(NAME-MCE) Schools Need More Minority Teachers, Speakers Say TOWN of ULSTER, New York

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Community discusses school-staff diversity

Christina Blue, a black student who graduated recently from a New York
district where just 1% of the employees are black and 2.7% Hispanic,
described to a community panel convened to discuss school-staff diversity an
incident in which she arrived late for class one day in middle school, only
to be told by a teacher that she would never graduate. Blue also recounted
how one of her high school instructors encouraged her in-class participation
only during Black History Month.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19444627&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

Schools need more minority teachers, speakers say

By Kyle Wind, Freeman staff

04/02/2008

TOWN of ULSTER, New York - Christina Blue, a recent graduate of Kingston
High School, recalled having a teacher who did not engage her at all in
classroom discussions until it was Black History Month.

Through the month of February, Blue told a minority education panel Tuesday,
she was called upon frequently, "but then in March, (the teacher) didn't
know I was still in the class."

Blue said she often felt like her teachers could not relate to her. Even so,
she said she would not "trade going to the Kingston High School for any
other experience."

Discussion about the shortage of minority teachers in the Kingston school
district was among the topics discussed by the panel, which was organized by
the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
the Catskills.

Blue also cited an experience from J. Watson Bailey Middle School, when she
arrived late to class and was told by her teacher that she would never be
able to graduate. Now an education major at Ulster County Community College,
she found statistics about the composition of the district's teaching staff
troubling.

Panelist Christopher Farrell, the president of the Kingston Board of
Education, said that only 1 percent of the district's employees are black
and 2.7 percent are Hispanic, which he described as "an alarming stat" below
the national average.

Farrell suggested the Board of Education and administration reach out to the
"320 minority-serving colleges and universities" to increase diversity among
the teaching staff so it will be more representative of the community.

While he noted that it would be illegal to set specific standards for the
ethnic composition of the district's staff, Farrell said it has been a goal
of the school board to increase diversity among teachers for the past eight
years. However, he said, the school board and administration has "dropped
the ball" so far.

Farrell said it is an issue he intends to raise at tonight's school board
meeting.

Both Blue and panelist Dennis Washington said the presence of more black
teachers would help combat the perception that if a black student tries to
get a good education, he or she is "trying to be white."

Farrell said teachers should receive training in classroom management to
take emphasis away from discipline, make "students ready to learn the minute
they walk into the classroom" and ensure they remain "engaged throughout the
day."

Kingston High School Principal Marie Anderson, who attended the discussion,
said she had invited three minority candidates for an interview for
assistant principal, but none took her up on the offer.

Anderson said she believes candidates may be drawn to districts closer to
New York City, which pay more and serve more minority students. But she
added that at least one candidate "didn't feel welcome in Kingston."