Today's city paper story references Councilman At Large Jerry Maynard regarding this past weeks vote. This is interesting as I reached out to Councilman Jerry Maynard and received no response to my email. Additionally, Jerry Maynard attended none of the public meetings of the task force. Now you have this story and an email from the NAACP stating that they are launching "Our Task Force Supporting Our Children" What happened to the Community Wide Task force that represents All Children....the community wide task force made the recommendation! On another note the articles preceding the vote stating that I will have a challenger next time and that Jerry Maynard looked mad is interesting. No plan was rammed down anyones throat and furthermore to stop the attacks on the Chamber....they did not contact me about this at all.....no one!
Also no other groups such as the MNEA, The SEIU, The Steelworkers, no other groups contacted me and they also supported the school board races of all just as the chamber did.
My vote was simply placed based on the results of the community wide task force recommendation and community wide input.
NAACP Email:
The NAACP Nashville Branch Community Coordination Chair cordially invite you to attend Our Task Force Supporting Our Children organizing meeting Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 12 noon at Southside Community Church.
This community meeting is in response to the recent action of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education. Nashville must not go back to a segregated school system. The flawed student assignment plan lacks diversity, avoidance of concentration of poverty and racial integration.
Please RSVP your reservation to Rev. Jerry Maynard, II, Council Member at Large, 615-460-7722 or at the NAACP 615-329-0999 if you are interested in developing next steps in response to this adverse action.
Assignment: To get background information on correct methods to voluntary intergrate urban school systems, refer to Still Looking to the Future: Voluntary K-12 School Integration, A Manual for Parents, Educators & Advocates published by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,Inc. The Civil Rights Project/Proyeeto Dereehos Civiles with support from the Ford Foundation.
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 99 Hudson Street, Suite 1600, New York, NY 10013 212-965-2200 ttp://www.naacpldf.org/
THE CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT/PROYECTO DERECHOS CIVILES 8370 Math Sciences, Box 951521 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521 310-267-5562 http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/
THE NASHVILLE CITY PAPER ARTICLE
On Politics: Rezoning vote has Chamber looking for cover
By Clint Brewer, cbrewer@nashvillecitypaper.comPosted: Monday, July 14, 2008 2:02 am
The aftermath of a controversial Metro School Board vote to rezone schools has Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce leaders in heavy explanation mode.The vote also has the city’s black community finding its voice in the form of Councilman At-Large Jerry Maynard, who is one of several black leaders in the city leading a movement to see the new rezoning plan overturned and considers it a resegregation of the schools.In politics, there is an old adage that if you are explaining then you are losing. Make no mistake about it, the Chamber is indeed in the business of politics, particularly when it comes to school board elections in recent years. The business group’s SuccessPac has become the veritable Star Chamber of the board races, doling out $5,000 each and an endorsement to a slew of successful candidates in the 2006 races.However, the Chamber was doing a little duck and cover with its membership late last week in the form of an email blasted far and wide by Chamber President and CEO Ralph Schulz. The letter was likely in response to a series of City Paper articles where criticism of the Chamber’s alleged role in the redistricting plan finally reached a crescendo Friday in our print edition. Other press reports in the city have also tied the Chamber meddling in the rezoning process.“The Chamber as an organization never took a position or played a role during the entire rezoning discussion and decision,” Schulz states in a letter that essentially is a blanket defense of the entire rezoning process. “We fully supported the process outlined by the School Board and the mayor, and we supported the responsibility of the citizens’ rezoning task force to develop a consensus recommendation that addresses a complicated and difficult issue.”By contrast, Maynard is getting the word out about a movement he is helping to lead that is seeking the overturning of the rezoning plan which in some instances does rezone black students to schools with already high black student ratios.“Five members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board voted to approve a Re-Zoning plan that will re-segregate large portions of our schools,” Maynard states in a letter to supporters sent late last week. “The Board rammed this Re-Zoning Plan down the community’s throat without any respect or regards to the African-American Community. This Plan will take African-American kids out of the Hillwood School Cluster and put them in the Pearl-Cohn Cluster making it 91% African-American and 88% under the poverty level. We know what happens when public schools are all Black and all Poor. These schools get left behind, under-served and receive inequitable resources.”The Maynard email ultimately solicits support for an event Tuesday in conjunction with the NAACP at Southside Community Church “to Respond and Overturn the decision of the Metro Nashville School Board.”The Chamber may have finally stepped too far into the realm of local politics at a time when discretion should have been the better part of valor. Business folks in this town usually know when to step away from a potentially messy situation before their own seersucker pants get splattered. Not in this case.The black community, meanwhile, may have found the strong voice it has lacked during this entire process in Maynard, elected with a fair amount of business community support himself.All of this suggests the rezoning fight may have not ended with last week’s board vote but only just begun.
