing schools includes some of the NAACP&#39
;s suggestions, including offering incentives for teachers who work in troubled schools.

"We're all accountable," Fryer said. "I don't mind being held accountable. But like I said, I can't create miracles."

NAACP recommendations for faili
ng FCAT schools

To the parents of students who received letters informing you that you may transfer your child from one of the failing schools, do not transfer them. Leave them there and monitor your child, the teachers and the administration.

Tie the superintendent's salary increase or extension of contract to the elimination of all "failing schools." If these schools are not remov
ed off the list by the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, his contract should be reduced to one year and he should receive no increase in salary.

If any of these schoo
ls (schools with an F grade) receive another F grade, the [school system] should take immediate steps to transfer all national board-certified teachers to these schools.

The superintendent and his staff should hold quarterly meetings in Challenged Schools Districts Regions I and II to explain to parents, the NAACP and the entire community the progress or lack of progress being made by these schools.

The district
technology department should make available "loaner laptops" to Level II students so that they can access the FCAT Explorer math and reading tutorials from their home.

All failing schools should have their media center open for a minimum of three hours after school and on Saturday to assist with reading and literacy.

Place highly qualified, committed and experi
enced administrators, faculty and staff at failing schools and provide extra compensation for them.

Provide extensive professional development
for all school personnel. The training must include sensitivity training and the infusion of African-American history into the curriculum.

Technology must be an integral part of all schools, maintained and in operation at all times, with adequate training provided to staff.

Require continuity and regular attendance of all staff and students.

Allow schools the flexibility to choose and implement best practices that are appropriate for the students that
they serve.

Have schools develop individual instructional plans for each student at or below Level 2.

District support must be evident at all levels, i.e., social workers must visit homes of truant students and help parents develop strategies to get their children to school and on time. There should be a check and balance system to as
sure that these visits are made.

Make sure that the academic courses offered students are those that will help them master the Sunshine State Standards assessed on the
FCAT, for example, no later than 10th grade all students should have taken Algebra 1 and English I and II.

Restore discipline by requiring a dress code for students, faculty and staff.

Hold students accountable for their behavior. If they don't follow the Code of Conduct or the school's rules, require parents to come in for a conference or suspend them from classes or school until their behavior improves.

Implement and enforce parental involvement programs to strengthen parent accou
ntability.

Support and strengthen the use of Project REACH.

There must be a greater effort in staffing Project Reach Full Service School Program and providing extensive marketing to the community of its offerings.

Work with community organizations and groups to provide coordinated services to students and p
arents that reinforce the schools' instructional program. These organizations could include but not be limited to City of Jacksonville's Recreation Department and all
of the Club Rec sites, Jacksonville public libraries, Jacksonville Police Athletic League, Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls Inc., all local churches, fraternities and sororities.

Strengthen the partnership with the City of Jacksonville to improve and enrich neighborhoods, such as parks, recreational facilities, shopping, eateries and cultural events.

Work with all social service agencies, HUD and HUD tenant groups to help parents develop realistic strategies to discipline their children and to help their children be prepared
to get a good education.

Work with the ministerial organizations to help local churches that do not have a reading program and/or tutorial program for children, establish at least a reading program.

Work with the local media to encourage and inform parents about what to do to help their childre
n get a quality education. For example, start now getting ready for the opening of school by telling parents how to read and use progress reports, when to expect report c
ards, and how to cooperate with teachers.
Invite and award grants to churches and community organizations to implement after school tutorial programs.

We support the old African proverb which says, "It takes a whole village to raise a child." Based on this proverb, we implore everyone-- the superintendent, School Board members, parents, students, teachers, administrators, staff, and the community -- to let us all join together and work with our failing schools so that next year we will have no failing schools.

**************
**********
************************

The Jacksonville branch o
f the NAACP on Monday called on Duval County Public Schools to transfer highly qualified teachers to Jacksonville's failing schools and
for Superintendent John Fryer to take personal responsibility for the district's worst performers.

One would think that before calling on others to take personal responsibility, you n-ggers would show some good faith by taking personal responsibility your own bad selves, but you being n-ggers, we know that's never going to happen.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Summer tutorial benefits third graders who attend

Bright orange "Testing" signs were posted on doors at Gadsden Elementary summer school last Tuesday.

The students who were behind in reading and math during the regular school year were taking exams to determine how much ground they had made up during the 15-day Savannah-Chatham County School's Elementary Summer Reading/Mathematics Institute.

"I know I'm ready for the fourth-grade,&
uot; 9-year-old Larry Williams said after completing his math post-test.

Each of the district's elementary schools offer free summer school for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Stude
nts who are struggling in reading and math are recommended for the summer session by their teachers.

About 90 percen
t of those recommended attended.

All 274 third-graders who failed the reading portion of the state mandated CRCT exam were recommended for intensive reading instruction to prepare them to pass a retest administered at the end of the summer school session and become eligible for promotion to the fourth grade.

About 72 percent participated.

"It's our way of extending the school year so they won't have that huge gap over the summer," said Gadsden summer school lead teacher Edna Mason. "Some children aren't able to grasp everything during the school year, but in this smaller setting they can focus in on what they missed."

Bu
t it is an opportunity that parents of some struggling children chose to pass by.

