Legislators request review of pension investments flowing to Wall Street firms whose execs funded groups boosting Republicans who tried to overturn the election.
JCTA officer elections quietly come around every three years. Tomorrow will kick off the next triennial 8-day popularity contest. Their long-standing President, Brent McKim, has a Black female challenger. Incumbent Vice President, Tammy Berlin, seeking her third term, has a Black male challenger. The Treasurer slot is being sought by a vocal critic of McKim’s handling of the pension crisis. Despite promises to the contrary, Brent has remained in power for 20 years, after removing term limits shortly after becoming elected in 2001.
Their entrenched white leadership continues to abuse their power to suppress members’ votes, restrict access to information that impacts members’ financial security and representation, sow discord, and spread confusion and fear in order to prevent non-white stakeholders and their allies from sharing in the decision making that affects their union, their district and their community.
Unfortunately, their latest efforts appear to be working, based on the number of teachers who have told me to stop poking the bear, a tried-and-failed strategy that continues to leave me vulnerable and exposed, while their harmful and dangerous behaviors grow rampant and remain unchecked.
The gaslighting and manipulation in a recent message from JCTA Executive Director DeeAnn Flaherty (a McConnell Scholar) regarding a recent email I sent to candidates is complex, but let me break down a few things I noticed:
Their first implication is that I did not send the email to all candidates, or provide them with equal opportunity to participate.
Click to enlarge.
This assumption is not factual and easily proven as such. I sent the email to more than two dozen candidates in contested downballot races, specifically so that everyone WOULD have the same opportunity to be aware and apply. When my email tracking software showed ZERO opens after some time had passed, I called or messaged a few candidates that I knew to make sure it had not been blocked, as has been done previously. (See image.)
Candidates “K,” “G,” “I” and “S1” located and opened their emails after I notified them to look for it. Most of them told me it was buried in some kind of spam folder. After that outreach, I could finally see some “opens” but other than the initial three or four that I contacted, the reporting became stagnate again. So I prepared another email to send to the same candidates from a different address to instruct them to check their spam folder, because I wanted to make sure they saw it before the deadline we had given them. Unfortunately, members of our planning group instructed me not to send that email because they feared it would create even more distractions. So I waited.
In the meantime, candidate “S2” found and opened her email and completed the form within, providing her home address, phone number and tshirt size. Was it a setup?
Because we had already been working with the other candidate on that ticket, Jenna Fracasso, I sent follow up questions to “S2” to try to differentiate between the two of them, so the nominating committed could make an informed decision. She did not respond before the deadline. Jenna had already been attending People’s Agenda meetings and confirmed to us that she supported the shared vision of the Coalition, so the nomination for the endorsement went to Jenna instead of candidate “S2.”
They indicated someone received an unsolicited late night unannounced visit.
Despite not receiving our nomination, I still wanted “S2” to have the tshirt she had ordered. Since time was of the essence, I didn’t want to risk mail time delaying the receipt of the tshirts. (Ironically, Tammy Berlin condemned me on her personal FB page, and specifically criticized the estimated 2-3 week delivery time I had posted regarding the tshirts. She did not realize I had a batch in the works that I was planning to deliver to those who ordered early. Seems like no matter what I do, it is a no-win situation with her.) In addition to dropping off “S2’s” tshirt, I made several other contactless deliveries to candidates that Friday evening with no “incident.”
Using the address and phone number provided by “S2” on the form, I placed a package containing the tshirt she requested on her doorstep. Due to concerns that she may mix it up with some trash and other packaging that was also on her doorstep, I called her (again using the phone number she provided to me for this purpose) to let her know it was there, after I drove away. We had a great conversation. I explained why she didn’t get the nomination and she indicated she understood. She told me her reasons for running, which sounded in alignment with our work, and I invited her to come to the next Zoom call. And that was that. Or so I thought.
Upon checking the campaign software again, I discover that Candidate “S2’s” email has been shared over 40 times, making it clear that it is her email that was forwarded to JCTA.