My email to councilmembers in my district and all councilmembers at large:
-----Original Message-----From: Kvettej@aol.comTo: Kvettej@aol.com; tim.garrett@nashville.gov; megan.barry@nashville.gov; charlie.tygard@nashville.gov; ronnie.steine@nashville.gov; jerry.maynard@nashville.govCc: alvesia.hawkins@mnpsorgSent: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 5:40:43 PM Eastern Daylight TimeSubject: Re: Tuesday's Rezoning Plan Vote for MNPS
In a message dated 7/7/2008 4:37:01 PM Central Daylight Time, Kvettej writes:
Dear Councilmembers at Large Garrett, Barry, Tygard, Steine and Maynard, I sent this email to the Southeast Area Councilmembers and wanted to also send to you. Please share with me your thoughts regarding the proposal. You can call or email me...whatever is most convienient for you. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Karen Y. JohnsonSchool Board MemberDistrict 6Metro Nashville/Davidson County977-6721http://www.karenyjohnson.blogspot.com/Forwarded Message:
Subj:Re: Tuesday's Rezoning Plan Vote for MNPS
Date:7/7/2008 3:24:56 PM Central Daylight Time
From:Kvettej
To:hodgedistrict30@bellsouth.net, jim.hodge@nashville.gov, sam.coleman@nashville.gov, vivian.wilhoite@nashville.gov, robert.duvall@nashville.gov, duane.dominy@nashville.gov, parker.toler@nashville.gov, carl.burch@nashville.gov
CC:Alvesia.Hawkins@mnps.org
Thank you Councilman Hodge, I also received calls that I did not include the attachment of the information being presented. I appreciate your support. Please feel free to review the plan which is posted on my blog at http://www.karenyjohnson.blogspot.com/ when it's convenient for you. I tried to attach the file to the email and it did not take. Thank you.
Karen
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A forum is being held by the League of Women Voters that is televised tonight at Nashville State Technical School 6:00 pm. The candidates running for the open seats on the school board will be speaking, so tune in if you can. It will be on channel 19.
-------
Good Evening Area Councilmembers, I wanted to write each of you to ask for your thoughts regarding the final rezoning plan that has been released by the student assignment/rezoning task force. It has been shared via the media and I have received numerous emails regarding the proposal. Your feedback is very important in how I will ultimately vote for this plan. Please email me or call me directly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with each of you and our constituencies. I look forward to hearing from you.
Those whom responded:
Councilman Parker Toler, Councilman Jim Hodge, Councilwoman Vivian Wilhoite, Councilman Robert Duvall, Councilman Duane Dominy, Councilman at large Charlie Tygard, Councilwoman at large Megan Barry and none said they were against the proposal.
Monday, July 14, 2008
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7 comments:
Mrs. Johnson-
I disagree with your vote on the rezoning plan. That said I thank you for your service to this system and our children. I regret that some against this plan have questioned your motives in such a hostile manner. Don't let them get you down. As much as they try to pretend they can read your mind, no one can truly know your motivations but you.
I look forward to the new school year and leave you with five words:
water off a duck's back
Ms. Johnson,
It seems that 72% of the people in Nashville according to the Tennessean and Channel 4 poll agree with your vote. I agree with your vote. You are a independent, passionate and intriguing strong woman. Just know that what you did many could not do. It took courage to buck the staus quo. Stay strong and know many support the new path.
Dear Ms. Johnson,
I am so sorry for the tenor of the attacks against you in the rezoning debate. Those who disagree with your position are absolutely wrong to attack your ethics and motivations. This debate deserves honest, reasoned dialogue, not name-calling and fear-mongering.