Although most parents enrolled their children, the district can't require them to participate in activities o
utside of the normal school year and scheduled school day.

Teachers recommended 1,320 for summer remediation, about 132 never showed and about 12 more stopped coming befo
re the 15 days were up, according to Dottie Overstreet, who heads up the district's academic services office.

And on the first day of the CRCT retest 76 of the 274 third graders who failed the initial test given in the spring didn't show.

Third graders who fail the CRCT will not be promoted to the fourth grade unless they pass the retest, those who did not participate in the summer reading session will not be allowed to appeal.

Gadsden officials said they had expected more than 100 students to attend the reading and math sessions at their school but 65 actually showed up. As each week passed by the
number dropped to as low as 56.

Patricia Mitchell taught Larry's third-grade reading and math class at Gadsden. This summer they read every day and studied graphs, fractions, probabili
ty and place value.

"Place value was the hardest concept for them to learn," Mitchell said. "Once we got past the hundreds and into thousands they got confused. We spent a week practicing place
value."

Students who participate in summer school get a unique opportunity to keep practicing until they get it. Mitchell said that the children in her summer class were extremely bright, but unprepared - coming to school distracted, without proper rest, nutrition, basic skills, homework or motivation.

Once those issues were addressed, progress came quickly.

And progress made summer school more fun than spending the day watching cartoons and playing outside, according to Larry.

"I learned about place value and more about reading," he said. "
It's more fun when you're good at it."

**********************
Recipe for getting n-gger chilluns to learn:

1. Make them go to school year round.
2. Drag them
to school, then feed them cause dey mammy ain't gonna do it.
3. Give them the 'test' as soon as they learn whatever well enough to make the minimum score, else they will forget.

T.N.B.

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

Recipe for getting Vandal n-gger chilluns to learn:

1. Make them go to school year round.
2. Drag them to school, then feed them cause dey mammy ain't gonna do it.
3. Give them the 'test' as soon as they learn whatever well enough to make the minimum score, else they will forget.

1 and 2 are quite feasible...as for 3...I don't know...Vandals can't get math, English and the sciences through their thi
k skulls into their bulbous heads!!!
:tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

An excercise in total futility!!!

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Education money pit By Cal Thomas

Observation and common sense have told me for years there is no relationship between money spent on education and student achievement. Now a new study to be released today by the Cato Institute provides irrefutable facts that lead to the same conclusion.

Neal McCluskey, an education policy analyst for Cato, notes that, while federal spending on education has ballooned from about $25 billion in 1965 (adjusted for inflation) to more than $108 billion in 2002, the promise of improved classroom performance and grades remains flat. "Math
and reading scores have stagnated," says Mr. McCluskey, "graduation rates have flatlined, and researchers have shown several billion-dollar federal programs to be failures."

Will
that awaken politicians to cut these failed programs and return
education authority to the states? Not in an election year, it won't, because politicians believe education is an issue that gets them votes, even though, as the Cato study shows, they have failed miserably to improve it.

More than 36 federal departments and organizations run major education programs, according to the Education Department Statistics. What are they doing with the money if so much of it fails to produce the promised results? Why is a school system that dates as far back as the Massachusetts Colony's 1647 Old Deluder Satan Act --which established the first compulsory and partially public education (and was intended to ensure that all members of the Colony were sufficiently literate to read the Bible, enabling t
hem to "fend off the inducements of Satan") --turning out so many functional illiterates who so willingly give in to all sorts of modern temptations?

Mostly, it is because state an
d local authority over education has been gradually usurped by the federal g
overnment, which has no constitutional authority to run or dictate to local schools. But as Washington has gradually claimed more power over education, states have less power and have been forced to succumb to increasing federal regulation in exchange for federal dollars taken from its citizens in the first place.

The top six departments engaged in education spending and the amounts they spent in current dollars in 1965 and 2002 are as follows: Health and Human Services ($1billion in '65; $22.9 billion in '02); Education ($1 billion in '65; $46 billion in '02; Agriculture ($768 million in '65, $11 billion in '02); Defense ($587 million in '65; $4.7 billion i
n '02); Energy ($442.4 million in '65; $3. billion in '02); and Labor ($230 million in '65; $6.4 billion in '02). Even after programs and spending had shown l
ack of results, only a very few were removed in the last 39 years.

It's the "one-size-fits-all, we-know-w
hat's-best-for-you-mentality" of Washington that has some states complaining about the "No Child Left Behind" mandate that demands states squeeze students through standardized tests and achievement models into a mold designed by politicians and administered by bureaucrats. When these strategies fail, the government mostly does not end or change them. It throws more money at them.

One of the justifications for this socialistic redistribution of education money is the egalitarian objective of assuring the poor get their fair share and supposedly improve their chances of escaping poverty. But the Cato study again proves the failure of this thinking. Statistics sho
w no correlation between the amounts of education money spent and a decline in the poverty levels in individual states.

As the Cato study concludes, the
federal government should drop out of education and return the money and power for instructing children to the state and individual communities. Education achievement
was better when it was practiced in the little red schoolhouse and didn't come as it does today from the big White House and its Cabinet agencies. The billions wasted on education since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society has been a financial and educational disaster, not to mention a violation of the Constitution.

**********************
It warms the cockles of my heart to read such an article! Thanks Cal, you da man!

T.N.B.

