On Feb. 2, 2022, Brian Flores sued the NFL and three teams — the Dolphins, Broncos and Giants — alleging discrimination regarding his interview processes with Denver and New York and his firing last month by Miami.
The 58-page lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday and seeks class-action status.
Flores alleges he was “treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.”
Flores, who is Black, alleges that the Giants and Broncos interviewed him only to satisfy a league-mandated diversity requirement, and not to offer him a legitimate chance at their head coaching jobs.
Does any of this sound familiar? We think it does.
After a highly qualified, outspoken anti-racist ESL teacher in JCPS was overlooked while a choice position she had applied for at a JCPS school across town was held open for the wife of a controversial KY House Representative who conveniently continues to receive the teachers’ union endorsement despite often co-sponsoring ALEC bills and voting for pretty much every racist, anti-public education bill his corrupt party brings forward. She was able to apply for the position, and receive the offer, prior to even being qualified. Oh, and the principal behind the deal-making was none other than the spouse of the district’s HR director.
The NBCT teacher, who has 8 years experience teaching ESL to middle school kids in JCPS, was only granted an interview after she complained that protocol had not been followed. Jason Nemes’ wife was teaching in another district and had ZERO experience teaching ESL or teaching to middle schoolers, and her husband has been working hard in Frankfort to pass laws that could lead to deportation of parents of many of the students she teaches. Tell us again how hiring her for this position is what is best for ESL students?
PS. We’re still pretty upset. However, I think some folks overplayed their hands long ago and they are running out of runway. From Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL to Dr. Kimberly Mucker-Johnson’s lawsuit against JCPS, these patterns and practices are starting to come to light.
We want to send a message to individuals who have actively contributed to the harm, and the coverups, as well as those who have been complicit, your days of being able to do so without consequence are numbered.
If you feel you may have witnessed or experienced what may amount to a pattern or practice of discrimination in JCPS, bullying or coverups, or retaliation for reporting it, please complete our survey. All responses will remain anonymous.
As I sat and listened to a replay of Tuesdays’ House Education Committee Hearing where HB 63 was FINALLY heard after three false starts, and white lawmakers shared testimonies of their favorable experiences with SROs, I couldn’t help but notice one thing. Not one of them put themselves in the shoes of Black people when considering how “safe” they felt, and “how well it works” to have armed police in their schools. In fact, the committee chair (Huff) and the bill sponsor (Bratcher) did a bang-up job making sure the Black voices who came to speak against the bill were the very last ones to be heard, if at all.
Not only was HB63 at the top of last week’s agenda, only to be scratched last second after many of us had driven from Jefferson County to speak against it, myself included. Two previous times the bill had been on the agenda, the entire meeting was canceled. So when it made the top of the agenda this week, I thought, “fourth times a charm,” and we made arrangements for a member of our group to drive to Frankfort for the 8:30 AM meeting, once again.
Due to various people of privilege’s schedules, despite HB63 being at the top of the agenda, the meeting kicked off with a “performance” by a very impressive young white student who remarked that he was asked to speak because February was National Trades Month (or something like that). He spent a great deal of time quoting Kentucky educator Carl Perkins and expressing the importance of diversity and equity in the types of programs students should have access to. Not that I disagree with any of that, I hardly think that’s what is meant when people refer to diversity and equity. I doubt the young man saw the irony in the words that he spoke, but I suspect the adults who recruited him and helped him practice knew exactly what they were doing.
Two more times throughout the meeting this handsome young high-achiever received compliments and accolades from white lawmakers who had very little problems allocating precious speaking time to this concern, while Black speakers from Jefferson County continued to wait to be called upon.
Then came two other bills that were heard prior to introducing HB63’s bill sponsor. The first was one on tornado disaster relief for Western Kentucky, which of course should be enacted. The second one was on “Erin’s Law,” which would potentially implement curriculum that would reduce child abuse, an area where Kentucky currently ranks highest. Both very important bills that were dedicated speaking time, including justification for not having to make up days because everyone has been dealing with trauma and needs time to get some normalcy back in their lives. While I don’t disagree, I just can’t help but wonder where the compassion is for our students who suffer from gun violence, racial discrimination, high poverty and over policing?
And after listening to bill sponsor Rep Bratcher wax on endlessly about how he was bused to Shawnee his 11th and 12th grades, and he never felt unsafe having SROs there, to reminiscing with Rep Charles Miller, who used to be his principal at PRP, about what he and his teammates did under the bleachers that led to him getting paddled by him. Those were the “good old days,” weren’t they, boys?
