RICH TOWNSHIP HS MEETING, SATURDAY, JUNE 15 - Helen Burleson
Monday, June 17, 2013 1:29 AM
From: "HBurl1229@aol.com" <HBurl1229@aol.com>
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To: tootsie75@comcast.net
My dear Mrytle,
I have known you for about 45 years. You know me well. You also know what I stand for. I believe you were among a group of people I invited to my home in 1969 to discuss participation in local governance as tax payers who should be a party to determining how our tax dollars are being spent.
As a result, William "Bill" Simpson, Juanita Simpson, Leonard Robinson, Sr. were elected to their local schools boards. In 1969, when Dr. Engbretson, the first president of Governors' State U opened the school, he brought in 5 brilliant Black PhD's and I urged them to become visible in the community. That resulted in Dr. Roy Cogdale becoming the first American of African descent to serve as a member of the Homewood-Flossmoor Board of Education, School District 223. Later Ronald Blackstone became a member of that same board and served until I recommended to Governor Thompson that Ron replace me when I retired from the State Board in 1983.
I have been a serious observer of school districts throughout our area. You know I broke the barrier by becoming the first person of African descent in 1972 to become a member of the Flossmoor Board of Education, School District 161. Each of the three times I ran, I had the endorsement of the Star Newspaper based on my commitment and concern for the education of our children. I was endorsed by Vernon Meidell, the editor and then by Lester Sons, who replaced him as editor. By the way, Lester Sons volunteered his wife of Latin origin and a teacher of Spanish at RCHS to RRCto teach Spanish to the gifted children from HF who became a part of Amigos de las Americas. Larry Reynolds, my son's honor's biology teacher at HF asked me to form a parents' board to raise funds to send the children to Central and South America to inoculate the children.
I served a total of nine years on the 161 Board until being recommended by State Senator Aldo DeAngelis, District 223 Superintendent, Edward Rachford and the County Superintendent of Schools, Bill Martwick to Governor James Thompson for me to become a member of the Illinois State Board of Education.
When I first moved out here, Rich Central High School was the preferred choice of physicians from both St. James and St. Francis Hospitals. RCHS enjoyed a very fine reputation and most of your children were exposed to high expectations and a rigorous curriculum that prepared them well for the professions and career paths that they chose.
A new paradigm shift evolved when more and more Black people moved into the area and RCHS became more and more integrated. Teachers accustomed for years to teaching all white children found it difficult to make the adjustment and the standards slipped resulting in problems. Parents of RCHS complained that the Black children from the Beacon Hills community were bringing the standards and the scores down. I visited Mr. Tandy in 1988 to apprise him of rumors I was hearing about the academics at RCHS; and, as a realtor, clients were requesting homes in the HF school district where the racial transition was smoother.
I had pre-warned and prepared District 161 for the transition and developed a human relations program as a proactive movement to accommodate the change that I knew was imminent. The subject of my doctoral dissertation is, The Optimum Human Relations Program for Flossmoor Board of Education, School District 161, Flossmoor, IL.
In 1994 when I founded the Enhancement Organization of Olympia Fields one of the most prevailing desires which is embodied in the Mission Statement which I developed was to assist the schools in whatever way we could in order to assure a high quality of education. Our target school was RCHS where we developed a highly successful mentoring program that had students partnered with professionals and businesses throughout the area to have hands on experiences. This resulted in David Oliver and I as members of the EOOF education committee taking a group of students to Brazeley Architectural Firm in Matteson, the architectural boat tour in downtown Chicago and Skidmore, Merrill, Owens where they were able to observe computer assisted design of the major projects undertaken by one of the largest architectural firms in the world.
It was David Oliver who suggested to President Linzy Jones that the Village of Olympia Fields develop an Education Commission, which came into existence years later. Now let's examine what led to the undignified, ignorant meeting that took place on Saturday, June 15th at Rich East High School. First and foremost probably no one among those protestors had the slightest knowledge of the history of the District, nor did they know anything about the political power games played by the old board, some of whose members have served and presided over a failing school district for some 20 years. In 1996 David Oliver, the former head of the Foreign Language Programs for the State of Illinois, warned the Board of Education that Rich was heading toward the IL State Board Watch List, an indication that the school was not performing up to standard.
Yes, your children of an earlier era received a quality education; but, when you hear that about 66% of the students today do not reach state or national standards on standardized tests, what does that tell you?
Would you say that that a large percentage of children are uneducable? Would you say that parents have been concerned and involved as they should be as their children are being either miseducated or undereducated? Or do you believe as some racists believe that Black children can't learn the way white children can? Look at the archives, who has presided over the Board of Education all the while the schools were failing? Are you satisfied with mediocrity or even less than mediocre? Well, that is what is happening to the MAJORITY of students at RCHS. Are you satisfied with that? I'm not because I know for a fact that I am not an exceptional person; I know there are legions of others of my race who are endowed with the same intellect that I possess.
I urge you to continue coming to the meetings, do your due diligence, wait for all the facts to come out and then make your assessment of the newly reorganized Board of Education. I personally fully support their efforts to turn these schools around without playing politics or nepotism or favoritism.
With Love, Helen
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