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

Please support higher education! Send a full grown Vandal buck to first grade!
:tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Plagiarism Scandal Apparently Hurts Cook In Re-Election Bid

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. -- Tuesday's Orange County School Board election had an added twist.

Keith Cook said he was sorry that an "honest mistake" cost him a shot at re-election to the Orange County School Board.

Keith Cook was solidly in last place in his bid for re-election, receiving just 14 percent of the votes of all 17 precincts reporting.

In May, then-Board Chairman Cook was sharply criticize
after admitting he plagiarized a graduation speech. He resigned as chairman but kept his seat on the board.

Critics had suggested Cook resign from the board altogether. But he refused. Tuesda
y, the voters decided Cook will not serve another term.

Four people finished ahead of Cook, led by Liz Brown.
Three will be sworn in next month.

"I got into a lot of trouble for that (plagiarism), and it probably cost me the election," Cook said late Tuesday night. "It was an honest mistake.

"The bottom line is, I have been to this community a very good school board member. I feel bad about it (the loss) tonight, but tomorrow, I'll be O.K."

****************
I'm glad you lost, n-gger.

T.N.B.

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

Another plagiarist like Michael King aka Martin Luther King Kong Jr.! I
guess he was "plagiarizing for God" like MLKKjr. :lol: :rotfl:

 

[Crusader]

16

50 YEARS OF DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA.Countless cities ,neighborhoods and schools destroyed by intergration in the past 50 years and there are people proud of this?

 

[The Bobster]

16

Ejumacation is the only business where the worse you fail, the more money you get.

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

Originally posted by The Bobster@Jul 25 2004, 11:51 AM
Ejumacation is the only business where the worse you fail, the more money you get.

That has been my personal experience; the more money and jobs you throw at the Vandal nigggers, the more they bite you back and blame "Whitey" To Hell with their whining and b'itching! Let them earn their bread or let them eat Jekem!!!

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Integration slips by choice

TAMPA - Many mornings Lawrence Slaton walks his grandson, Roneill, to Sheehy Elementary, a new school off 40th Street in East Tampa. Afternoons, he walks again to pick him up.

That wasn't the case last year, when the 7-year-old rode a bus 8 miles to Folsom Elementary in Thonotosassa. Slaton could have sent the boy back to Folsom this year, but instead chose the school down the street.

"It's more convenient for me," Slaton said last week. "He's closer to home."

Like Slaton, hundreds of black parent
or grandparents have chosen to send their children to neighborhood schools, opting against having them far from home in more integrated settings. After 33 years of busing, this was the first time many
Hillsborough families had that option.

The result?

In the
first year of a voluntary desegregation plan called controlled choice, schools have begun to resegregate.

Sam Horton, president of the Hillsborough NAACP, called the movement predictable.

"This is back to the future," said Horton, a critic of the choice plan, which replaced busing for integration and cost at least $4.6-million to launch. "It's a very expensive boondoggle."

Sheehy and four other schools that opened as traditional elementary and middle schools in largely black neighborhoods this year have African-American enrollments of more than 80 percent.

In turn, the countywide number of racially identifiable schools - those with more than
a 40 percent black enrollment - has increased from 27 last year to 33 this year.

Black enrollment also grew at three magnet schools in urban neighborhoods: Stewart Middle School, Lomax Elementar
y and Lincoln Elementary.

At Lewis Elementary in Temple Terrace, black enrollment dropped from 33 percent to 20 percent, after some of it
s students gave up busing to attend neighborhood schools.

The numbers come from counts collected on the fifth day of classes.

Enrollment figures to be taken this week, the fourth week of school, will give a clearer picture of the choice plan's effect on integration.

But early reports suggest the difficulty educators will have keeping schools diverse without court-ordered integration. It's a lesson for other school districts such as Pinellas, which expects to stop using race ratios in 2007.

Hillsborough superintendent Earl Lennard said he is less concerned about the growing racial division between schools than he is with the qua
lity of the education in the classrooms.

"What we've done is allowed parents a say in where their children go to school," he said.

Federal court supervision ended in 2001
, but the school district continued busing for integration through the end of last year.

Controlled choice, which began this fall, is designed to maintain racial diversity while givi
ng students a wider selection of schools. It encourages children to enroll in schools outside their neighborhoods. But it also allows thousands of black children to attend neighborhood schools rather than be bused to more distant ones.

Based on parent responses last year, school officials believed almost half of the children who were bused for desegregation wanted to continue their cross-county commutes.

But by the time classes started, fewer than one-third did.

In the first few days of school, about 1,300 children who had changed their minds and picked neighborhood schools overwhelmed campuses such as Booker
T. Washington and James, both of which opened in black communities to serve grades K-8.

"It's like anything else," said James principal Jeff Millman. "Do you want t
o drive 5 miles to go to a store or 2 miles?"

Overall, participation in the choice plan has dipped significantly.

By the second week of school, the number of students participating in the choice plan was 3,235 -
half the 6,488 who signed up last year. About 46,000 students could have participated.

The district received a $10-million, five-year grant to implement choice. The money pays for salaries and marketing. After two years of spending, that equals about $1,415 for each child who participated.

To the NAACP's Horton, that seems like a waste of money that could have helped improve instruction and reduce class sizes.

