Category: Teachable Moment

Pattern or Practice, Racial Equity, Teachable Moment

Going Thru The Motions

jcpswatch

Join us on Wednesday, July 26 at 10:15 am as we show up IN PERSON and ON ZOOM to support Dr. Kimberly Mucker-Johnson during her hearing in Civil Court Division 6 to overturn a settlement agreement she made with JCPS in 2022. Sign up to receive our emails using the form below and we will email you a link with a reminder and updates. Watch the video to learn more.

Do you have something you’d like to blow the whistle on but don’t know where else to turn? Send an email to moderator@dearjcps.com with a link to your testimonials, evidence or anything else you’d like the public to know that qualifies for whistleblower protection, such as exposing waste, fraud and abuse.

By using this service, you agree to hold Dear JCPS, its entities or assigns, harmless for any consequences that may come out as a result of this information being made public. You also testify that you’ve followed all applicable laws and that you’ve consulted legal counsel if these records are sensitive or private in nature, as we are unable to provide anything of the sort.

We just want people who do bad things using taxpayer dollars or public trust to first be stopped and then held accountable, to have corrections made to the system and repairs made to those who were harmed. The only way we can ever hope to do that is to make sure the public knows what really happened and how our tax dollars are spent.

If you know of any significant examples of waste, fraud and abuse in JCPS, please report it publicly, to proper authorities, and the media. If you feel you have exhausted all of these avenues, but you have reason or evidence to prove the story has been covered up, people have been retaliated against, denied employment or promotion or otherwise discriminated against or harassed, we would like to hear from you. If you have been silenced due to a settlement with JCPS, we also want to hear from you. If you are an attorney interested in providing counsel in this area, please reach out. We would like to make some introductions.

This site is run by a volunteer. There is much more evidence and stories waiting to be told, including yours! I could use some help in order to speed things up, so if you’re technically inclined or have good social skills and want to put them to good use, please contact me at moderator@dearjcps.com. Donations also gratefully accepted at our PAC, Justice for the People. Please help us rid Kentucky of Daniel Cameron and get Mitch McConnell’s knee off our necks. Thank you for your understanding, patience and support.

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Police Free Schools, Privatization of Public Education, Racial Equity, Teachable Moment

Craig Greenberg

jcpswatch

Here is a podcast of the interview with mayoral candidate, Craig Greenberg, following the alleged attempted shooting by Black activist and journalist Quintez Brown. This will be updated as time allows.

https://podcastaddict.com/episode/https%3A%2F%2Fdts.podtrac.com%2Fredirect.mp3%2Fapi.spreaker.com%2Fdownload%2Fepisode%2F48748192%2Fcraig_greenberg_talks_all_aspects_of_the_shooting_at_his_campaign_office.mp3&podcastId=3111026

Some quotes:

“I’m more fortunate than most people who are shot at.”

“We have got to stop the gun violence.”

“I am a person who can bring this city together.”

Mental health was another topic.

Meiners: “Do you know him?”

“I do not know Mr. Brown.”

Meiners: “You have not met him at rallies?

Greenberg: “I don’t believe so.”

Meiners: “He met with a group last week called the Land of Judah armed forces. A spokesperson for them said, “We are terribly heartbroken over what appears to have been a humongous lapse of judgement. The lam of Judah In no way advocates anything of this nature.”

This is a group that has shown some very strong tendencies, much like the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. 

I have to ask about your religion. Did you worry this was an antisemitic …?”

(9:16) Meiners: “Last week, there were multiple Democratic members of the Metro Council who endorsed you. The alleged shooter has been connected to other candidates and he himself is running for office. [Metro Council].

The alleged shooter tweeted, he took a story from WLKY about those other democrats endorsing you before primary and then he wrote at the top, “Dollar Democracy?” So he’s showing political anger at that. I mean, it’s pretty blatant that’s what this is about.

Do you think it’s appropriate for other Democrats to endorse you prior to a primary? And in this case, obviously, it may have led to this outrageous act.”

“I know there are other people whose experiences in their life have been unfair.”

“Let’s lower the temperature.”

(11:55) Meiners:  “Alleged shooter Quintez Brown writing though dollar democracy with that story. The inference is that you made a deal with these Democrats on the Metro Council?

