(NAME-MCE) Critics say district discriminated against its own diversity advocate

Sun Jul 13 12:10:45 EDT 2008

Intellectual lynching is a term I use to describe my first experience at a private college this year. The surreal academic?courtship involving being flown down several times, wined and dined, and offered a salary way beyond my dreams was no where near the reality of my experience this academic year. Such a departure point ?gave me no clue as to the intellectual violence that would occur as a professor of color in a predominately white male faculty school. Increasingly people of color are attractive to colleges that are looking to pass the? accreditation process or initiate programs in which it is mandatory to have faculty with particular credentials. I empathize with the diversity coordinator's experience of harshness in the process of getting at the layers of resistance that characterize institutional racism. I remember a young white girl crying during our trip to the Gullah islands because she did not want to go. She told me I will never teach in a place like this, this has no meaning for me.

My formal yearly evaluation happened only a month and a half after my arrival. This is in deep contrast? to what new faculty were told collectively as a group during orientation. Each new faculty member was given a mentor. I was not . Most were reviewed on their performance in the spring. In teaching a multicultural class in an education department, I was berated for teaching about African American content while the college sits in a town that has a predominately Black school system deeply entrenched in segregation traditions. The teacher education assignments I oversaw were carefully shielded experiences from the realities of what was really going on. One student assigned to a inner city school cried because she felt the suburban placements others in her cohort received were "better".

Are we seeing in this second era of civil rights the insidious reshaping of educational leadership and higher education that is marketed as desirous of the hallmarks of diversity but still deeply entrenched in what Orfield talks about as re segregationist movement. Intellectual lynching is not as isolated as we might think. Coping mechanisms and support systems can exist if we first acknowledge how Jim Crow has reshaped itself within the context of education, address the absence of mentorship, and begin some honest conversations about race with the governing accreditation bodies who ultimately dramatically influence standards for hiring and retention of? faculty of color.

I spiritually GPSed my way out of a very bad situation. What about others who may not be able to. Our destinies are intertwined and it is time to link arms.

sincerely,
Happy Back East

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Andrew Jackson, Sr. <axj119 at psu.edu>
To: Anselmo Villanueva <anselmo.villanueva at gmail.com>
Cc: name-mce at nameorg.org
Sent: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:17 pm
Subject: Re: (NAME-MCE) Critics say district discriminated against its own diversity advocate

The game is the same and do you turn it around.

On Wed, Jul  9, 2008 05:31 PM, "Anselmo Villanueva"
<anselmo.villanueva at gmail.com> wrote:
>
July 8, 2008
>
>Critics say district discriminated against its own diversity advocate
>
>The sudden dismissal of a Virginia district's minority liaison has
>angered black community members and other supporters of the diversity
>advocate. "We were appalled," said Reginald A. Early, president of the
>local NAACP chapter. "There is no credible reason for her contract not
>to be renewed, given that she was doing exactly what she was hired to
>do. It just doesn't make sense. There's a disconnect somewhere."
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070802690.html?hpid=moreheadlines
>
>LOUDOUN COUNTY
>
>Minority Groups Decry Ouster of School Advocate
>   
>Loudoun County's minority community is criticizing school officials
>for failing to renew the contract of the district's first supervisor
>for outreach.
>
>Despite months of lobbying from teachers, parents and organizations
>representing minorities, the school system ended its contract last
>month with Beverly Bennett-Roberts, who was hired nearly three years
>ago to lead the district's diversity efforts.
>
>Supporters of Bennett-Roberts blame discrimination and the school
>system's desire to maintain the status quo for her firing.
>Bennett-Roberts and her attorney, Michael Miller, said the
>termination, which occurred several months after her only evaluation,
>was flawed and failed to follow the school district's written
>administrative policies.
>
>"We were appalled," said Reginald A. Early, president of the Loudoun
>County NAACP. "There is no credible reason for her contract not to be
>renewed, given that she was doing exactly what she was hired to do. It
>just doesn't make sense. There's a disconnect somewhere."
>
>Privacy rules prevent the district from commenting on personnel
>issues, schools spokesman Wayde B. Byard said, adding that the
>district maintains its commitment to diversity.
>

>An advertisement for the job has been posted on the school system's Web site.
>
>Early and others in the community are worried that the district's
>decision will impede progress made during Bennett-Roberts's tenure and
>could have a negative effect on its relationship with minorities.
>
>In her evaluation in February, a copy of which she provided to The
>Washington Post, school officials said Bennett-Roberts had an
>"unwillingness or inability" to stay within her job description,
>failed to alert her supervisor of negative perceptions of the school
>district, failed to follow directions from her supervisor, provided
>internal e-mails to people outside the school system without
>permission of the originator and communicated with outsiders to
>undermine or cast doubt on equity efforts.
>
>"You have failed to develop the trust necessary to build a cooperative
>relationship between outside sources and the school system," the
>evaluation said. "You have demonstrated unethical behavior by
>providing information to outside sources for the purpose of
>discrediting Loudoun County Public Schools."
>
>Edward Bourne, a member of the school system's minority-student
>achievement advisory committee, said that from the community's
>perspective, Bennett-Roberts's performance was "phenomenal." Many
>people don't think the school system is being transparent about the
>issue, he said. "I think there's a lack of trust there that really
>needs to be addressed," he said.
>
>When Bennett-Roberts came to Loudoun in November 2005, there was no
>road map. Her job was a newly created position designed to focus on
>outreach to various parent advisory groups, coordinating parent
>volunteers and working with principals and schools to develop equity
>teams.
>
>More than 30 percent of the school system's 54,047 students are
>minorities, 2007-08 figures showed.
>
>Bennett-Roberts started a monthly diversity-training program and held
>several workshops and symposiums that drew hundreds of parents. She
>documented her experiences in a six-page r
eport, including
>observations that there are no women of color leading any of the
>district's secondary schools and that many minority students and
>parents think they are not noticed. She recommended that the district
>undergo a "cultural audit."
>
>Many minority parents said that for the first time, they thought they
>had a voice and an advocate in the school system. Nearly two dozen
>people from diverse backgrounds spoke in support of Bennett-Roberts at
>School Board meetings in April, May and June.
>
>Bennett-Roberts and her attorney say the school district violated its
>evaluation policies by not having preliminary discussions about her
>performance, and setting goals and objectives.
>
>Bennett-Roberts said she was notified in December that she was in
>danger of receiving an unsatisfactory evaluation. In February, she was
>told that she had not met the district's standard for progress and
>that her contract might not be renewed.
>
>"I never had anything but the December meeting," said Bennett-Roberts,
>who has held similar positions in Baltimore and Minnesota. "I was just
>baffled by this whole process."
>
>She and her attorney said they have not ruled out a lawsuit.
>
>"This is bigger than me. This isn't just my fight," she said. "This is
>about an organization that needs to change. Until they turn the mirror
>on themselves, there will be more Beverlys."
>
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Dr. Andrew Jackson, Sr.
460 Douglas Drive
State College, Pa 16803
814-574-3190
814-867-1726
814-574-9777
fatherlighthouse2000 at yahoo.com

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