Since that time, only two other candidates have opened the email, one of whom has since withdrawn from the race. JCTA not only falsely claims this email was not sent to all candidates, but in fact prior emails I have sent to teachers have successfully been BLOCKED by JCPS’s Chief Information Officer at the request of JCTA. Could this have something to do with emails from me continuing to be buried in teachers’ spam folders?
Inflammatory language
The language in their email is right in line with their other historical tactics of suppression, using words like solicitation, security, security, personal information, “undo what has been done” etc. They imply that our endorsements and support are somehow shady and put their favored candidates at a disadvantage, when in fact their white incumbents are arranging drop-in visits at PR meetings, sending rah rah emails to members with their faces and names all over them, and hosting zoom calls with high profile legislators like Morgan McGarvey, indicating that he has endorsed their lily-white slate. In fact, Ivonne brought this misstep to Morgan’s attention and he indicated he was mortified. We have invited him to join our next call, but as of yet, the time has not been confirmed.
Hypocrisy and false narratives
Regardless, and this is important, there is NO REQUIREMENT, and in fact it is incredibly HYPOCRITICAL, for them to assert that all candidates deserve equal opportunity to apply for an endorsement from our committee. LOOK AT BSK, for Heaven’s sakes! Are they practicing what they preach? No! We sent the email in an attempt to be as inclusive as possible and model what democratic and fair elections should look like. It should alarm everyone reading this post that they are acknowledging that this is something they condemn.
Endorsements can and have been made based upon the endorsing entity’s knowledge of a candidate’s work, platform, and presence at our meetings. Our endorsements require candidates share our vision for third-party organizations in JCPS. We are an anti-racist organization. Therefore, individuals who have been enablers of white supremacy would be problematic to endorse, regardless of their completion of any forms or “agreement” to support our vision. Our meetings are open to the public and have been advertised as such repeatedly (including on the “controversial” email). Our coalition works as a consensus and anyone is welcome to bring their ideas and opinions, but at the end of the day, we have an elected committee and we vote on who to endorse. This is a structure that was created and has been followed since the tax increase endorsement in November, with no objections.
The real reason this is happening.
We are exposing things they don’t want people to see. We are presenting, for the first time in 20 years, a threat to Brent McKim’s dynasty that he has so carefully built, orchestrated and protected. He’s conducting elections using 15-year-old software that he commissioned and controls. There is no reason to believe he is not able to monitor votes in real time, see who is voting for and against his picks, and adjust tactics and messaging to his benefit.
We have received numerous testimonies from people who have had their President’s power and support dangled in front of them to intimidate them into voting for him and/or not speaking out against him. Members have repeatedly requested paper ballots, and in the Fall of 2019, another motion was passed by the PRs to go to paper ballots so there would be a paper trail and a way to validate results, but magically, electronic ballots keep resurfacing. When one man ultimately controls the software used to gather and tabulate ballots, would he not be able to report whatever election results he wants? Members are given no choice but to trust the winners and losers announced at the end of the election. And as we saw with the botched BSK election, without a paper trail, there is no way for “losers” to challenge the results and request a recount.
It is my belief that members’ demands for transparency and democracy ahead of tomorrow’s JCTA elections is why these entrenched leaders are trying to discredit and dismantle our Coalition’s rich history and important work. Fear that they could have their power taken away is causing them to lash out at those seeking truth and accountability. Their actions are intended to cause confusion for members, making them want to distance themselves from the controversy and discomfort.
History is chock full of racist, white supremacist acts like this. Once we recognize them for what they are, we must honor the work of those who founded an alliance that is specifically against racist and political repression, by continuing to stand against these heinous acts! NOW MORE THAN EVER! It’s time!
I’ve sent messages to the superintendent and the commissioner letting them know what is happening. We’ve also reached out to the League of Women Voters to ask for their assistance in certifying the election results. Whatever they are saying about “outside influencers” is a distraction. This election has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with entrenched, white JCTA Members staying in power.