It is too bad that the rhetoric on this issue has become so heated. I have no doubt that some of those screaming the loudest have not looked over the plan's details. Perhaps, if they compared assessments at Pearl Cohn and Hillwood, they would also be reassured that this issue is a lot more complicated than just racial percentages at various schools.
You've been elected to follow your best judgment, based on the facts before you and honest analysis. As long as you know you are doing that, you have nothing to apologize for, or regret.
"... dirt off your shoulder ..."
It is a shame that the community cannot take the vote as a vote of confidence in their neighborhood and their neighborhood schools. I am very disappointed in the reaction of the other board members who do not agree with you. Now, they are using all of the emotional buzz words like taxation, gangs, segregation, racism, etc, to inflame the communities. Not every black child lives in North Nashville any more, but you would think that with this vote, blacks will no longer be able to travel past Jefferson Street. What about Antioch, East Nashville, and Madison? No minorities living there? All schools and all school children deserve thoughtful, progressive board members who will look to the future and quit turning us back to the past. Good job and good luck--keep moving for the future.
Vote of Confidence!
Hi Karen,
My name is Joyce Hereford, your neighbor who lives at 413 Owendale Drive. I am also a Metro Schools retiree having worked both at the central office in Support Personnel and also worked 8.5 years as an elementary school secretary/bookkeeper at McGavock Elementary School.
I follow the news, including school board decisions, community affairs, and articles printed in the Opinion page of The Tennessean newspaper. Your article in today's paper about community rec centers and your article in Sunday's paper explaining your recent vote on the school zone changes were both written in a thoroughly rational, informative, progressive and student/family and community-supportive tone.
I just wanted to say "thank you" for your hard work for our schools and for our community. Having a person of your caliber to represent us gives me faith in the future of Metro Schools, our community and county. Your energies, talent and leadership can only make Nashville and specifically the Antioch area a better place to live and thrive. Your energies, talents, and leadership affects the morale of our neighborhoods and ultimately improves the quality of our lives and even the market value of our homes. Not only that, your energies, talent and leadership affect the "grass roots" of America which collectively across our country makes up who we are and where we are going as a nation.
My husband and I are leaving today for a short week-end vacation, but I wanted to take the time to thank you for your dedication to your community and schools, hard work, leadership, professionalism, and grace. I will keep you and your family in my prayers that the good Lord may continue to strengthen you and guide you as you serve others. God bless you.
Mrs. Johnson,
I just wanted to thank you for all of your hard work and effort you are putting into the decision of rezoning. It saddens me that people have been so ugly to you when all you are doing is what you think is best for our children. As a Kindergarten teacher, I watch these babies come in so tired in the morning from their long commute. This could be an extra hour of sleep for them in the morning. I also hate having to see them ride a bus for so long in the afternoon when they are so exhausted from a long day of Kindergarten. I also struggle to get these parents in for conferences or after school functions due to lack of transportation. I think some of the parents would choose to be more involved if they were able to get there. Please continue your fight with what you believe. I truly appreciate all you do for the children of Nashville.
Stacy Young
Kindergarten Teacher
Ruby Major Elementary
The “long” bus ride as a reason to discontinue integration. Hmm. I’m not buying it.
The academic magnet schools in this county are among the best in terms of academics. Would a parent avoid- say- Whites Creek way up North- and transport their kid a ways to go to a more academically rigorous school? Many do. How many parents choose a private school even if it is farther than the neghborhood public school? Why would they do that? Because the quality of the school is important. If distance was as important to school “customers” as school quality, TSU would have a lot more white students and I-24 wouldn’t be so busy all the way to MTSU. And yes, I’m talking about older kids and young adults, but in my experience young kids are the most resilient in the early morning and research backs that up.
So, I find all the folks wanting to end the long bus ride a little disingenuous. Wonder what they’d choose for their own kid- closeness or quality?
I think some of the parents would choose to be more involved if they were able to get there
Do we have any actual data to back this up? Will a parent in poverty have more money to give to the school if it's close? Will the undereducated parents at a school with concentrated poverty recognize and speak up if the instructional program lacks rigor?
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