District 150 Board moving forward with principal shuffle

From the BOE Agenda:

14. ISSUANCE OF NOTICE OF PROPOSED RECLASSIFICATION OF KEVIN CURTIN
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education adopt the resolution of Proposed Reclassification of Kevin Curtin to another position in the district.

15. ISSUANCE OF NOTICE OF PROPOSED RECLASSIFICATION OF ANNETTE COLEMAN
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education adopt the resolution of Proposed Reclassification of Annette Coleman to another position in the district.

16. ISSUANCE OF NOTICE OF PROPOSED RECLASSIFICATION OF GLORIA COX
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education adopt the resolution of Proposed Reclassification of Gloria Cox to another position in the district.

17. ISSUANCE OF NOTICE OF PROPOSED RECLASSIFICATION OF MICHAEL SMITH
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education adopt the resolution of Proposed Reclassification of Michael Smith to another position in the district.

"Monolith" divided...

"Don Jackson, president of the Peoria chapter of the NAACP questioned Lathan’s reliance on hiring administrative staff from North Carolina. It sends the message that no one from the Peoria community is qualified." 3/13/12 pjstar
"We will not move forward with personnel at the helm who have so many personal ties to the community that radical change would be rendered virtually impossible. The ... team necessary to turn a failing district around should be her call. Does it matter how many team members come from places outside the district if they are the right ones for the task?"Joyce Banks, Exec. Dir., Community Builder's Foundation  3/24/12 pjstar.

 

For some reason the blog gets a huge response when I post a photo of Hello Kitty. Anyhow...

Word is that Monday nights BOE meeting may be a barn burner, with many feeling that the Superintendent and the BOE may have finally pushed people to their limit. People are expected to picket and protest out in front of Administration and the meeting is expected to be packed. 

What's on the Agenda that has people so riled up this time? The decision to move principals Annette Coleman (Glen Oak) and Kevin Curtin (Irving) back into the classroom, along with the decision not to renew assistant principal Paul Monrad's (Glen Oak) contract.

Last week, NAACP President, Donald Jackson said that they would be reviewing some of the Administrations recent decisions. You may recall that previously the NAACP had expressed concern about what the District was doing to qualify long term staff that they had previously been successful in attracting.

"It's not just one or two people in the community who are concerned," said Don Jackson, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He said members of the chapter are meeting Thursday to discuss a response. pjstar

It's said that folks feel it is time for BOE President, Linda Butler and company to have their feet held to the fire. To date, only BOE members Rick Cloyd and Martha Ross have spoken out here and there about decisions that Administration have made, with the rest of the BOE appearing to have remained silent. However, it is believed that there may be other BOE members who have lost confidence in the Superintendent but have not yet voiced their opinions publicly.

We shall see.

NAACP and League of Women Voters chides the District 150 Board of Education for lack of transparency in redistricting

At last night's meeting of the Board of Education,  Irene Pritzker, the President of the Greater Peoria League of Women Voters, spoke to the Board about the lack of transparency in redistricting the board voting boundaries. Donald Jackson, President of the Illinois NAACP, also chided the Board and Superientendent for not offering an opportunity for public input. Donald Jackson:

"I cannot believe that you would even consider a vote [on redistricting] without first presenting it to the community. You know that the NAACP is one of the authors of the consent decree back in 1987. We were one of the organizations that represented the plaintiff in that lawsuit and I do not believe in fact, I think the state law requires that you have public input on this before you change boundaries.

I know you are worried about the elections coming up in March, but if that was a concern, that should have been taken into consideration long ago. Please don’t tell me that well, the information is on the Internet, some of us don’t have the time to go and check everybody’s  Internet."

Thanks to Peoria Story for the recording of comments at the Board of Education meeting. Click on image to enlarge.

Assessing Racial Equality in Peoria with the President of the Illinois NAACP and the President of the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce

In March of this year, H. Wayne Wilson of WTVP's "At Issue" had a very good discussion with PIAien's Don Jackson, who is the State NAACP President and Larry Ivory, who is the National Black Chamber of Commerce VP.