Greenberg: “That’s totally false.”

Meiners: The bail was set at $100,000.

The bail was paid by some New York hip hop guy.

Is 100,000 the correct amount? Is that enough for someone who has already shown he has no respect for life, and he’ll blast 5 bullets at you or anyone else.”

Greenberg: With respect to the bail, that’s a good question. I haven’t had time to process that.

I don’t know what led this individual who shot at me.

I am empathetic to whatever led him to that point. I want to be part of that solution.

At the same time, actions have consequences. It’s not acceptable to open fire at other individuals.”

I’m driving down to Frankfort to advocate for that as well.

Meiners: “on the streets.” “Sociopathic behavior.” Blah blah.

Greenberg: “Those who commit violent crimes, there need to be consequences.”

LMPD needs the resources to solve unsolved murders.

 

More:

https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/news/black-activist-went-rising-star-182741712.html?guccounter=1

 

Police Free Schools, Racial Equity, Teachable Moment

Hankison Trial

jcpswatch

We know everyone’s busy and there’s a lot going on right now. Much more than usual! So, we wanted to make it easy for anyone who wasn’t able to keep up in real time to find the video of the testimonies given in the trial of one of the LMPD officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. To date no one has been held accountable. As facts from this trial are revealed, we need everyone to keep #AllEyesOnKentucky.

Background article: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/23/1082580545/breonna-taylor-officer-trial

Day 1

Opening Statements: https://fb.watch/bmpvG2cf9S/

10 AM – https://fb.watch/bmp9_5vxRr/

After lunch – https://fb.watch/bmp75OiLlG/

Day 2

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live?ref=watch_permalink&v=2813025929007135

Morning livestreams – https://fb.watch/bnR-_ydPG5/

https://fb.watch/bnR8kTUXME/

After lunch – https://fb.watch/bnRWKKN_SL/

Summary:

https://www.wave3.com/2022/02/24/former-lmpd-chief-says-visibly-shaking-hankison-didnt-follow-protocol-after-breonna-taylor-raid/

Keep checking back for more links as they become available.

Image credit from JCPS Educator Dr. Kimberly Johnson’s book, “Aaliyah’s Lost Mind: A No-Knock Situation” available on Amazon.

 

Racial Equity, Teachable Moment

NFL = Not For (much) Long(er)

jcpswatch

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? 

We blogged about it here, and as you can tell, we were pretty upset at the time: KY HOUSE REP SHITS WHERE HE EATS. 

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.

Privatization of Public Education, Racial Equity, Teachable Moment

Radical Right-Wing Groups Have Infiltrated JCPS Organizations and Are Spreading Misinformation

jcpswatch

A coalition is forming! Join us as we band together to fight the latest attacks on public education and our people as lawmakers nationwide attempt to deny the right of every student to learn an accurate and comprehensive US History. Sign up for our email list to get updates on meetings, strategies and other ways you can support our students, teachers and public schools during this historical time.

Be on the look out for those claiming that “Critical Race Theory” is divisive and teaches hate. These people may be in your child’s school’s parent teacher group, on your Facebook feed, attend the same church, or even be in your own family. If they make this intellectually lazy claim, prod them for details. You will learn that their claims can be easily debunked. They have likely not done any research, but instead are simply repeating divisive and hateful messaging they’ve heard elsewhere, perhaps from people they trust. The originators of this untruth are usually those who want to keep others under their feet. People at the head of an organization, a committee, a parish or a household. Usually, white men.

It’s almost as if they WANT public schools to fail so they can bring in charter schools and profit off our tax dollars while simultaneously denying quality education to those who don’t have the means. 

These claims have nothing to do with what Critical Race Theory actually is or what it does. But since CRT is a college-level course, and none of us has the spare time or funds required to master that curriculum just to figure out who to believe, let’s cut to the chase.