Teachers, I’m not asking you to take my word for any of these claims. I’m attempting to provide you with information they don’t want you to have, and encouraging you to do your own research. After all, it’s your pension and profession, not mine, that hangs in the balance. But it’s all Louisvillian’s whose tax dollars will be left footing the bill when your pension fails and vouchers siphon resources away from our public schools. And it’s future generations of vulnerable students who will suffer the consequences.
Let’s begin by laying the foundation. It’s January 25, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky, home of Breonna Taylor. Breonna was a graduate of Jefferson County Public Schools. JCPS is three times larger than the second largest school district in the state of Kentucky (nearly 100,000 students), and 29th largest in the country.
I am a privileged, white PTA mom, turned public school advocate, turned radical racial justice activist and accomplice. I fight for the right to equitable access of quality public education for Black, Brown, poor and disabled students in the urban pocket of West Louisville, deep in red state territory, where many people still believe Trump won the election.
I moved to Louisville in 2012, when my youngest son was starting high school. All you really need to know is that the school we chose to send him to really opened my eyes to the injustices that our city’s most marginalized occupants experience. And the harder I tried to make even the slightest difference, the harder those in charge made it for us.
This told me I was on to something, I just didn’t know what it was yet.
In 2015, I co-founded Dear JCPS and in 2016, Save Our Schools Kentucky. Dear JCPS is a watchdog group that was created to shine light on corruption that enables predators to siphon tax dollars away from our public schools, often at the expense of West Louisville’s impoverished, downtrodden Black families. Once we started lifting rocks, we started connecting the dots.
Efforts to address disparities in our district have been met with hostility. Community activists have been successful at rooting out and exposing many of the predators who showed us their hands. There was a sea change in district leadership that started in 2016, which continues today.
In 2017, we called for the resignation of our “willfully incompetent” Superintendent and the newly elected board was instrumental in choosing a superintendent who had grown up through the district and could hit the ground running on Day One.
At the state level, “woke” voters removed a whiny ALEC-backed governor in 2019, making way for an education-friendly governor, who thankfully cared more about saving lives than turning a profit when the pandemic hit. One of his first acts as Kentucky Governor (a title once held by his father), was to dismantle the privatizer friendly disaster of a Board of Education, prompting the resignation of an even greater disaster of a Education Commissioner, Wayne Lewis. More on this later.
Noticing unaddressed disparities between schools, parent involvement, fundraising and support, we tried to make change within the district-wide and local PTAs. When this effort proved futile, we created a slate of candidates to run from the floor. We were not successful, but we did expose a myriad of attempts at election-rigging and unethical practices, designed to keep “troublesome” Black and Black-allied parents from serving. This led to a 3-minute speech about oversight of third-party organizations during a JCPS Board meeting in July of 2019.
We also realized how monumental the structural barriers for educational justice really are. And that’s why the upcoming JCTA Elections are so critical.
There’s an election going on. A very important election. For the first time in 20 years, ever since the sitting president removed term limits for himself and his loyal accomplices so they could remain in power, he and his white incumbents face a very a real threat from dissatisfied rank-and-file members
A Black, female educator, with 13 years recent and relevant classroom experience, not to mention private sector leadership experience — and who spent her lifetime in Black skin — is challenging the controversial white, male incumbent for the top leadership position.
The Jefferson County Teachers Association is one of just a handful of teachers unions in Kentucky that has a treasured collective bargaining agreement. They represent over 6,000 certified teachers, working in 150 plus schools, which range from 9% Black to 92% Black. And while the student population is around 50% white overall, some schools are 78% white, while others are just 2% white.1
Unfortunately, only about 24% of JCPS teachers are Black, leading to disconnects not only between students and their teachers, but also between Black teachers and their white peers. Many Black educators have told us they frequently experience hostility, have had grievances filed against them, and even experienced demotions after simply drawing attention to harmful behaviors or advocating for racial justice on behalf of their students or peers. They also have told us that their union has been at best, MIA and at worst, complicit, in the pursuit of justice in these matters.