Horton values integration and worries about a return to an unequal dual school system, one mostly black and the other mostly white, with an unfair
distribution of resources and quality teaching.

"We have some very serious concerns," he said.

But what about the black parents who are thrilled to have schools in t
he neighborhood?

"Go back to 1954," Horton said. That's when Brown vs. Board of Education declared separate-but-equal schools unconstitutional. "Some were elated then, too. It's just some people have a vision and know the debilitating effects of one-race sc
hools."

At the new Sheehy Elementary, principal Carolyn Hill said she has already noticed more participation in school events by black parents. At a Thursday morning program celebrating outstanding students, dozens of parents showed up.

"It's a wonderful thing for children who have been bused out of their community for 30 years," she said. "Their parents can get involved where they couldn't before because they are much closer."

That night, Tracey Co
uncil, 35, expected to attend a meet-the-teacher event at the school. She wishes Sheehy were more integrated, but her main concern is how much her son learns.

"So far, so goo
d," Council said. "This is a trial run for me."

******************

"Go back to 1954," Horton said. That's when Brown vs. Board of Education declared separate-but-equal schools unconstitutional. "Some were elated then, too. It's just some people have a vision and know the debilitating effects of one-race schools."

I have not
noticed any debilitating effects on all white schools so this must mean that you niqqers can't take care of your own educational needs, but we k
new that already!

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

NAACP forum addresses academic gap

Educators, NAACP members and parents gathered Monday at Byrns Darden Elementary School to discuss the growing academic gap between black children and their peers.

The NAACP and the Clarksville-Montgomery County school system initiated the education forum to open the lines of communication between parents and educators. Schools Director Sandra Husk told the crowd of more than 50 people that concerns about the achievement levels among black children are an issue nationwide.

"It's not because the kids aren't smart
nough or they aren't motivated," Husk said. "A lot of it has to do with their socioeconomic background and their exposure to language."

Husk highlighted a graph that showed chi
ldren are close to or meeting state and national math averages but lag signi
ficantly in language skills.

She went on to cite a statewide school study that linked language skills to a child's wealth. The study showed children who grow up in welfare families are exposed to 616 words an hour, a working class child is exposed to 1,251 words an hour and a child from a professional family is exposed to even more words--2,153 words an hour.

"We are here tonight to look at some causes of our children's performance but more importantly to look at solutions," said Byrns Darden Elementary principal Nora Wyatt. "We need everyone's input."

A panel of local teachers from several schools gave insight on different teaching styles.

Roberta Tharp, a Moor
e Elementary kindergarten teacher and panel member said she has seen increased confidence in students by meeting with them to set individualized goals.

"If the goal for that particular stude
nt is to spell their name, than that's what we do," Tharp said. "They know what their own goals are. I keep on them and I rewar
d them for meeting their goals."

Parents in the audience praised Tharp's individualized teaching and encouraged teachers to adjust their teaching to the different personalities of minority children.

"I don't have any problems with my son at home," said Kimetha Jones, a parent of a sixth grader. "At school he speaks out a lot and can be labeled a troublemaker. He's outgoing and I wish that was encouraged at times instead of labeled."

Many principals are already in the process of establishing "sensitivity" training for teachers to learn
more about the different personalities of children and how their socioeconomic and racial backgrounds may influence those differences, said Rosalyn Evans, director of secondary education for the sch
ool system.

"The training helps teachers learn who their students really are and where they really come from," Evans said.

Teachers and staff at Kenwood Elementary, Middle and High schools will go through training in the sp
ring called "Understanding Poverty," and officials at Rossview High recently toured Lincoln Homes to understand the community, Evans said.

Officials at Northeast High and Middle schools and Montgomery Central Middle and High schools are also focused on sensitivity training for their teachers, Evans said.

The school system is encouraging each school to research and establish ways for their teachers to better understand their students, Evans said.

But even with teacher training, a child's education can only go
so far without the help of their parents, said District 3 School Board member and forum panelist Horace Murphy.

"Some parents think once a child hits ninth grade they are okay and t
hey don't concern themselves with their school work," Murphy said. "But high school is when kids need their parents most."

Murphy also spoke to the pastors in the audience and asked them to use their influence to reach out to parents.

"Pastors are a great link to volunteers and tuto
rs for our children," Murphy said.

Parents and educators continued to ask questions on why black children make up only a quarter of the school system but are responsible for almost half the suspensions.

"Each parent needs to read the student code of conduct and educate themselves on what causes a suspension," Wyatt said. "They need to meet with teachers as often as possible."

Parents also expressed concerns for
and how to better open dialogue among black parents who may feel snubbed by white teachers and principals.

"Don't be afraid to speak up and let principals know what you
are feeling," Husk said. "Parents can also go through the appropriate channels at the central office. We have people who are paid to take care of those issues."

Although the meeting drew a decent sized crowd, organizers say they will continue to hold similar forums to reach all parents.

"Meetings like this are a giant step in bettering the education for black students," said
NAACP president Jesse Owens. "But I'd like to see more of the parents who typically don't come out for this sort of thing show up. Those are the ones we also need to reach."

***************

She w
ent on to cite a statewide school study that linked language skills to a child's wealth. The study showed children who grow up in welfare families are exposed to 616 words an hour, a
working class child is exposed to 1,251 words an hour and a child from a professional family is exposed to even more words--2,153 words an hour.