Our representative left Jefferson County before 7 am so that he could arrive in room 145 of the Annex building in time to sign up to speak. Once everyone with a microphone had exhausted their treasure trove of personal white experiences with SROs, there were a few minutes left to hear from the Black people. One man spoke as a parent of a Black JCPS student and Sadiqa Reynolds of Louisville Urban League did an outstanding job as well, even going so far as to ask, “how dare you?”
The vote was called. Every single yes vote, including some Democrats who should know better, was white. The bill passed out of committee. It now heads to the House floor and on to the Senate.
Our friend asked why he was not called on to speak and he was told that “they ran out of time.” Please listen to this week’s episode of Save Our Schools with Dear JCPS for a recap of the House Education Committee Hearing on HB63, and ESPECIALLY to the speakers at the very end.
Again, I ask, when will the lives and experiences of Black and Brown students matter?
Senate Bill 1, a title reserved for the bill of the highest priority, passed the Kentucky Senate in a rare Saturday session, just 5 days into this year’s 60-day General Assembly. It is a heinous bill that undoes key components of KERA and puts the final nail in the SBDM coffins. The archived file is not yet available on KET, but if you would like to hear the discussion before then, you can listen to it here.
On Tuesday, January 4, Kentucky General Assembly began their 60-day session, in the midst of a raging pandemic. Despite the Omicron variant driving our state to new record numbers of cases and one in three who take the COVID tests testing positive, on Wednesday, January 5, I masked up and drove to Frankfort to meet with lawmakers and share some of our concerns about several racist bills.
While there, I also inquired about the opportunity to testify against Senate Bill 1, which had been assigned to the Senate Education Committee. SB1 focused on two things, and two things only. Taking principal and curriculum selection authority away from local, site-based decision making councils (SBDMs). By weakening SBDMs, they take away some of our key arguments about why HB14 and HB18 are unnecessary. The dismantling local decision-making ability, of course, has been a driving factor behind this bill for six or seven years. And our continued pushback is a key reason it has not passed. Until now, during a time when our democracy is facing the greatest threat of our nation’s history, and our ability to address injustices and be heard is the lowest it’s been during most, if not all, of our lifetimes.
By Thursday, January 6, #SB1 had already had two readings on the Senate Floor and was poised for passage. As a looming snowstorm threatened school closures and driving conditions, adding insult to injury when it comes to the limited access we’ve had to our halls of freedom since the pandemic set in nearly two years ago. After encountering several vehicles that had spun out on the ice and snow, experiencing added delays and dangerous conditions, I called again to make sure I was on the list to speak, so I could focus on driving safely and arriving alive. I arrived moments after they collected the sign-in sheet, so they almost didn’t let me speak. But after some interventions by one of the Senators sitting near me who overheard the kerfuffle and advocated for me, they kindly did. Here is my testimony.
While sitting in one of the waiting rooms, I learned that a Saturday Session had been called. Not much ado had been made about it in any of the news media I follow, so being there in person gave me the opportunity to find out some of these things and pass them along to our coalition members. You see, our super-majority GOP legislature had been working diligently on gerrymandering their districts and guaranteeing their re-elections, so Saturday was the soonest they would be able to approve those maps, and they wanted to get that out of the way as soon as possible.
On Saturday, January 7, I had no idea SB1 was even on their Saturday agenda, but when a friend alerted me it was being debated so quickly, I turned on my handheld mic I carry with me and captured what I could. #SB1 passed the Senate 25-9.
If you missed today’s floor debate, you would normally have to wait until the following day for them to load the replay on KET Archives. However, I have decided to share my audio recording, with added screenshots, so you can see who was speaking when, for those who are interested and able to take the time to watch it while it’s still fresh. (I apologize for the washing machine and cussing sounds in the background.)
EXCLUSIVE. #SB1 is a heinous bill that undoes key components of KERA and puts the final nail in the SBDM coffins. It passed the KY Senate in a rare Saturday session, just 5 days into this year’s 60-day session. A great deal of misinformation was provided during the floor debate prior to its passage. The archived file is not yet available on KET, but if you would like to hear the discussion before then, you can listen to it here.
As mentioned above, this bill strengthens their arguments for HB14 and HB18 because it takes away the authority to make curriculum decisions at the local school level, so we need to be calling our House Reps in opposition to this bill, in addition to HB14 and HB18.