One of the bills that has already passed the House and Senate and was vetoed by the Governor sits precariously waiting for the super majority GOP session to resume on Feb. 2, 2021. McConnell-like predators who remain in office have passed bills to strip the governor of his powers, including his ability to reorganize boards and committees, like he did with Education. That’s why House Bill 5 is dangerous for teachers’ pensions.
Couple that with House Bill 258, which is the new pension plan that the union has endorsed, puts new teachers in a hybrid plan, cutting off funding to the current plan. It’s sponsored by none other than Jerry Miller, of “sewer bill fame.”
Watch Kentucky Teacher Pension Swan Song to learn why financial experts believe these bills, if passed, will be the final blow to the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System.
But that’s not all. The teachers’ union holds lots of seats at lots of tables, and has run roughshod over delicate coalition-building work around racial justice for some time now. Efforts by Dear JCPS and others to elevate impacted community voices have been derailed on numerous occasions, when union leadership disagreed with the opinions of those in consensus. It’s what led to Dear JCPS’s resignation from AROS last July.
I believe today’s events regarding implications that an email we sent to candidates was somehow improper or unethical, are another example of the same. One of the members of The People’s Agenda’s 17-person decision making council, who voted on our slate of candidates, also currently serves on the JCTA Board alongside some of the candidates our nominees are challenging.
When she did not agree with some of the nominating committee’s recommendations, she made her concerns known on every call that she attended and in chat conversations. She even made numerous calls between meetings to try to express her concerns about being on the same slate with another candidate she did not like. When pressed, her only rationale had nothing to do with his platform, track record or credentials, but only that she “never liked him” and when she met him years ago her “spirit was uneasy.”
Due to her continued grandstanding, we decided to take additional steps to attempt to reach out to all downballot candidates who had challengers and give them another opportunity to seek endorsement. An email was sent to more than two dozen candidates. When none of the emails showed on the campaign reporting software to have ever been opened, I reached out to a few of them and asked them to look for it to make sure it hadn’t been blocked like it was last time. Only those who I told about it opened it. That changed Thursday and one of the candidates actually filled out our request. As requested, she willingly provided her home email address, phone number and t-shirt size. Additional questions were sent for follow up, which she did not reply to. The nominating committee sent around its first round of downballot endorsements, and due to lack of differentiating information, her challenger was nominated instead.
When it was time to call for the vote, the above-mentioned vocal objector to the slate was the only “no.” Having been unsuccessful in her lobbying efforts on behalf of status quo candidates, one of whom was her cousin, she appears to have decided to go around the council to try to have our work derailed using other channels. For example, in an attempt to sully the candidates on our slate, confidential information only 17 of us would on the Council would have had access to was shared with JCTA leadership, who then forwarded this and another email to all of the candidates, implying our Coalition was doing something wrong, although we were not.
This is not new. Many folks doing this work alongside me can tell you the same thing happened when the majority of organizations in AROS came to a consensus last May to conduct a campaign around a pledge to support the tax increase, only to have it vetoed by one member group that had not even been in attendance during that meeting.
Others will tell you about the time when an attempted state takeover of JCPS was announced, white JCTA leaders abandoned the structure and working relationships that had been cultivated in AROS, only to form “Our JCPS” and pick and choose whose voice was heard at the table. I continued to witness Black teachers, parents and students pushed out of decision making, denied and delayed justice and be attacked and discredited. For speaking up, I was similarly “uninvited” from the conversations, maligned, and attacked by white leaders and their white peers from other unions.
So, for those concerned about “outside influences” and whether it’s any of our business to interfere with teachers’ unions elections, hopefully this history provides a little bit of insight as to the ways the entrenched union leadership has interfered with attempts to bring justice to Black, Brown, poor, and marginalized JCPS students, teachers and families, and in particular those living in West Louisville. But if not, the voices of the current and former members who have asked us to intervene on their behalf, should not be dismissed.