Just give every nigger a million dollars and watch those test scores soar!

Reference:

"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¢ Whites from families with incomes of less than $10,000 had a mean SAT score of 980. This is 123 points higher than the national mean for all blacks.
"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¢ Whites from families with incomes below $10,000 had a mean SAT test score that was 46 points higher than blacks
whose families had income
s of between $80,000 and $100,000.
"â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�Å¡¢ Blacks from families with incomes of more than $100,000 had a mean SAT score that was 142 points below
the mean score for whites from families at the same income level.
The Expanding Racial Scoring Gap Between Black and White SAT Test Takers

T.N.B.

 

[Gman]

16

"It's not because the kids aren't smart enough or they aren't motivated," Husk said. "A lot of it has to do with their socioeconomic background and their exposure to language."


bullsh*t!!!!!!!! It totally is because the little future criminals are not even close to the white race in smarts. Countless studies prove it but the PC crowd will not admit it even for a second. They should hire me to do the diversity sensitivity training. I would open a few eyes!!!!

Gman

 

[Xuxa the White]

16

Originally posted by Gman@Sep 14 2004, 07:02 PM
"It's not because the [Vandal Knee-grow] kids aren't smart enough or they aren't motivated," Husk said. "A lot of it has to do with their socioeconomic background and their exposure to language."


bullsh*t!!!!!!!! It totally is because the little future Vandal criminals are not even close to the White race in smarts. Countless studies prove it but the PC crowd will not admit it even for
a second. They should hire me to do the diversity sensitivity training. I would open a few eyes!!!!

Gman

!!!AMEN, BROTHER!!! Vandal sims (simians) are much less developed brainwise than Humans! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Mayor: Nix her pension

September 23, 2004

If it were up to the mayor, the disgraced former superintendent who allegedly faked credentials throughout her 25-plus years in the schools system would get her walking papers without her pension.

But it may not be that easy.

"The question is the law ... ," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday, responding to quest
ons about the former superintendent, Joan Mahon-Powell. "Generally speaking, you, no matter what you do, you can't have your pension taken away from you.

"That's the pens
ion law, and I happen to think the law is wrong," he said. "Your pension should be something that you could potentially lose."

Mahon-Powell, who pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor forgery Tuesday after a city report found that she tampered with a co-worker's credentials to make them look like her own, earned $135,200 in her most recent position but made as much as $152,500 at one point.

Her lawyer, Marvin Pettus, could not be reached to comment yesterday.

Mahon-Powell was fired last year and put on an ineligible list for future employment Tuesday after being accused of fraud. She managed to scam the system for up to 15 years, if not more, and rose through the ranks to become local instructional superintendent for Region
6 in Brooklyn before being caught.

Chancellor Joel Klein, meanwhile, pointed to the city's restructured system, which requires superintendents to provide credentials to the State Education
Department, as the reason why Mahon-Powell was caught. Despite the new system, Klein said there's always the possibility of fraud.

"In the real world ... people show up ... with phony resumes. You do yo
ur best to sort it out," he said. "Something like that can always happen despite your best efforts."

Mahon-Powell's credentials came under further scrutiny yesterday.

Mahon-Powell never received an undergraduate degree from Hunter College, where she was 25 credits short of graduating, yet she attended master's level classes at Brooklyn College, according to officials at the respective schools.

Beyond Mahon-Powell's teaching credentials, parents at IS 292 in Brooklyn remembered her
yesterday as a temperamental authoritarian who treated workers and parents with disrespect. Still, they were shocked by the fraud because of her meticulous ways.

"I was surpri
sed," said a woman who identified herself as B. Lucas and explained that she worked as parent leader at the school while Mahon-Powell was principal there in 2000. "Because she made sure that everything we did was by the book."

******************

Beyond Ma
hon-Powell's teaching credentials, parents at IS 292 in Brooklyn remembered her yesterday as a temperamental authoritarian who treated workers and parents with disrespect. Still, they were shocked by the fraud because of her meticulous ways.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--
>

What else would you expect from a nigger mammy?
Wake up America and smell the negro!

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Bad grades to hurt economy, study finds

The number of Jacksonville public school students who can't read at grade level would fill half the seats at Alltel Stadium.

Same story for the number of students below grade level in math.

If Jacksonville does nothing about these students, the city's future economic prospects will suffer.

That's what the civic group Jacksonville Community Council Inc. wants the city's residents to know from its study of why some students perform better than others in school.

The study, Public Education Ref
rm Phase Two -- Eliminating the Achievement Gap, describes the differences between students who score at grade level on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and those who have fallen behind. It also ma
kes recommendations for students, parents, educators and commu
nity members to improve public education.

JCCI presented its findings Thursday to a crowd of education and business leaders at the Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership. The message came in a chamber of commerce-style punch: Low-performing students affect Jacksonville's quality of life and its future economic prospects. Students who fail in school or drop out will become "a detriment to our community," the study said.

About 38,320 students scored at the lowest levels on the reading portion of the FCAT, and about 39,720 scored at the lowest levels in math. While these students come from different backgrounds, a majority are black, come from low-income homes, have a dis
ability or speak English as a second language.

