Or is it?
Whether it’s the latest WDRB article about the pay raises given to JCPS employees in recent months, or the rationale for the makeup of the currently forming Efficient and Effective School District Governance Task Force, some things just don’t seem to add up.
I have not even begun to delve into the salary increase theatrics, other than to notice news media are citing district averages, which could mean executive salaries went up as well as those in the trenches, only widening the pay disparities that already have so many taxpayers and employees up in arms. Whether it’s JCPS, LMPD or lawmakers, our elected and appointed leaders have been caught spinning webs of lies before, and media has been exposed for going right along with whatever lies they’re told, so why should this time be any different?
So let’s talk about the language I tracked down for the requirements for the 4 remaining at-large seats for the “Efficient and Effective School District Governance Task Force,” which is accepting applications until June 30 of this year. Can we call it something else?
An open letter to JCPS, signed by a dozen GOP lawmakers last August, after the first day bus fiasco that caused the district to cancel classes for a week so leaders and bus drivers could regroup, followed by an opinion letter signed by seven Jefferson County Republican lawmakers this May, forewarned our community that the War on JCPS had officially been declared. The previously announced audit put us in “check,” and now, with the Constitutional Amendment that our state’s Supreme Court declared Unconstitutional, on the ballot, this task force has already called “check mate.” And maybe it should. Maybe the district needs to be taken down to its knees. But that’s another discussion for another day. One that is ultimately left up to the state legislature and will be guided by a recommendation from the committee.
I plan to apply for one of the four “at-large” seats and will make my “letter of intent” public after the announcements about who has been chosen have been made. I don’t want to “taint the process.” Whether I’m chosen or not, I am applying because I want to at least make sure the concerns I share with them make it into their consideration, because these issues really represent a decade’s worth of concerns that have been brought forward to me and other volunteers and community organizers I’ve been working in the trenches with for just as long, as well as many others who have been doing this work much longer and are still patiently waiting for a seat at the table. Parents and teacher leaders of color in particular. We’ll get into all of that later. But for now…
Here’s how you apply (not join, as the CJ headline misleadingly implies).
The rationale for how and why they structured these four seats is as follows:
(7) To be appointed by the Legislative Research Commission to ensure broad political and geographical representation within any school district with an enrollment greater than 75,000 and ensure that such appointments reflect the racial minority and gender composition of the school districts [emphasis added by me] based upon the most recent data from the United States Census Bureau:
- Two members who are taxpayers living in a school district with an enrollment greater than 75,000, who are not current employees of the school district, have competency and experience or knowledge in the field of education, and have children that are currently attending or recently graduated within the past five years from the school district;
- One member with experience in the finance, management, and operations of large businesses that operate in the Commonwealth;
- One member who is a certified teacher currently employed as a classroom teacher in a school district with enrollment greater than 75,000 who has at least five years of experience working in the district; and
- One member from a list of three nominees that are recommended by the superintendents of school districts with student enrollment of 75,000 who is a principal.
How does adding these four essentially “at-large” seats (of which only two must be Jefferson County taxpayers) and another one that is among three selected by the Superintendent, all of whom are “to be appointed by the Legislative Research Commission” and added to the pre-ordained appointments of mostly white (seven of the eight leadership appointed task force members are white, one is Black) “ensure” anything, much less “that such appointments reflect the racial minority and gender composition of the school districts”? Especially when there’s no requirement or even recommendation to do so?
But these words were added to the resolution by the LRC, who has final say on these at-large task force appointments, so let’s assume their intentions are aligned with our community’s needs and goals.
Let’s do the math and see what the ideal task force makeup looks like, after these appointments have been slotted into the targets, and make sure we have candidates who fit the remaining criteria in the mix. And once we get our applications in, let’s keep a close watch on the designees and remaining appointments, as this task force could wind up being the LAST if not ONLY defensive channel stakeholders have to salvage what’s left of the state’s largest public school system and finally wrangle it by the horns for the people. Especially as we head into November, where a Constitutional Amendment is on the ballot and Project 2025 is just around the corner.
Also from the Courier Journal article, “We expect the legislature to … choose a diverse group who support public education,” JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said in a statement. That’s an interesting statement from a district leadership that fails to follow its own advice, but I digress.
This matters because the demographics of the district makeup plays a role in how it’s governed. However, in order for the mostly-white task force to come even remotely close to the district’s, the remaining five seats would have to be filled with Black or Brown individuals, and they still wouldn’t be close. Not to mention how many don’t live in Jefferson County, have experience with urban school challenges, may have limited knowledge of education, how civil rights can be quietly and repeatedly violated and covered up using blackmail and secret settlements, nor understand how underhanded and dishonest district leadership is capable of being, and therefore may never have an opportunity to truly hear from impacted community members, students, educators who have been begging and pleading with district leaders, union executives, city officials, state lawmakers, and their own friends and neighbors to invite honest dialogue to the table so authentic solutions can be found before making irreparable, spiteful, decisions based on misinformation and stereotypes.
Let’s pretend LRC picks a Black male principal from the three names Pollio submits. That leaves four community members: two parents, a teacher and a business leader to be selected by the LRC from the applicants. Even if the remaining four of these individuals are Black or Brown, the committee would still be made up of at least seven white people with little to no experience, understanding, much less devising solutions for, that community, the largest population in our district. It’s up to us to keep an eye on these appointments, to encourage community members to apply for and show up this challenge, and to support and encourage the LRC to follow their own guidance in the resolution.
Time will tell if this War on JCPS is winnable. But do we really have any time left?
November’s elections include a proposed change to the Kentucky Constitution that could be the final nail in the coffin for certain Kentucky public schools, including some in JCPS. The subsequent funeral pyre comes in the form of Project 2025, of which Kentucky will be ripe for the pickings if Amendment 2 passes.
No means no.
When it comes to the Constitutional Amendment, just like with bodily autonomy, they don’t care that they lost the voters’ support or lost their appeal in court, they just keep coming back when we’re not looking or worn down. That’s unacceptable! Like the times we said “no,” but laughingly and violently, we were told “no means yes,” or we were told it was because of what we were wearing, or being out too late, or having too much to drink, or whatever blame game they came up with because those (mostly men) in power don’t have to listen to teachers, PTA volunteers, and staff (mostly women). Year after year, terrible, targeted, vindictive legislation was hurled at the state’s largest school district to the point where it could be our last hurrah. What makes us think they listening now?
Helpful Links:
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2024/06/14/kentucky-task-force-aimed-at-reforming-jcps-is-seeking-members/74097150007/
https://www.wdrb.com/news/state-jcps-task-force-taking-applications-heres-how-to-apply/article_04f6cc86-2dd9-11ef-a0d0-03db0f449557.html
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/24RS/hcr81/bill.pdf