One final note: At the request of some candidates who may have been endorsed but have been poisoned against the idea of candidates running as a slate (although that is what the white incumbents are currently doing), I want to make one thing abundantly clear. Although support and resources, including a $400 marketing budget, are available to endorsed candidates, at this time, none of them have accepted our offer. We will continue our work supporting and elevating candidates who share the vision of the People’s Agenda Education Committee, which includes:
Democratic and transparent elections and endorsements;
Fight privatization of public education, including protecting and funding pensions, and preventing vouchers;
Racial Justice for Students and Teachers, including plans for a safe return to school for EVERYONE!
Supporting documentation for all of the claims made above will be published here or at www.thepeoplesagenda.net as soon as possible.
Stay tuned to this blog for more information about the JCTA election, which runs from 6 AM Wednesday, Jan. 27 through 5 PM Wednesday, Feb. 3.
KY House Bill 5 – fast tracked through the Kentucky House and Senate with little fanfare earlier this month – is an ALEC-styled bill that will prohibit Kentucky’s governor from reorganizing boards and commissions. It was vetoed by Governor Beshear last week, while the legislature is in recess. His veto is expected to be overturned when legislators reconvene on Tuesday, February 2.
Why such urgency by the legislature to limit the Governor’s power?
With the stroke of a pen, Beshear’s powers enabled him to thwart unethical political maneuvering by strange GOP bedfellows including Hal Heiner, Wayne Lewis, Milton Seymore, Gary Houchens, Matt Bevin and others. Controversial and contentious political moves had left these politicians poised to devour public schools with the implementation of charter schools, vouchers and a state takeover of the state’s largest school district, as they’ve done in so many states before us.
TELL ALL LEGISLATORS:
“Allow VETO of House Bill 5 to stand!”
Financial experts believe Kentucky legislative majorities still plan to infiltrate the pension board, which controls who benefits from the secret, no-bid contracts that riddle the state’s public pension systems.
In this episode of Save Our Schools with Dear JCPS, entitled “The Swan Song of the Kentucky Teachers’ Pension,” Chris Tobe, financial planner, former pension board member, candidate for Kentucky State Auditor, and author of Kentucky Fried Pensions, relates how this is not out of the question.
We also discuss how the Kentucky’s Teachers’ pension could be directly tied to the January 6 insurrection at our nation’s Capitol.
Watch the entire 59 minute interview here:
It’s not too late to prevent this unwanted power grab by the state legislature. Teachers concerned about preventing further grifting that will lead to the final destruction of their pension should contact their House Representatives and Senators at 800-372-7181 and make sure they know where you stand on HB5. Tell ALL LEGISLATORS to “Allow the Governor’s VETO of House Bill 5 to stand!”
Elections for more than a dozen open seats on the Jefferson County Teachers’ Association (JCTA) Board, (including the four key leadership positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer), are up for grabs. With the election less than two weeks away, candidate campaigning, and sadly, nasty disinformation campaigns originating from entrenched white leaders intent on staying in power, have begun. This isn’t the first time in our nation’s history union leaders have attempted to usurp the wills and voices of their rank-and-file members using mob-like mentalities and bullying tactics. In fact, the Landrum Griffin Act of 1959 came about as the labor movement was under intense Congressional scrutiny for corruption, racketeering, and other misconduct. The new law:
established a code of conduct guaranteeing certain rights to union members within their union, and imposed reporting requirements on unions, union officers, employers, and consultants.
