(NAME-MCE) Critics say district discriminated against its own diversity advocate
Christine Clark
chriseclark at mac.com
Sun Jul 13 16:17:21 EDT 2008
Debra,
Your reply was incredibly moving and insightful--thanks for sharing.
Christine
———
Christine Clark, Ed.D.
chriseclark at mac.com
702.896.1527 Telephone
702.896.4529 Facsimile
702.985.6979 Cellular
"What are the standards that we have? If we're concerned about
unarmed truth--understanding this condition of truth is allowing
suffering to speak--and unconditional love--understanding justice is
what love looks like in public--then the question is, what suffering
voices do we hear...and what kinds of concerns about justice are made
manifest...?
—Cornell
West
Looking for a house in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area?
Check this out: http://7010wellsparkway.isnowforsale.com/ I will work
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On Jul 13, 2008, at 9:10 AM, saabsty1 at aol.com wrote:
>
>
> 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 mean
>
> 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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>
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