According to the study, it's everyone's responsibility to help children learn. Some problems that start in the community affect what happens
in the classroom, including crime-ridden neighborhoods, inadequate health care and a lack of adult role
models.

But schools themselves also need to change, the study said. That means helping teachers -- who mostly come from the middle class -- relate to low-income students, encourage students of all races to take honors and Advanced Placement courses and stop promoting students who haven't mastered the skills to move on.

"This study does not call for a massive reform of our public education system," JCCI Executive Director Skip Cramer said. "Instead it calls for a revival of our public education system."

The study is the second half of a project on education reform that began in 2002. The first part identified the achievement gap as the most serious issue fac
ing Duval County schools, and the second half reports on how to close that gap.

The achievement gap exists before students enter school, the study said. The authors praised Mayor John Peyton&
#39;s efforts to raise the profile of early childhood literacy but urged him to increase funding from the $7 million in city money commit
ted to the cause. More than 60 percent of Duval County children go to school without kindergarten-level language skills, according to the study.

The authors call on the Alliance for World Class Education, a volunteer group of business leaders, to take a lead role in solving the problem. The study asked the alliance to convene an action group of education and service organizations to keep the spotlight on the achievement gap.

Duval County schools Superintendent John Fryer and School Board members attended the study's release. The schools already have some of the recommendations in place, Fryer said, including paying experienced teachers to work in the lowest-
performing schools and offering all students opportunities to take advanced courses.

"What it's saying is you have to have a more holistic approach if you want schools to do bett
er," Fryer said.

********************
Screw all that, send the nigger back to Afreaka and the spics back to spiclandia. Problem solved!

T.N.B.

n

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

School suspensions cause alarm

DURHAM -- Durham school administrators talked up their attempts to reduce suspensions rates and put in a plug for more money next year during a joint meeting with the county commissioners Monday night.

Several county commissioners have expressed grave concern in recent months over the district's high suspension rate. A January report revealed a 52 percent spike in short-term suspensions -- the largest increase in at least five years. County Commissioner Mary Jacobs, who is giving up her seat in November after not
seeking re-election, had requested that suspensions be added to Monday's agenda.

While stressing that bad student behavior has led to the increase, Associate Superintendent Carl Harris highlig
hted numerous steps the district has taken since January to cu
rb suspensions.

The steps include implementing "positive behavior support" programs at the schools and launching Project AAA, which matches students identified as being at risk for suspension because of past behavior or academic failings with counselors and school resources officers to help prevent further problems. Suspension numbers dropped significantly second semester.

"I believe our teachers and principals are doing the very best job that they can," Harris told the commissioners. "It would be much easier for us to point at each other. ... But we are doing everything that we can to help keep kids in schools."

Commission
er Joe Bowser, who lost his re-election bid, suggested that students alone should not shoulder the blame. School officials are putting teachers "on a pedestal," he said.

&quo
t;School administrators are going to have to be sure that students are getting a fair shake," Bowser said. "I hope that you don't go on a premise that teachers ar
e being fair to 100 percent of these kids, because they're not."

Commissioner Philip R. Cousin said that though the district says it has no "zero-tolerance" policy, he has witnessed what he would assume to be "isolated instances" of teachers practicing it.

The schools also presented the county with a letter highlighting several state mandates that they say have been continually underfunded.

School officials pointed out that while the state ordered class-size limits, the school system's budget included a $1.6 million "discretionary reduction." That reduction is money the
district had to pay back to the state after the final budget was passed. Because of the reduction, the district faced a net loss in teaching positions this year.

The district is having to pay
for an increasing number of positions solely from county money. Further, the district has to give all of its employees state-mandated salary increases and benefits. That's an additional $700,000 per 1 percent salary increase t
hat the district has to pay, said Associate Superintendent Hank Hurd.

"We wanted both our board and the board of county commissioners to understand the financial bind local school districts are increasingly in," Superintendent Ann Denlinger said after the meeting. "Since we come here for our budget, we thought it would be helpful in paving the way next year."

Denlinger also said she hoped the commissioners would help apply pressure to state officials to ease the "increased" financial burdens being placed on districts.

"Lo
cally, we can't do anything about that," she said.

At the suggestion of school board Vice Chairwoman Regina George-Bowden, the commissioners agreed to send a copy of the letter to
Durham's state delegates, as well as plan a meeting with them.

"It needs to get into a lot of people's hands," said board Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow.

**********
Reference:

Illuminating Suspension

[color=r
ed]March 8, 2000[/color]

Does color play a role in Durham schools' discipline procedures?

B Y D A M I E N J A C K S O N

"How in the hell could you be elected Superintendent of the Year when you are not doing your job?" shouts Carol Walthour, pointing a finger at Superintendent Ann Denlinger during a recent Durham School Board meeting. Her sharp remark comes after Walthour has told the audience of 50 about the
plight of her grandson, a former New Jersey honor student whose academic performance has steadily declined since transferring to the Durham public school system. After her outburst causes an a
wkward momentary silence, the Durham native resumes her commentary, asserting that her grandson is among many who are losing interest and dropping out of a school system unwilling to make a commitment to its African-American students.