This is also not the first time in recent history in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) powerful third-party organizations have been accused of tampering with elections and outcomes. Following numerous anomalies chronicled in this series of articles regarding numerous controversial PTA elections, in July of 2019, Adelmann spoke at a JCPS Board of Education meeting about the need for greater oversight of external organizations. The unsettling events witnessed by Adelmann and others also prompted her to submit an open records request for copies of state-required financial documents for each of the PTAs in the district. This action, surprisingly, landed her in court, but was ultimately appealed and awarded in Adelmann’s favor, upholding transparency for public stakeholders. Watch the video below:
Unfortunately, being on the receiving end of mud-slinging from bourgeois elites and their enablers is nothing new for Adelmann. Since its founding in July of 2015, Dear JCPS has been demanding accountability and transparency from district leaders. Although some perceived the “drama” as unpleasant, deterring them from wanting to get involved, pushback from those loyal to corrupt administrators is reminiscent of those protecting status quo under Dr. Hargens. Yet, if you ask teachers today, most would say they approve of how that turned out. A rally on the steps of Van Hoose, spearheaded by Adelmann, called for Hargens’ resignation, which came shortly thereafter, a full two years before her contract was set to expire. Similarly, the removal of David Jones, Jr. from the JCPS School Board of Education in 2016, can also be credited to actions of grassroots groups. Jones’ opponent was endorsed by Dear JCPS, and not the teachers’ union, as most believe. They remained silent in that race.
Election Tampering?
The recent botched election for Better Schools Kentucky, the union’s political action committee, which directs endorsements, funds and volunteers to candidates using members’ dues money, wasn’t the first questionable election that the union President appears to have undue influence over. Another, more tangible example of how JCTA President may have manipulated elections behind the scenes in August of 2018. On the filing deadline for the JCPS School Board race, Dear JCPS President and Co-founder, Gay Adelmann, received a series of text messages and phone calls from an allied stakeholder. He was thinking about throwing his hat into the ring and wanted to know if she thought Linda Duncan should be replaced. Adelmann responded with an unequivocal yes, and an intense series of phone calls and text messages ensued, given that the deadline was less than 4 hours away. After advising the potential candidate what he needed in order to file, Adelmann proceeded to notify McKim that someone had stepped up to take Duncan’s place, assuming he would share her excitement. Apparently he was secretly working against the interests of the democratic way. She remained in contact with the potential candidate the remainder of the afternoon, helping him think through the logistics about how to obtain the necessary signatures, and deliver the required forms (and possibly meeting a constituent at the clerk’s office for a last minute signature), before the early afternoon deadline. Adelmann recounts this incident in more detail during a recent 4-hour “tell-all” Facebook livestream. Among other things, she sheds more light onto how the 20-year President of arguably the state’s most powerful union, abused his power by acting on this information to convince an amazing social and racial justice advocate, union leader, parent and taxpayer to stay in his lane. Perhaps Adelmann’s own “head’s up” text message was her own undoing. But this isn’t the first time this union leader has received negative press for interfering with elections. After the leader convinced the concerned stakeholder to pull out at the 11th hour, our candidate stopped communicating with Adelmann, and instead posted this vague post on Facebook about averting a close call. The reasoning for the change of heart, according to our source at a later date, was that he was manipulated by the JCTA President into believing Duncan was a “friendly incumbent” and told that union folks need to stay in their own lanes. (Our friend was a leader in a union that represents members in the communication industry.)
Friendly to whom???
Friendly to JCTA and JCPS executives and electeds? Because many of the grassroots groups, including Dear JCPS, LSURJ, and The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Black Lives Matter Louisville had witnessed and expressed disdain for culturally inappropriate comments Duncan was notorious form. Many of these same grassroots groups, as well as the League of Women Voters Louisville, had filed to be intervenors in the hearing, because we welcomed our “day in court.” Many believe what the JCTA President and his insiders meant by “friendly” was that Duncan favored a “compromising” stance on the state takeover that was currently being negotiated by a hostile state education commissioner and board. They clearly preferred a board member who they could rely on to cast the deciding vote that would prevent the state takeover negotiations from ever going to a hearing. We believe this JCTA President interfered with the democratic election process, because he and others had a vested interest in continuing to bury the seeds of truth. #ItsOurTimeJCTA #JusticeForBreonna #JusticeForDaquan #BlackJCPSStudentsMatter #BlackJCPSTeachersMatter
The recent election for Better Schools Kentucky, a political action committee within the teacher’s union, which endorses candidates and directs member dues money to candidates for key legislative and school board seats, uncovered numerous anomalies and programming concerns with the union’s antiquated electronic ballot system. Candidates asking too many questions created an avalanche of more and more questionable outcomes, some of which are explained in the 9-minute video below. The video is excerpts taken from the January 4, 2021 People’s Agenda meeting, which are held every Monday at 4:00 PM on Zoom.