What you need to know:

  1. Critical Race Theory is not taught in JCPS, or any public primary or secondary school in Kentucky, for that matter. This is a solution looking for a problem and “much ado about nothing.”
  2. Critical Race Theory is college-level legal coursework curriculum. It’s just that. A theory. It focuses on how race has played a role in disparate outcomes between white and non-white persons in the criminal justice system. That’s it. It doesn’t teach hate. It doesn’t blame white people for slavery. None of that nonsense.
  3. The bill that has been introduced in Kentucky does not mention Critical Race Theory, but instead lists a dozen concepts public school employees must not discuss with their students.
  4. Failure to comply exposes the school district to thousands of dollars in fines.
  5. Many of the concepts it prohibits teachers from teaching either don’t happen, or are already illegal, including acts of treason. Most of the 12 provisions are unnecessary, redundant and superfluous, clearly to create disinformation and spread fear.
  6. Of the few provisions that actually change the laws on the books, they serve more to protect white feelings than they do to protect Black lives.
  7. The bill’s language and threat of punishment will have a chilling effect on teachers’ ability to provide their students with factual historical information, regardless of context, and denies students their right to a quality public education.
  8. The bill would take authority to supervise employees away from local district leaders and place it in the hands of the Attorney General, currently Daniel Cameron. It eliminates stakeholders’ abilities to hold board members accountable to what is taught and what is prohibited.
  9. The bill would violate free speech, while protecting corruption and structural racism.
  10. This is a waste of resources. This is a lawsuit they are likely to lose. We don’t have money for textbooks, but we have money to fight this in court? Where are our priorities again?
  11. Groups that are supportive of this bill have demonstrated ties to ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council), the Koch Brothers, Mitch McConnell, Matt Bevin, and radical right wing organizations, to name a few.
  12. Fearmongerers spreading these concepts have infiltrated many grassroots and social media groups, allowing this misinformation to be spread unchecked. They are running for school boards and other top seats, and in fact, this language has already become law in many other neighboring states and school districts.
  13. Please be outspoken and vigilant when you encounter this messaging. Feel free to tag Dear JCPS on social media if you need backup.
  14. If only lawmakers would spend half the energy looking for ways to help and support our public schools as they do they do figuring out how to tie our hands and punish us, while demanding more with no additional funding, we might actually get somewhere. It’s almost as if they WANT public schools to fail so they can bring in charter schools and profit off our tax dollars while simultaneously denying quality education to those who don’t have the means. 
  15. More information will be forthcoming about a coalition that is forming, as well as strategies to support our students, teachers and our public schools. Click here to join our email list.

Here are some additional links you may find helpful:

Link to KY’s Proposed Bill (LRC)

Statement from JCPS Chief Equity Officer Dr. John Marshall (Courier-Journal)

Metro Council Discusses Critical Race Theory (WHAS11) 

Debating Critical Race Theory with Joe Fischer and Gerald Neal (KET Tonight)

Statement from Save Our Schools Kentucky

Black History Matters

Does Academic Freedom Shield Teachers as States Take Aim at Critical Race Theory? (EdWeek)

This week’s Forward Radio program, That Racist Anti-CRT Bill

Accountability, Admin, Privatization of Public Education, Student Assignment, Teachable Moment, Teacher Shortage, Vision: 2020

Come Have Some Tea With Me

jcpswatch

My friends call it “spilling the tea.” My family used to call it “spilling the beans.” Although I think the expressions came from two completely different origins, they mean roughly the same thing in this situation.

Not sure where the expression came from, but I can picture some well-dressed Southern ladies sitting together at their bridge table, and when one of them starts to tell a juicy story about one of their “friends,” it causes another to knock over her cup of tea, causing a commotion for all.

Welcome to my tea party. I’m about to spill some tea.

Let’s begin in the present, so I can show you what to look for while it’s still happening. Right now, JCPS teachers are in the midst of a silent coup by the current regime. The fewer teachers who even know this election is happening, the greater the chances they can keep their current dear leader in power. 

Up for grabs is the At-large BSK position. The election was held during a 3-day window: Nov. 30 – Dec. 2. What happened during that time could fill an entire season on Netflix, but we’ll sum it up here.

At first, Natalie Rashad was declared the winner. But when the election committee couldn’t explain the irregularities on their infallible software’s tabulation sheet, they went back to their programmer. He magically discovered an error and running tabulations a second time resulted in Kenyata Dean-Bacon becoming the winner. (Maybe they thought it would just be easier to give in than to explain the myriad of errors.)

However, when not a single one of them noticed there had not been a majority winner until Kenyata asked about it, the election committee held a séance, I mean special meeting, and decided that a run-,off would be necessary, putting Kenyata’s narrow victory at risk, and pitting both worthy candidates against one another at a future date.

