Edited~"Keeping Them Honest"

CNN  Talking TeeVee Pundit Head Anderson Cooper has segment on AC-360 entitled "Keeping Them Honest" .  "Keeping Them Honest" exposes possible issues of government corruption, failed promises, and other anomalies from various sectors.  I'm no Anderson Cooper, but stay with me as I attempt to keep some people honest with some fact checking, starting with Huntsville City Schools Board of Education member, and city council candidate,   Dr. Jeannie Robinson.

Members of the J.O. Johnson Alumni Association were  guest on WEUP Talk with host David Person yesterday (5/6/2014).  Person begin the segment by describing the lengthy discussion he had with HCS BOE member Dr. Jeannie Robinson following  the Prayer Vigil conducted by the GHIMF (Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship), to pray for peace and equity in Huntsville's Schools.  Person revealed Robinson said she thought the prayer vigil was divisive, and, she also questioned why there were no complaints from the black community about equity and low test scores when  Dr.  Ann Roy Moore was the Superintendent.

I'm going to begin by debunking the allegation there were no complaints from the black community about equity and low test scores when Dr. Ann Roy Moore was the superintendent.   First of all, Dr. Moore did not propose a sweeping zoning proposal that would re-segregate the public school system.  Secondly, Dr. Robinson was one of Dr. Moores' biggest fans before she became a detractor. Robinson was part of the 4-1 majority that voted to hire Dr. Moore.  Dr. James I Dawson, who championed justice and equality, was the lone vote against hiring Moore, and frequently challenged her recommendations.  Robinson also served on the board during Moore's entire tenure, giving her near perfect evaluations until she decided to cut the puppet strings.

WAFF 48 News looked at Dr. Moore's past three evaluations, which show what the board of education believe Dr. Moore is doing right and what she is doing wrong in her job.

She was evaluated on seven tasks, ranging from her performance as an education leader, to overseeing the districts thousand of employees.

Dr. Moore was given high marks from four of the five board members.

The only low scores came from Dr. Jeannie Robinson, especially when it came to Moore's involvement in community planning and problem solving.

When the scores were added and averaged, though, the Superintendent passed the test.

The average of the seven areas reviewed combined were 4.4 out of 5 in 2007.

Now let's move on to the allegation the prayer vigil was "divisive".   Talking a position can be divisive, especially when everyone doesn't agree. The position taken by the GHIMF is based on justice and equality for ALL Huntsvillians, black and white.  People who have no concept of what justice is, and others who do, but take a different position for political reasons ,would most certainly find the prayer vigil "divisive".

 Thank you Dr. Robinson for speaking to the obvious.


 

Standing in the School House Door Huntsville, Alabama Style

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, Huntsville City Schools personnel, the Mayor,  the Board of Education, and  the Huntsville Council of PTA's went on a full scale media enabled public relations offensive yesterday, or as I like to call it, Standing in the School House Door Huntsville City Schools style with a few Negro's thrown in for....... color.  Nod, nod, wink, wink, we see you.

al.com's version:

The event comes after the district's formal response to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning the school rezoning plan and public criticisms from Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison, Councilman Richard Showers and a group of northwest Huntsville residents.

My translation:  How dare those Negro's think they have rights!

The event comes after the U.S. Department of Justice told the district don't  even think about being granted Unitary Status and Council Richard Showers and Commissioner Bob Harrison called them out for as the young people say "dissing their constituents".

 The "rally" moved inside the building for part 2 of the PR offensive as the Superintendent posed with African American students, and the BOE was allowed to bash, bully, and browbeat citizens, and accuse them of threatening their lives on camera, but turning the camera's off when it was time for the citizens to speak.  Can't have the public hearing both sides of the story, that would be too much like right, pun intended. He/she who controls the message controls the outcome.

The Chamber’s Board of Directors also approved a position statement saying it supports the Huntsville City School system’s endeavors to seek unitary status.
Part of the statement reads:
“By attaining unitary status, the (school) System seeks to demonstrate to the local community, businesses, potential residents and the military services that it no longer operates two separate systems – one for African-American students and one for White students – and that it does not discriminate against any students based on their race.
“Unitary status will give the system the autonomy and agility to make education decisions locally in this age of accelerating change. This ensures that our school board is accountable to the citizens of Huntsville. Operating Huntsville as a unitary system will ensure our city is globally competitive and our economy will provide high wage jobs for our graduates and a strong tax base to support quality education for all students.”

So here's the deal, The Chamber's Board of Directors, Warynski, and the BOE wants Unitary Status in theory but not in practice.  They want to be able to say they don't have a dual school system while they maintain and operate a dual school system.  I wonder what part of Unitary don't they understand?

The U.S. Department of Justice fired back in federal court late last night, asserting that the Huntsville school board's plan for redrawing zone lines "would leave most students in segregated schools and, in some cases, assign them to even more segregated educational environments."

While the Chamber and others are supporting the superintendent and the BOE, who is supporting parents and students?  Not the people who were elected and are being paid that's for sure.  They care more about pretending to be a Unitary school district than they do the fact they are planning to build a $65 million dollar school less than half a mile from an active rock quarry.  A school the community did not ask for, or need.  A school that was illegally renamed against the wishes of the community. 
 
While the Chamber, the Mayor, and four members of the NW Cluster of PTA's support Wardynski and the BOE,  as for me and mine, we will continue to support the parents and children.  Lord knows nobody else is.

From: Bill Denney
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 12:51 PM
To: Bob Harrison
Subject: Your Rant

Commissioner,
Your rant and accusations are TOTALLY unfounded. You had and vehemently supported a Negro female Superintendent who ran the school system, both physically and economically, into the ground.
It is time Negroes, you included, grew up and acted like adult AMERICANS instead of whinnying Negroes with an "America owes me" mentality.
You personify ALL that is wrong with Negroes in America.
Grow up and act like an ADULT AMERICAN instead of a Negro who always uses the race card as an excuse to whine because you don't get what you want.

 
FIRE ALL CAREER POLITICIANS
THEY ARE DESTROYING AMERICA
WHILE MAKING
MILLIONAIRE$ OF THEMSELVES

It's 1960 all over again, but Shhhh, don't tell anyone and maybe it will go away.    Sigh