Instead of explaining the anomalies, the initial winner was eventually overturned, legal challenges were issued, while the tightly controlled decision makers held a closed-door emergency meeting to invent policies that had never before been written, because apparently no one had ever asked this many questions before.
The BSK election committee determined, after the fact, that a run-off election was indeed necessary when there in no majority winner for the only member-elected position on this year’s PAC board. So it was scheduled for 3 days in January.
The run-off election was an even less transparent and more tightly controlled race, in which the original winner’s victory was restored by 11 votes. These run-off results have to be taken at the committee’s word, because very few people truly know what is going on behind the curtain. Although our supported candidate, Kenyata Dean-Bacon may have only lost by 11 votes, but the run-off elections generated more than double the voter turnout than the first election. This tells us we’re no longer the only ones paying attention.
More important elections to the top positions are coming up January 27 – Feb 3. Be sure to support the candidates who support democratic and transparent elections, including reinstatement of term limits; fully funding pensions including for new hires; and a commitment to racial justice for teachers, students and their families. More information about these candidates and their shared vision can be found at www.thepeoplesagenda.net.
Join the team that wants to bring transparency, democracy and member representation back to JCTA. Join the team that wants to bring better endorsements, fully funded pensions and racial justice to JCPS. JCTA Members, learn how you can get a free campaign t-shirt and/or yard sign for joining the team. (Allow 2-3 weeks for shipment.)
Last month’s election for JCTA’s political action committee (PAC), better known as Better Schools Kentucky, was not devoid of excitement and intrigue, that’s for sure.
If you missed it, you are probably not alone. Only those who are familiar with JCTA bylaws would be aware that one would have to call the JCTA office to get the results. So we wanted to make it easier for you.
At one point, candidates asked for a recount and they were told that there was “no opportunity for human error,” only to find out later that an errant letter “e” in one of the write-in candidate’s names caused everything to shift. Instead of explaining all of the anomalies that the candidates inquired about, JCTA’s response was to declare a different winner than was originally reported.
You don’t say?
In fact, of the four candidates on the ballot, none of them won by majority — either time — so the BSK election committee had to hold a special meeting to determine if a run-off election between the two top vote-getters would be necessary.
They decided it was. The run-off starts Monday, January 11 at 6 AM and ends Wednesday, January 13 at 4 PM. JCTA members should keep a eye out for the link to vote.
After all of these anomalies, how can JCTA members be assured that the election results are reliable? What’s different this time? Imagine how Americans would feel if Trump and his people were the ones conducting the Presidential election and reporting the results.
Why not give BOTH of these winners a seat at the table? Of the 12-person committee, 10 of the seats are nominated by President Brent McKim. We couldn’t help but notice that 8 or 9 of the 10 individuals put there by him are white. Instead of using his nominating power to ensure a diverse committee, he’s forcing these two exceptional Black women to duke it out in a run-off for the only member-elected seat in this year’s BSK election.
Since a run-off is likely to expose more embarrassing glitches to the union’s archaic electronic voting system, why not just add another seat to the committee and make it 13? It’s still not quite representative of the district as a whole, but it’s a start.
Rank and file teachers who demand better endorsements and more democratic representation are circulating a petition encouraging JCTA President Brent McKim to step down. After his election in 2001, he was instrumental in removing term limits, enabling his staying power. According to the petition,
The 20-year tenure of current leadership is based on the undemocratic elimination of term limits by this leadership in the early 2000s.
