The Coup d'etat of the J.O. Johnson High School PTSA

 

Huntsville Superintendent Casey Wardynski, center, and school board president Laurie McCaulley, right, listen Monday afternoon as Huntsville resident Carlos Mathews talks about the choosing of possible names for a new northwest Huntsville high school to replace Johnson High. Behind Mathews are pictures of astronauts Ronald McNair and Mae Carol Jemison, whose names may grace the new high school and a new junior high to be built on the same campus. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com)

Cue in music to The Harper Valley PTA

I want to tell you all a story about the Coup d'etat of  the J.O.Johnson PTA

After a prayer vigil to pray for peace and equality in the school district

Mending fences is the last thing on the mind of superintendent Casey Wardynski,

Well the next day, he and district 1 BOE representative  , and the president of the Huntsville Council of PTSA's went  over to the  J.O.Johnson PTSA  elections.

As Wardynski and  McCaulley, looked on  Elisa Ferrall told members of the J.O. Johnson Alumni Association they were not members of the PTSA because there was no record of their membership.  Imagine that!

They were also informed the application fees they paid were a donation.

So, they had a record of the donation but not the membership? Un Huh

Two members of the JOJ Alumni Association were allowed to vote, but here's the kicker, ballots were not secret, names had to be printed and signed or their vote wouldn't count.

Reynard Jones was elected President, and Carlos Matthews was elected Vice President of the J.O.Johnson PTSA by a vote of 21-2.  Neither of these persons have children attending J.O. Johnson,  nor are either J.O.Johnson Alums.  Hmmm...  I smell a Slave Catcher of the Week Award coming...

Both were members of the hand picked members of the so called naming committee.

Why did Wardynski  need to gain  control of the J.O.Johnson  PTSA? 

Possibly for the same reason he the BOE violated their own naming policy.

If the woman you see standing and speaking in this video looks familiar it's because she was just elected to the Huntsville City Schools Board of Mis-Education.

Boo!

#hsvboe Standing in the front door by going around to the back door.

Former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace standing in the front door of the University of Alabama June 11, 1963

There is an old saying  "If you can't get in through the front door then go around to the back door", which is exactly what Huntsville City Schools is doing, under the capable control and command of retired Colonel, turned superintendent,    Dr. Casey WARdynski in his continued quest to stand in the front door of the Huntsville City Schools.

After his presentation, the Board of Education authorized Wardynski to file the Motion for Approval of his plan. The City of Huntsville is therefore fighting the Department of Justice in court over which plan should be adopted. This motion will be decided by the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Northeastern Division. You may download the motion here.
There was no discussion of how much this litigation might cost during the board meeting. And they answered no questions from the members of the public attending Thursday’s meeting.  Our litigation happy superintendent and board are taking us into more legal action.

Remember back in June when  U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala dropped the hammer on Huntsville City Schools, saying she could find no evidence they weren't operating a dual school system?

The judge ruled late today in Huntsville's months-long desegregation dispute, clearing the way for federal attorneys to roll up their sleeves, dig deeper and and stay longer.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala didn't approve the city's plan to redraw school zones.
And she didn't approve the Justice Department's plan.
Instead, she appointed Chief Magistrate Judge John Ott to oversee months of mediation between the two as they examine all aspects of racial disparities across Huntsville City Schools.
She also called for appointment of a Special Master to oversee the court's ongoing fact-finding in the case.

Key words:
U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala didn't approve the city's plan to redraw school zones.
And she didn't approve the Justice Department's plan.

So how does HCS go around to the back door?  They rename existing schools after schools that haven't been built yet, and Viola!  Back door open.

The go-to phrases at Ronald E. McNair Junior High's first open house Thursday night was "Team McNair" and "Go Wildcats."

More than 200 parents, students, faculty and staff attended the event for the newly formed school, which combines students from Davis Hills and Ed White middle schools. The school will be located on the Davis Hills campus until the new facility on Pulaski Pike opens in 2016.

All vestiges of Davis Hills are gone, from its name to its color scheme to its mascot. In its place is the McNair Wildcat, prominently displayed throughout the school, and the new school colors of royal blue, black and white.

My sources tell me the facility on Pulaski Pike, you know, the site located less than half a mile from an active rock quarry,  has some ahem issues and it's become the Jemison/McNair Mud project.

THE LAND on Pulaski is>> A MARSH LAND DEVELOPMENT. The dirt is in piles as a future barrier, but the graded soil will not dry! It's going to cost an additional $4 Million Dollars to correct the foundational process of that development. It would have been better to buy a few homes near JOJ and expand the property requirement (acreage wise) and build a whole new school on the existing property then to spend undue dollars on the base of this project.

