POINT OF INFORMATION: Wizard Marks wrote "At the same time, those other than the school board who defended Jennings' appointment did so on the basis that he was white." This is not true. I cannot speak for others on the Issue Forum but for myself, my enthusiastic support for the appointment of Dave Jennings had nothing to do with his being white. I am quite certain however, that others on the Issues Forum who also supported Dave Jennings did not do so because he was white.
Again speaking for myself, I believe the Minneapolis School Board chose wisely when it asked Dave Jennings to be the new superintendent; I believe that much of the objection to his appointment from certain "community leaders" was driven more because he was white than the professed claims of process and qualifications. I believe that most people who supported Dave Jennings did so because of who he is, what he has accomplished, not what color he is. Sadly, there are people who will support only a person of the same color or the same gender for any office. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I do know people who will not vote for anyone who isn't white or, in a few cases anyone who isn't a white male. Thankfully, that is only a handful of people! When Wizard Marks asserts that all who supported Dave Jennings did so only because of is white, that is well . . . a kind of race baiting. It is demeaning and grossly unfair. Jim Bernstein Fulton -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of WizardMarks Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 4:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] Racism; hairsplitting, vetting; board meetings [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >In a message dated 10/22/2003 3:21:34 AM Central Daylight Time, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > >>The community school plan was not an attempt to separate the races. It was >> an attempt to recover money for education that had futilely been spent on >> transportation. The notion back when the courts imposed busing was that by >> balancing populations in schools, the learning gap between races would >> gradually disappear. That gap hasn't improved at all. So, why not try >> something else after decades of trying out what was, at best, a THEORY. >> After all, what was busing REALLY about? >> WM: The return to community schools was also predicated on the notion that kids who went to school together and lived near each other would bond into their own neighborhoods and be better embraced by their near neighbors as a result. >The segregationists, the folks who opposed racial integration predicted that >there would not be a significant reduction in the achievement gap because what >happens in the classroom has very little effect on academic achievement >independent of other factors, like home environment, genetic inheritance, >African-American culture, etc. That was a theory proven wrong. Data on student >achievement, collected and broken down by race, income, etc., showed that the gap was >being closed in the 1970s and early 1980s. > >A blue ribbon panel picked by the Reagan-Bush administration issued a report >in April 1983 entitled "A Nation at Risk," which raised the alarm about a >"rising tide of mediocrity," i.e., the gap was being closed at the expense of the >high achievers. However, that claim was not backed up with any evidence, and a >subsequent review of educational data by the Sandia National Laboratories did >not support that claim (the Sandia Report). ...That position is consistent with the comment about the failure of a black superintendent to close the gap in the passage I >quoted. I simply noted that the initial position staked out by Bill English >stinks (that the next superintendent should be black). > WM: At the same time, those other than the school board who defended Jennings' appointment did so on the basis that he was white. Even if the black superintendent did not close the learning gap, backing Jennings--a man without the background and only 21 months devoted to education, implies that his whiteness (I'd include maleness and middleclassness as well) somehow outweighs those glaring lacks. On another level, it is true that since A Nation at Risk, set the wheels in motion to erase the gains made in the sixties and seventies (a report so fraught with race and class bias as to be virtually unreadable), I don't feel confident in blaming school boards for the gap. However, it makes no difference, since the outcomes as a result of that report have had the effect of re-institutionalizing race and class bias that had slowly coming apart into the system of school governance. >SUPERINTENDENT VETTING > >I suspect the process selected by the board >includes brainstorming sessions, then a narrowing down of options that is guided by the board, resulting in recommendations that will be pretty much ignored in the actual search process. > WM: I think this is an unfair assessment. They will do the best they can to consider as many points as they can. They've been more than adequately warned that any choice has to have more consideration than the previous choice may have had. They will ignore Bill English's position and have been forced to set aside their own position. Whether they are so beset that they are unable to listen with their good ears remains to be seen, but I sure don't want to damn them ahead of the process. Those who objected got what they wanted, a more careful look at the situation of choosing a super. >WizardMarks, Central >________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