RaShauna Tyson, a math teacher at Frost 6th Grade Academy, has filed to challenge McKim in the upcoming election. Kumar Rashad, Breckinridge Metro teacher, has filed to run for Vice President against long-time incumbent Tammy Berlin. Tyra Walker, a teacher at Roosevelt Perry, is running unopposed in her bid to retain her seat as JCTA Secretary. Manual history teacher Randy Wieck has filed to challenge incumbent Maddie Shepard for JCTA Treasurer. You may recognize Dr. Wieck’s name, as he has been an outspoken critic of McKim for his failure to act on addressing pension mismanagement.
The BSK run-off elections start Jan. 11 and end Jan. 13. The general election begins January 27, at 6 AM, where numerous regional positions are also on the ballot.
Let’s say there’s a school district somewhere that has approximately 18,000 employees and 95,000 students.
Now, let’s imagine if everyone in that district caught COVID-19.
Since we know approximately 1 in every 50 people who catches COVID dies, that would mean somewhere around 360 employees and 1,900 students in that district would die.
Now let’s say there are 120 schools, with around 800 students each, in that district. That’s like losing 3 employees and 16 students per building.
But since we know children aren’t as likely to die from COVID as adults are, and it’s too early to know what long-term health effects are, the number of deaths and serious immediate consequences would skew more toward the adults.
So, instead of naming 16 students you would be willing to sacrifice, it might be better to think of some more adults to complete the list. Throw in a few more teachers, administrators and counselors. Top it off with the school’s resource officer, a cafeteria worker, a custodian, along with some coaches, secretaries, bus drivers and clerks. Or maybe some of the ones you’ll lose are parent volunteers. Have you reached 19 yet?
Could you make a list of the teachers and students you are willing to sacrifice from your school building?
Expand that number to their homes, spouses workplace, childcare, grandparents, etc. How many more would die? Not to mention, how many others would experience long term health effects, financial hardships and more?
Lest we ignore the fact that some schools have higher concentrations of minority populations, poverty and underlying health conditions than others. Their consequences might be triple, quadruple, or even ten times the averages.
Let’s take this real-life example of two elementary schools in Jefferson County Public Schools. Bloom Elementary, shown as School B, on the left; and Foster Traditional, shown as School F, on the right.
School B, which is in the eclectic, affluent Highlands neighborhood, is 78% white, whereas at School F, in the Chickasaw neighborhood in West Louisville, only 2% of the students are white, and 95% of them qualify for free or reduced lunch (considered low income).
Not to mention, high minority, high poverty schools earn lower test scores and face other dire hardships. For example, despite having roughly the same populations, Bloom has approximately one fourth the number of homeless students as Foster. And that was before COVID exposed and exacerbated these disparities that have been there all along. They also have a harder time garnering parental involvement and community support.
Whether it’s health threats, low test scores, or inability to fundraise, the schools with higher non-white populations face significantly greater risk of negative outcomes and serious consequences.
Is this hyperbole? Maybe. Maybe not. For some of us it may seem like it, because we’ve had the good fortune of being able to send our children to “good” schools. and we’ve had a reasoned governor, superintendent, and school board making informed decisions about COVID. Not everyone is so lucky.
On December 30, Kentucky School Boards Association reported,
As of this evening, at least 100 Ky. school districts say they will begin in-person classes on or after Jan. 11; 26 will return before Jan. 11, including 16 that plan to start classes Monday. 70 districts will use a hybrid model for all grades, 10 will use it for middle & high.
To make matters worse, Kentucky’s General Assembly also starts Tuesday, where the supermajority GOP is hellbent on stripping emergency power away from our governor, in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
We have the second highest percentage of death coming from long-term care facilities. And STILL our Governor is not doing what should have been done in the first month of the pandemic.
Thank God January 5 is next week. Our people can’t handle much more of this incompetence. https://t.co/hZjKUcoGDZ
So, go ahead and make that list. Or better yet, keep practicing social distancing and staying home. And more importantly, keep advocating for those who can’t or won’t.
Sorry if this post upsets anyone. Those who have lost loved ones unnecessarily have an even greater reason to be upset.