In the meantime the media keeps praising failure and calling it a success.

As they have repeatedly demonstrated, the Editorial Board of The Huntsville Times knows who they need to suck up to in this town, truth be damned.
On Thursday, September 11, 2014, the editorial board published an opinion entitled, “Transition from Textbooks to Digital Tools, as Led by Huntsville Schools, is Proper Path,” which joined in the chorus started by Dr. Wardynski, supported by Education Secretary Arne Duncan (in town on Tuesday on the public dime for meetings that excluded the public), that the only way forward in education is to continue down the failed pathway of the district’s 1:1 Digital Initiative.

 Some of us tried to tell some of y'all this superintendent would turn this process into a fraud and a farce.

In light of the blatant disregard Dr. Wardynski has for parents, students and citizens concerning transparency as evident in the comments made by Federal Judge Haikala: "The Court strongly suspects that the district has chosen not to share many of the reasons for the choices that it made as it shaped its student assignment plan."
In light of the hostile working environment that Dr. Wardynski has created which has resulted in at least 735 people choosing to leave employment with the district since August 2011;
In light of the declining standards of education that we are seeing in our finest schools as the district transitions to teaching nearly exclusively mathematics and English Language Arts;
We the undersigned respectfully request that the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education request the resignation of Dr. Casey Wardynski as superintendent effective immediately.

Can you hear us now?

#hsvboe

UPDATE! Huntsville City Schools BOE to the taxpayers of District 1, "Your name is Toby", I mean, Mae Jemison

It is official Johnson and Butler will merge and become Mae Jemison High

BREAKING NEWS!  IN THEIR HASTE TO TREAT JOJ SUPPORTERS LIKE SLAVES THE HCS BOE VIOLATED THEIR OWN POLICY.

Last night the Huntsville City School Board of Education violated their own policy on the Selection of School, Facility, and/or Property Name (Policy 2.9, presented September 5, 2013) by concluding the process and voting on the new names approximately three weeks before they were allowed to do so.

You won't read it on al.com,  or see it on TV, but the Huntsville City Schools BOE stooped to a new low last night.   We all knew the fix was in and the BOE  had made up their minds(sic) to rename J.O. Johnson High School. We also learned Butler High School was rezoned from District 5 to District about "7 months ago", still not sure when the board voted to close J.O.Johnson and S.R. Butler, but I wish we had known before they made us sit through two long presentations about how wonderful the schools are.

It was painful to watch democracy, fairness, and justice, die last night. I went to bed last night  and woke up this morning with that same sick feeling I had after the not guilty verdict in the  George Zimmerman trial.

First, they stacked the agenda with long presentations, and seats were saved for teachers/employees prior to the public being allowed to enter the board room.  Second, citizens were told to write down their questions on cards to be given to the board members and they would decide which ones were to be read or answered.  Citizens were not allowed to ask questions of the BOE.  A handpicked Pastor was "asked" and allowed to speak, however Reverend Mark Johnson, nephew of J.O. Johnson left because the BOE kept changing the rules and he thought he wasn't going to be allowed to speak.

BOE member Dr. Jeannie Robinson, who represents Grissom High School, took it upon herself to scold the J.O. Johnson taxpayers about what they should and should not focus on. 

There were dozens of Johnson supporters in attendance, and District 3 Representative Jennie Robinson said if the people who have put a lot of focus opposing the name change of Johnson when it moves to a new building, would put the same effort into all the school's needs, the school would be stronger.
The comment drew snide looks and comments from some of the Johnson supporters.
One woman said, "Why does she got to put her foot in her mouth."

Grissom High School gets to keep it's name after overwhelming public support, J.O.Johnson  High School does not get to keep it's name after overwhelming public support.  Wardynski listened to any number of councilman and officials who called to inform him he was making  a gargantuan mistake regarding Lee High School, but he's ignoring the councilman and officials who call to inform him he's making a gargantuan mistake regarding J.O. Johnson.  Go figure.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

Mission Accomplished.

BTW, The city will pay the school system $8 million to acquire the current Grissom and Johnson campuses once the new schools are built. Last week, Madison County Commissioner Phil Riddick unveiled plans to turn the old Grissom into a public library, community theater, police precinct and city parks and recreation facility for southeast Huntsville.

The city will acquire the current J.O. Johnson off Winchester Road, which may be converted into a public safety facility and training center for police, firefighters and National Guard members.

Oh, and there are plans to build a new low income housing project on Winchester Road, which student won't be allowed to transfer from because Mae Jemison is not on the failing school list.  

"This city belongs to us, the people. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Times. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Board of Education. It doesn’t belong to Dr. Wardynski. It belongs to us."  ~Geek Pavaler