Some have characterized criticism of Denlinger, who was recently chosen as the N.C. Association of School Administrators' Superintendent of the Ye
ar, as unwarranted. School Board member Arnold Spell told The News & Observer he was "sick and tired of people beating up on Ann," whom he believes is a hard worker with "a lot of respect from folks in the community."

Even some of her most vocal critics don't believe Denlinger, who assumed her post in 1997, is the root cause of problems African-American students are having in Durham. Local NAACP pres
ident Curtis Gatewood notes that his group demonstrated against the former interim superintendent, an African American, for similar reasons.


Anne Denlinger
<img src=
'http://indyweek.com/durham/2000-03-08/triangles-1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Statistics reveal the real source of frustration for many in the black community. According to the school system's own figures, 75 percent of the 681 students who dropped out during the 1997-98 school year were black, though African Americans only make up 57 percent of total students. At particular risk are bla
ck males: A separate N&O study showed that 70 percent entering Durham's high schools in 1994 failed to graduate four years later.

While a great deal of attention has been paid to the dropout rates, there's been less said about what looks like a genuine root cause: the large number of African-American male students serving
out-of-school suspensions. Sixty-one percent of all current out-of-school suspensions are being served by African-American males, as opposed to 7 percent for white males.

Few would dispute that there's a correlation between these numbers and dropout rates. Especially for those suspended on a long-term basis (11 days or more), the consequences of roaming the streets and falling behind on course work are well known. "They often don't return to school," admits Assistant Superintendent Bert L'Homme.

One reason for the suspension-to-dropout problem, L'Homme says, has been the lack of any educational program for students serving long-te
rm suspensions. In an effort to change this, L'Homme and Denlinger recently proposed a plan for such a program, unanimously approved by the School Board and county commissioners. Starting this fall, students serving long-term suspensions will be channeled into an Intervention Center staffed b
y teachers, social workers, psychologists and other "relevant professionals." Under the plan, endorsed by Durham's Youth Coordinating Board, the center's staff wil
l work with students and their parents to determine the causes of the students' behavior, provide applicable services and allow the youngsters to resume their course work.

"There will be a heavy concentration on establishing a personal relationship with the students and their families," says Denlinger, noting that many of these kids "don't see themselves as achievers. We want to provide a supportive environment for them to achieve."

But some feel that plans for the center largely miss the point.

"The Intervention Cente
r may become merely a pre-jail program for black children," says Gatewood, who led a group of 25 protesters into a January School Board meeting to call for an end to racial disparities in school suspension. Fir
st, Gatewood says, "We should be making sure African Americans aren't being unfairly suspended."

Gatewood recently
wrote Denlinger with several recommendations: Use out-of-school suspensions as a last resort, and only when school safety is jeopardized; stop placing so many black children in special-education classes and alternative programs; and follow the lead of systems like Union County's by hiring consultants with expertise in motivating black students.

Gatewood received a response from the superintendent's office in January, thanking him for his ideas and indicating they'd been forwarded to another administrator for further consideration. But like other critics of the system, he's not satisfied by that, or by plans for the center.

"Nothing in t
he administration's plan stops black children from being unfairly disciplined," says Gatewood. Like the city's al
ternative schools for chronically disruptive students, he fears the Intervention Center will further encourage "a segregated school system with an inferior education fo
r black children. They should be planning ways to minimize the number of African Americans being kicked out of school in the first place."

Disparities in suspension and dropout rates are not unique to Durham. More than half of the black males entering high schools in the Wake County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro systems in 1994 failed to graduate four years later. And according to a recent report by the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center, black males represent 16 percent of the state's 1.2 million children, but 45 percent of the students on long-term suspension and 52 percent of those expelled.

Durham's first-quarter suspension figures for this school year are even m
ore dramatic. It's no surprise, in a school system where
African Americans make up a majority, that most students serving out-of-school suspensions are black. However, even in schools where they are in the minority, black stude
nts--males in particular--are the most likely to be suspended.

At Carrington Middle School, where black males make up 21 percent of the student population, they are six times more likely to serve out-of-school suspensions than their white male counterparts. At Durham School of Arts (DSA), where they also compose 21 percent of the student body, black males are eight times more likely to get out-of-school suspensions.

School officials know there's a problem. "We are very sensitive to these numbers and we deal with them openly," says DSA principal Ed Forsythe. "I often meet with staff on the issue. It's a constant task to find ways to ensure these students are getting what they need to stay in school and be productive."

With this ki
nd of awaren
ess not producing better results, is there a flaw inherent in the system? Not according to Levi Dawson, a hearing officer for the school system who attends all hearin
gs for students suspended long-term. "I believe suspension policies are being carried out objectively," he says.

Here's how those policies work: Once a teacher informs the principal of an infraction, the principal can suspend the student on a short-term basis. If a principal thinks long-term suspension is warranted, Superintendent Denlinger must approve the principal's recommendation.

"It's the school system's policy to go the extra mile to ensure these procedures are carried out fairly," says Denlinger. She notes that all out-of-school suspensions are reviewed at three levels: first by the principal and a committee of teachers, second by the superintendent, and finally by the School Board.

What's the racial breakdo
wn of these decision-makers? According to the state Department of Public
Instruction, there is an even split between whites and African Americans in the system&#3
9;s 42 principal posts. However, close to 70 percent of Durham's 2,073 public-school teachers--the ones who often initiate the suspension process--are white.