Third time’s a charm, right?!

But why the mystery? Why wouldn’t the timeline they are organizing just follow the bylaws? Is it really that “unprecedented?” Or is it “going according to plan?”

Does this botched election remind anyone of the recent Bar Exam debacle? When several would-be lawyers had their joy stolen from them because after they had celebrated passing the BAR exam, they later learned they had failed? Many were saying “just give it to them.” After all, these tests are barriers; ways to discriminate. And judging by the makeup of the organization, it’s working just as it’s intended!

Tell JCTA to give BOTH of their BSK winners a seat at the table. Lord knows they’ve earned it! Take a look at the barriers and hurdles they’ve had to face to get to this moment to even be considered for the ONLY position on the BSK this election cycle that is put before the members. Could JCTA make it any less equitable and democratic? I don’t think so!

Kumar Rashad for President!

Come on, JCTA. Especially you, JCTA President Brent McKim. All eyes are on you. Do the right thing. Give up your seat that’s been controlled by mediocre white blood for decades. It’s time for new blood. Be the hero. Endorse Kumar Rashad for president. Allow members to bring back the term limits you removed, so this type of stagnation doesn’t continue to happen. It’s his time. If not now, when?

Let’s all get behind #KumarForJCTAPresident, and follow a path that will allow JCTA to award BOTH of these two fierce advocates for black, brown and poor JCPS students a seat at the BSK table. Let’s quit manipulating results and moving goal posts and get back to supporting our students and teachers. (Sorry for the shade toward McKim, but he’s been given every opportunity and we’ve reached this point where the members have some decisions to make. They deserve to finally see what’s been going on behind the curtain all these years.)

Teachers, get organized! They still plan to move forward with a run-off BSK election. So, unless they are planning to violate their own bylaws, it would happen this Wednesday (Dec. 16). Also, start preparing for the general election starting on January 27, where several key positions are up for grabs.

Accountability, EARN the People's Vote, Teachable Moment

Daquan’s First Weapons Charge

jcpswatch

A true story about microaggressions, racism and feeding the pipeline to prison.

“Dear JCPS,

Before I start to disclose the contents of the topic of this letter, I want to state that everything in this letter is a FACT!  Not some hypothetical situation.  Not some situation that happened somewhere else in America (although it could have).  But this is a true story that happened in the not-so-distant past right here in Louisville, KY.  While all of these facts can be proven (the very definition of a fact) as they are documented in various emailed documents to the district (making them subject to open records) and I have seen them with my own eyes, the name of the minor will be protected including adult names and locations. Furthermore, so that we are clear on the facts, I will provide other evidence such as photographs and policies from inside and outside of the district to substantiate the facts in this case.  

A fifth grade black male student brought a disposable razor to school.  The disposable razor was not out and the only reason anyone knew he had brought it to school was because he needed to get a pencil or piece of paper out of his locker. “

Read the full story here: Daquans First Weapons Charge

Accountability, EARN the People's Vote, Student Assignment, Teachable Moment

Dear JCPS Severs Ties with AROS

jcpswatch

When efforts to reconcile differences over support of West End and Black families continued to break down, Dear JCPS was left with no other option than to withdraw from the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, Louisville.

Full story.

“Instead, Dear JCPS is honored to be working with the Kentucky Alliance Education Committee on their revival of the People’s Agenda, to include a list of demands for JCPS. Their organization meets Monday’s at 4:30 PM via Zoom,” Adelmann said. “When the dust settles, we want to be standing on the right side of history. AROS Louisville, under its current leadership, is on the wrong side of history. And we wanted to distance ourselves as quickly and vocally as possible.” 

#StandWithBlackJCPSStudents #BlackJCPSStudentsMatter

EARN the People's Vote, Teachable Moment

Teachable Moments

jcpswatch

Dear JCPS is proud to launch a new private Facebook group called Dear JCPS Teachable Moments. A lengthier explanation of this new program can be found at the end of this week’s episode of Save Our Schools with Dear JCPS.

If you suspect a JCPS employee is exhibiting reckless or culturally biased behaviors that could put students at risk, you can anonymously email screenshots to teachablemoments@dearjcps.com.