Please join us for a press event at the Capitol on Tuesday at 12:45 PM and Rally Wednesday at 2:15 PM. There will be indoor and outdoor options for the rally. Please mask up.
The Squallis Puppeteers has a new puppet show out and it’s super timely. And if you’re one of the lucky winners, you could host an in-person screening at your school or venue. See our entire 1-hour interview or watch the 1-minute preview below, then click the link to find out how to enter:
What they’re saying: “At this time, we do not recommend or endorse a test-to-stay program,” the CDC told the Times. “However, we are working with multiple jurisdictions who have chosen to use these approaches to gather more information.”
There were over 30 individuals signed up to speak at Tuesday night’s meeting, but only about six were able to be heard before the chaos erupted.
Speakers will not be permitted at today’s meeting. Anyone wishing to share their thoughts or concerns with board members prior to this afternoon’s meeting are encouraged to use this link to send them all an email with one click.
LOUISVILLE, KY – There were over 30 individuals signed up as guest speakers at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, but only about six were able to be heard before the chaos erupted after a white women, who had come at the invitation of Beanie Geohegan, a known right-wing radical, changed her seat in order to more easily confront and ultimately threaten a Black mother. One of the speakers with their group, Dr. Frank Simon, spoke about his concerns for Black students, yet ironically, they not only refused to listen to what the Black parents and students had to say, they instead threatened and attempted to silence them. Further frustrations were expressed when one of the officers, who was Black, took the side of and protected the white woman who had instigated and escalated the situation, instead of the parents and children who were being berated by a racist.
The Jefferson County Board of Education meeting is in a five-minute recess after arguments about school resource officers. SROs are not on the agenda @wave3newspic.twitter.com/zq9o1qHeKc
In solidarity with the four brave female US Olympic gymnasts who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, we are releasing more details of a situation we became aware of last year. We want victims to know they are not alone.
As we continue our series on “patterns or practices” of wrongdoing in Jefferson County Public Schools, in particular, this story focuses on “falsified reports.”
A top story out in today’s Courier-Journal reveals a sordid history of abuse, misconduct and denial, inside and outside of the classroom for William Bennett, the Science teacher at Moore High School who was recently involved in an altercation with a student after telling him he was just going to be “another Black boy shot.” The trail of dirty laundry and terminations runs from Etown, to Hardin, to Bullitt County, before Bennett finally landed a teaching job in a high minority population district. It turns out Bennett was fired from his hometown school system, Elizabethtown Independent Schools, in 2001 after he was arrested for breaking into an apartment “to see if his then-girlfriend was cheating on him,” according to the article by Olivia Krauth.
This incident, while one of the most egregious in recent memory, is not all that unique. In fact, I was just about to release my latest blog post entitled, “Our Schools are Not Safe for Black and Brown Kids,” when I became aware of this latest update on William Bennett and decided to lead with it and some intel of our own. Please check out my latest blog, which also details two other incidents of violence toward Black JCPS students since the start of the school year. The post will be updated.
As COVID cases continue to spike in Jefferson county and across the country, amidst a newly reported outbreak in respiratory virus infections, as well, Jefferson County’s public school system is no exception. Add to the mix a vindictive Kentucky GOP supermajority that plotted and schemed with the likes of one-term governor, Matt Bevin, to pursue their political party’s agenda and strip executive powers away from his popular and charismatic replacement, Andy Beshear. These executive powers had previously allowed any Kentucky governor the right to grant a district in crisis more than 10 days of “non-traditional instruction” or NTI, and not risk their SEEK funding being held hostage for doing so. Between SB1 and HB208 during last year’s session, which I explain in an earlier post, that’s exactly what they’ve done.
Kentucky’s new governor obviously suffered these blows because the losing political party wanted revenge. They concocted a plan to make NTI, which many districts were already utilizing as a response to the crisis created by the pandemic, ILLEGAL AFTER THE FACT. But instead of responding with righteous indignation, the powers that be, including our own allies who fear being voted out of office more than they fear going to hell, apparently, participated in the spread of even more lies and manipulation by falling for the gimmicks of the GOP. They were told HB208 would solve the problem they had created so that SEEK funding could once again flow to the students of schools that had participated in the “illegal” act of NTI and all would be well again.