So much of what Mr. Ivory and Mr. Jackson had to say is right on point. They are both very well informed individuals who are native PIAiens. With two such powerful advocates for black causes living right here in our midst, I have to admit, I struggle to understand how there can be so many black people who are hopeless, jobless and living in poverty here in Peoria. Think about it, how many black businesses can you name (not counting restaurants and barber shops)?



A little bit about Mr. Jackson and Mr. Ivory:

Mr. Larry Ivory, CEO of the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce, Peoria, Illinois
Mr. Larry D. Ivory majored in International Business and has over 32 years’ experience in Business, with 26 years as a Financial Advisor. He was the Executive Vice President at State Wide Financial Planning and has worked for two of the leading stock brokerage firms in the country, Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney where he was a Vice President. Mr. Ivory was also a General Partner for the African Opportunity Fund, a hedge fund which invested in the African Stock Exchange. He is currently a Business Consultant who has done work for the Peoria Black Chamber of Commerce, the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce, and a variety of businesses. Mr. Ivory is the Mid-West Regional Vice President and board member of the National Black Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., President/CEO of the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce, Board member, and founder and past Chairman of the Board / CEO of the Peoria Black Chamber of Commerce.

Donald R. Jackson is the current President of the Peoria branch of the NAACP and the President of the NAACP Illinois State Conference.

Mr. Jackson was admitted to the practice of law in April, 1974, while working as a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). That practical experience allowed him to be hired by Bradley University as a part-time instructor teaching the principals of collective bargaining to junior/senior level students in the College of Business.

Early in his career as a private practitioner, Mr. Jackson expanded his practice to include Civil Rights representation and litigation. Mr. Jackson has processed claims for clients before the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IHDR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Mr. Jackson has extensive litigation experience in the Federal District Court Title VII claims of race, sex, retaliation, hostile work environment, FMLA, and handicap discrimination involving public and private entities. Similarly, he has litigated like claims before the Human Rights Commission. Mr. Jackson has argued civil rights cases before the Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Jackson is the one who ensures racism does not play in Peoria!

An open letter to the President of the NAACP

In order for the organization to survive, it will be necessary to attract younger members... you are failing miserably.

Dear Mr. NAACP President:

As a 23 year-old black male living in America, I suppose I am part of the key demographic that you and the NAACP wish to bring into the fold and breed as the next generation of civil rights activists. In order for the organization to survive, it will be necessary to attract younger members. I’d like to tell you this now: you are failing miserably.

You have to understand, even to those of us who are students of history and are familiar with the role the NAACP has played in dismantling the system of racism that is part of the foundation of this country, you’re still sort of a joke. I’m a part of generation that grew up using the NAACP as a punchline. There have been many instances where I and my peers, at the slightest hint of anything racial, have exclaimed “I’m calling the NAACP!” in jest. The humor derived from the idea that the NAACP never actually did anything and our minor skirmish was just the type of inane melodrama the NAACP could handle. We were kidding; [with the mishandling of Shirley Sherrod] you all have taken the “truth in humor” anecdote to new levels.

I’d like to offer a bit of advice, from the perspective of someone you want to attract as a dues paying member: shut it down. The NAACP needs to stay away from the media for a while. Take a vacation. Say it’s for personal reasons. Let a few months go by then reappear like Kanye West with a brand new attitude and mammoth-sized theme music declaring the NAACP is back and ready to do right.

While you're away, evaluate what you believe racism is and adopt an official stance on what issues the organization will and will not choose to address. Hopefully, you will include on the “don’t” list things that, well, aren’t racist [and on the "do" list things that are].

You have some soul-searching to do and you need a little time away from the intense lights of the news cameras and scathing ink of the newspapers (not to mention new media, where you guys are getting crushed). Take a year. Maybe longer. We won’t forget you; in fact, we may start to miss you. We may long for the days where you made our jokes that much easier, and hope that you’ll be around the next time a Mel Gibson rant has us up in arms.

But when you reappear, those things won’t matter to you. You’ll be more prudent in your activism. You’ll earn our respect. Source

Just a suggestion.
Best regards,
Mychal Denzel Smith