| Rich Township District 227 Officials Continue War On Black Youth Growing parent and community opposition to board's lockdown on human rights October 13, 2013, by Komaa Mnyofu At last week's October 8, 2013 school board meeting, District officials continue to refuse to take responsibility for their decision to bus 1400 Rich Central students to Rich South and the resulting fights between students from both schools. Apparently too arrogant and unbending to even offer an apology, as asked for by a parent who addressed the board, Board president Cheryl Coleman had apparently instructed administrators Superintendent Doris Langon and Assistant Superintendent of Operations Cynthia Hudson to remain silent, not answering a single question from parents and citizens. All administrators sat stone faced at a table separate from the board on stage at the Rich South auditorium. The only discipline or consequences taken by the board of education was against students who "allegedly" were involved in the melee of confusion. The administrator(s) who made the worse decision ever in school district history to bus 1400 Rich Central students to Rich South, a total of 2800 students, in response to a phony bomb scare at Rich Central, have yet to be disciplined, reprimanded, identified in any shape form or fashion by the board for their inept and incompetent decision. In fact, it still remains to be answered whether Langon and Hudson acted on their own with this insane decision, or whether any direction was given them by any of the board majority members, President Coleman, Vice-president Dr. Delores Woods, Secretary Antoine Bass or Dr. David E. Morgan. Instead, the board of education, led by Coleman, has meted out iron fisted discipline of students using the tool of expulsion, suspensions etc., "without due process" in an ongoing war against Black youth----while at the same time denying and delaying enactment of policies to improve the quality of education being put forth by senior board member Dr. David E. Morgan. Further, it is reported that "newly elected" board member Dr. Delores Woods, [endorsed by Country Club Hills Mayor Dwight Welch in April 2013] has voiced that "the board does not need to hear from the students" being suspended, expelled etc, thereby suspending and denying students their "due process rights" as protected and spelled out under both State and Federal Constitutions. If true, this is a dangerous precedent, illegal practice and one of the main reasons cited by Woods, Bass, Coleman and Morgan when they voted to fire former superintendent Donna Simpson-Leak in July 2013. It seems the message this board majority is sending to students is the same message sent in the 1857 Roger Taney-Dred Scott decision, that "a Black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect." In that same vein, "Students have no rights that this board is bound to respect." The October 8th school board meeting showed the community that this newly elected and "politician endorsed" board, has no intention of formulating and passing new policies addressing the district's academic failure of the majority of its students nor need for a continuous improvement plan. This school board has "no clearly identifiable plan" to improve the quality of teaching, increase parental/community participation/involvement in each school, safely and sanely evacuate students and staff in the event of an emergency, remove discriminatory hiring practices, no intention of holding themselves or the administrators accountable for the September 30th decision which endangered students lives, nor taking "any" action to discipline those administrators/adults responsible for that thoughtless decision. The students, now facing "felony mob charges", as the result of district officials' insane and indefensible decision, if convicted, will have no prospect of a bright future. Gone will be the opportunity for college, business loans for self-employment, job opportunities and even military careers-----yet this board can find blame and mete out punishment "only" on students. At the October 8th meeting, this school board demonstrated that, like the previous Owens led board, it will sit and listen "stone faced" to the cries of the community for answers and accountability from the board and administration but it WILL NOT do anything but give "lip service" in response to these cries. If the September 30th decision wasn't bad enough, just this past week Superintendent Langon and crew arbitrarily decided to also punish the entire student bodies of Rich South and Rich Central, by "banning" students from attending the football game between both schools at Rich Central Saturday October 12th. The only people allowed to attend this game were to be the parents of the football players. But then it didn't end there---it got worse. Langon and crew then decided to punish the parents of the football players by then issuing a ban on all football "parents" from attending the game. After several angry parents called and showed up at Langon's district office on Cicero Avenue in Matteson, she and the administration retreated in the last minute, feeling the heat and justifiable anger from the community. These series of decisions should remove any doubt from the minds of thoughtful citizens, that this administration, and those who hired them [Coleman, Woods and Bass] are totally incompetent, inept and insensitive to the needs of students, parents and the community. And as such they cannot move our District forward from 20 years of stagnation, corruption, cronyism, nepotism, incompetence and the resulting academic failing of our students. When current board member Dr. Delores Woods ran [1st in 2011] recently in 2013 [as a Welch endorsed candidate], she campaigned on a theme of a "New Voice and New Vision". However, as could be predicted by those familiar with the political landscape and history of District 227, in just 6 [six] months being on the board, Woods has acted not as a "New Voice" or with a "New Vision." Instead, Woods has supported the same discriminatory hiring practices that have produced a racially unbalanced teaching staff which does not reflect the communities of students in district 227; voted to hold students accountable for their alleged involvement in the September 30th melee at Rich South by voting for student expulsions, suspensions etc; voted to hire people in Human Resources and other administrators without the candidate producing any evidence of a proven track record of experience or success in academic leadership. Woods has gone along with the majority board decisions without being interested in full board input before votes are made on sensitive issues ultimately affecting the delivery of the quality of education to our students. These votes and actions are not a "New Voice or Vision;" instead they are more of the same game only under new names and faces. Woods is not alone; her colleagues Coleman and Bass are guilty of the same listed actions and votes. As this boards' war on our Black youth [and community] continues, it is reported that Welch endorsed board member Antoine Bass denies allegations made by this writer that he and fellow Welch endorsed board member Dr. Delores Woods paid money to secure a spot on Welch's punch card in the April 2013 election. If Bass now denies the allegations he and Woods paid "money" to Welch---then what exactly did they pay Welch, in order to appear on the same punch card alongside their main opponent Betty Owens? What could these 2 (two) relatively unknown individuals have of value to offer Welch? The voters who supported the Welch endorsed Coleman ticket of Woods and Bass "deserve to know." The community and voters will await an answer at future board meetings. Finally, a quote from an interview with National and Internationally known and respected Nationally Certified school psychologist Dr. Umar Abdullah-Johnson speaking on the realities of growing up Black and male in America: Question: How have Black parents and adults become so desensitized to the pain of our children, particularly our boys? Dr. Johnson: One of the biggest reasons or ways that desensitization has taken place is by way of the massive indoctrination of Black parents with the belief that the system has the best interest of their children at heart. Many Black parents, especially mothers, find it difficult to understand that there is a psycho-academic war against Black children in general and Black boys in particular. I think that the menticide* of the Black parent is actually making them an active participant in the mis-education and extermination of their children because they are finding it difficult to believe that society would be determined to marginalize and harm an entire generation of children. And unfortunately, until they come to the realization that that is exactly what is happening to their sons and daughters, it is going to be difficult to reverse the carnage because children generally cannot protect and fend for themselves. They need their communities and their families to do that for them. So without the community and the family as a protective safeguard for the youth, I think that it will become eminently conclusive that one day there will be no more Black youth. ("Menticide" as labled by Dr. Bobby Wright in 1985 is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group's mind and their unique way of life knowing, life thinking, and life being.) [Re-printed from "Black Star Journal, News and Events" February 10, 2012] [Next time: Dr. Johnson's remarks on the five (5) life stages Black boys move through in their short life span from birth to a premature extermination by the age of 25] Komaa Mnyofu, Parent, Activist, Analyst and Social Critic Comments welcome @: kmnyofu@netscape.net No part of this article can be reproduced, copied, stored or otherwise transmitted without the express written consent of the author; all rights reserved. | 