Unfortunately, the bill also contained “trojan horse” language that would force all school districts to reopen to in-person schooling before the end of the school year, presumably so testing companies could get their data and revenue. HB208 is the real reason JCPS and other districts were forced to reopen to in-person classes before the 2020-2021 school year ended. Thanks to much outcry from districts with vulnerable populations, especially ours, a last-minute compromise allowed districts to continue with a hybrid plan (half capacity, two days per week in person, with the remainder of instruction online) until the end of the year. This exception enabled Joint Education Committee Vice Chair Regina Huff to retain her favorable rating with the state-wide teachers union, Kentucky Educators Association, while she managed to successfully bluff her way through playing both sides long enough that the bill was passed, practically as the 2021 session gaveled out. The tea party libertarians who had concocted this plan hated the compromise so much they actually called for the revised bill to be killed, once again showing that they are willing to use children as pawns in their political charades. The compromises were only good until the end of the school year, however, and 2021-2022 was a whole new ballgame.
Summer never stopped to take a breath. The “big lie” gained momentum and a new deadly variant of COVID began to spread like wildfire, just in time to put our district and most of our state in the red as school was set to reopen. Vaccine resistance and mask-wearing became badges of honor, and the only way for these folks to continue to live in the lie, was to reject history and science and to ridicule others who don’t fall in line. They began storming our local school board meetings, work sessions and committee hearings. Along with it came the rise of anti-CRT legislation and outcry over the dogwhistle narrative that teaching history accurately “creates division” and is “hateful” and “divisive.” Truth is, the base of white supremacists is dwindling, and these desperate tactics are used to recruit new blood to help keep the “big lie” alive.
The billionaire elites, with Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul as experienced tour guides, have mastered the practice of preying upon the innocence and man-made ignorance of Kentuckians through their well-funded campaigns of disinformation, fear and hate. Despite the best efforts organizations like ours and countless others, and the will of the people we represent, they continue with their destruction unobstructed. We know that not everyone sees what is going on or believes us when we tell them. But we don’t think we have to convince everyone. We, the Leadership Team of Dear JCPS and practically everyone I’ve spoken to in the JCPS community who shares these experiences, believe we are enough.
It’s time to rise up.
I would like encourage everyone reading this post to realize the seriousness of the situations our families and educators across the state were placed in BEFORE this latest Delta variant surge, with every district being forced by that same GOP legislature to offer in-person instruction. Our current predicament does not even take into account the next wave that we fear is coming based on the reports we at Dear JCPS are receiving of cases that are not being accurately reported on the JCPS COVID Dashboard. We believe we have a moral obligation to share, not only what we’ve been hearing, since those we entrust to keep us safe can not always be counted on to do so.
To that end, I decided to compare yesterday afternoon’s JCPS COVID dashboard numbers to this morning, and I noticed an alarming increase overnight. Four new schools joined the club, and the number of infected and quarantined students and staff jumped, in some cases, by nearly 20%. On top of that, we are hearing alarming reports of cases that have still not made it to the dashboard, 48 hours after they were discovered. Sources tell us letters going home to families don’t match the numbers in the dashboard. In-school nurses are being asked to fudge numbers or data they report to the district, making healthcare professionals feel “caught in the middle.”
I was about to post this blog when something strange happened.
After an entire day of on again, off again internet issues, I was about to post my findings, when I decided to refresh my screen for the 3:00 PM update. That’s when I noticed that there was an even more dramatic jump over the 24-hour timeframe after I had already been reeling over the overnight numbers. As my brain tried to grasp what I was looking at, panic began to set in when I realized I had no way to disseminate these findings effectively. My chest felt like there was an elephant standing on it. I had to get the word out! But because I’m currently on a 7-day Facebook ban, and in a remote location with spotty internet, I have been down for the count.
I crunched the numbers and tried to dust off a fake account from my last Facebook ban to see if I could make that account an admin and post to our page. No luck. Another hour goes by, so I did the 4 PM refresh to see how much higher it went and guess what? The numbers went BACK DOWN to more in line with the trend we had been seeing at 10 am, 1 PM and 2 PM. Where did those 10 new sites go? What happened to nearly 400 new cases or quarantines? Meanwhile, I added another tab to the spreadsheet and came up with even more questions and concerns. I tried to capture the discrepancies in the following video.
Sorting by facility or group name, these 10 sites that were new on the 3 PM report had disappeared again by the 4 PM report.