It would be dangerous to draw sweeping conclusions from that statistic. But folks like DSA teacher Alan Dehmer do believe the numbers point to something. "Black kids sometimes get written up for things that could be handled in the classroom," says Dehmer, who has taught in the Durham system for eight years. "Some level of disruption in the classroom is not hard to manage," he says, "especially if you know how to deal with it and not be intimidated by it." His fellow white teachers, Dehmer believes, can "sometimes misinterpret a situation, possibly due to a cultural fear of black males."

When asked if racial bias contributes to the disparities in suspension and dropout rates,
District Court Judge Elaine O'Neal replies without hesitation: "Of course it does. And anybody who denies it is telling a story."

In her courtroom, O'Neal frequently sees students who've incurred legal trouble while out on suspension. "We are all products of our environment," she says--which means that educators commonly have difficulty relating to people from different cultures. In the classroom, where "teachers have a mandate to produce results," O'Neal understands why there's a need to resort to disciplinary action at times. But when she sees suspended students who've gotten into trouble with the law, she often wants to ask a few questions of teachers and school officials: "What kind of interventions did you use prior to resorting to out-of-school suspen
sion? Did you talk to the parents? Did you employ other internal disciplinary actions first?"

This past fall, similar questions from a nu
mber of parents and the local NAACP chapter prompted the federal Office of Civi
l Rights to launch an investigation--which continues--into disciplinary practices at Durham's largest high school, Riverside. In one case under review, an African-American male was given a seven-day out-of-school suspension by a white assistant principal for what was documented as a "near-fight." In other words, the student was put out of school for a week for a fight that didn't occur.

Among other cases under review is the relatively light punishment a white female received for stealing a friend's car during school, driving it off the premises and wrecking it in an accident. The student's punishment was five days of in-school suspension.

The principal at the time of both incidents has since left Riverside. The assistant principal who wrot
e up the "near-fight" did not return The Independent's phone calls about this incident.

"Like any system of rules, those wh
o enforce them have a lot of discretion in determining who gets punished, and how severe that punishment is," says Greg Malhoit,
executive director of the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center. As an attorney, Malhoit has represented suspended students in court.

"It's just like our criminal-justice system," he says. "One driver gets a warning, the other a speeding ticket."

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This problem has been going of forever and it is not limited to Durham North Carolina, either. The problem isn't caused by the teachers nor the administrators. The problem is caused by niggers. Get rid of the niggers and you get rid of the problem.

T.N.B.

 

[Tyrone N. Butts]

16

Northwest Rankin star denied due process, DA says

Madison-Rankin County District Attorney David Clark says the Rankin County school district denied Northwest Rankin High School football and basketball star Jeremy Bibbs due process and should have a hearing to determine whether to expel him.

Clark said in a letter Monday to the Rankin County School Board that Bibbs did not receive due process when Superintendent Lynn Weathersby dismissed the 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior from the football team and barred him from participating in extracurricular activities.
eathersby reversed a decision of Bibbs' coach to allow Bibbs to continue playing after the student was indicted on a felony drug charge.

Because the alleged incident occurred off campus, "it
wouldn't fall within our policy for expulsion," Sch
ool Board president Debbie Hankins said Monday. Had it happened on campus, Bibbs likely would have been expelled, she said.
A school board hearing wasn't necessary on whether Bibbs should be allowed to play sports because participation in extracurricular activities is a privilege, Hankins said.

"In this case, Dr. Weathersby made an administrative decision the other day," Hankins said. Bibbs' case has not come before the school board in an official capacity, she said.

Weathersby would not comment Monday. A district spokeswoman said he would have a statement today concerning Clark's letter.

Bibbs, 18, was indicted by a Rankin County grand jury on Sept. 22. He was charged in March with selling 3.9 gram
s of crack cocaine in Rankin County in August 2003. His trial date is Feb. 15. If convicted, Bibbs faces up to 30 years in prison and up to a $1 million fine.

If school officials deter
mine Bibbs sold crack cocaine, he should "absolutely" be expelled, Clark said Monday.

"A
ll areas of discipline should be brought up," Clark said. "The indictment should not be used to expel him or to keep him off the football team. What should keep him off is if he committed a serious act that warrants serious discipline.

"If the committee or whatever the school sets up finds that he sold crack cocaine, he should be expelled from school ... but only after giving him a hearing where he gets to call all of his witnesses."

On Sept. 24, two days after the indictment, Bibbs played a key role in a 37-15 victory over Oak Grove. On Sept. 27, Northwest Rankin coach David Coates said the indictment changed nothing about Bibbs' status and his presumption
of innocence.

At the time, Clark said he thought until the situation was resolved "it would seem inappropriate for this person to be involved in athletics and held up as a role model.&
quot;

Two days later, Weathersby overruled Coates' decision. Weathersby discussed with school board members his decision to bar Bibbs from playing s
ports, said Bridget Hallett, public information officer for Rankin County schools.

Told about Clark's letter, Bibbs' father, James Scott, said, "I'm just sitting and waiting. I really don't know what's what. I'm just going to leave it there and just wait."

Bibbs, who rushed for 552 yards and four touchdowns on 63 carries for the Cougars this season, could not be reached for comment.

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Wake up America and smell the negro!

T.N.B.