Meanwhile, a parent had been messaging me since 7:49 Friday morning saying, “Some schools haven’t listed their cases from last week.” I told them I had seen and heard this from numerous sources, and for that reason I was working on a data gathering tool to try to triage and make sense of the conflicting information. Later that afternoon, I shared my discovery of the spike, including the 10 mystery sites with them. That is when they informed me that their site is on the “missing” list, confessing, “Letters were sent to families on August 18 regarding our school having a positive case.”
What is the source of this extraneous data?
Why are these sites not showing up on the dashboard (other than that one time)? We have confirmation they should be there.
What caused this blip to show up just one time and not on previous or future reports? Are they suppressing it on purpose? Keeping two sets of data?
How many more situations like these are there?
In addition to the 10 sites that are missing from the ongoing reports, several of the sites that are consistently reported also contributed to that spike at 3 PM. I tried to capture a sort order that shows some of the sites with the largest discrepancies based on student cases here:
If anyone has any additional information to share, you may email me at moderator@dearjcps.com. Lives may hang in the balance. Rest assured, correspondence will be kept confidential and identities will be protected.
How many others are not accurately reported? Help us find out by reporting missing or conflicting info on our survey.
The data spike during the 3 PM report possibly masked schools that DID experience significant increases in the 4 PM report, such as Lowe Elementary, which according to my comparisons, actually added 10 more students to the quarantine list while everyone else’s numbers were going down, taking them from 38 to 48. Please check the dashboard and ask around at your school to find out if there are discrepancies in your data, and use the survey to report them. We will compile the information to share in a confidential and orderly fashion so that others can have access to the same information we have and you can help the district troubleshoot where breakdowns are occurring.
And even without this unexplained anomaly, the increase in the number of cases and quarantines from Thursday to Friday is still alarming, with case numbers increasing between 20-36% in just one day. With more and more teachers and staff out on quarantine, and a dire substitute situation, this continues to not safe. We will see more situations like the one we saw with a student at Pleasure Ridge Park who was left to fend for themselves after more and more of them are corralled into cafeterias and gymnasiums to maintain control. Meanwhile, opportunistic lawmakers and politicians will use any violent outbreaks as an opportunity to blame the district leaders for removing police from our schools instead of admitting the 1,000 other things they did or didn’t do that got us here in the first place. It’s already happening, and I would even argue it was a calculated maneuver.
So we already know it’s bad. The questions are, “How much worse is it than we realize?” and “What are we going to do about it?”
Our community needs transparency in order to make the best decisions. In order to prevent avoidable suffering, humans have to be willing to see that our actions (or inactions) have cause and effect, and anticipate where our society is headed in order to make the best preparations. Change is inevitable. We can sit back and helplessly wait for it to happen to us, or we can recognize that each of us has the power to be the change that MUST happen and guide it in for a safer landing. The sooner we bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice, the less fallout, carnage and repercussions there will be. Parents, students, teachers and staff hold the power to make this shift happen sooner rather than later. And as they say in the medical profession,
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Our Leadership Team will make every effort to validate, vet and share the information as it comes in, so you can continue to weigh all available information when making your own personal decisions about the health and safety of your families, but also to alert anyone in a position of authority who might be able to intervene on our behalf. To get a better sense of how widespread these disparities are, and streamline the vetting process, we have created a COVID discrepancy survey for parents/guardians and JCPS employees to report discrepancies, concerns, etc. that they are aware of. Participants will have the option to remain anonymous, and any personal data shared with us will not be shared with anyone outside of the Dear JCPS Leadership Team.
Thank you as we ALL do our part to keep our students, families and community safe! If you have updates to provide, please email moderator@dearjcps.com or come back and complete the form again. Please try to provide timestamps with your documentation so competing or duplicate reports can be reconciled.
During a recent press conference, hosted by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a heckler began talking loudly to the crowd while one of our local community leaders, Vincent Gonzalez, was speaking. The press conference, which was held at Central High School ahead of the July 27, 2021 JCPS School Board Meeting, focused on our community’s unapologetic support for the teaching of accurate history and the practicing of equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as halting recently proposed legislation that would make doing so illegal. This interruption went on for quite some time, as several individuals from the crowd went over to try to kindly ask the belligerent woman to be respectful, to no avail. My latest blog post, entitled, “Listen to the Black People!,” details the events and dynamics that took place during those tense moments. Thank you for taking a moment to check it out.
