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| Esther Lee led the discussion |
Wearing her ever present church hat, Lee peppered panelists and even audience members with questions about the walkout, the absence of diversity among teachers and the educational gap between white and minority students.
Student Walkout
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| "It starts in the home," said Rev. Melvin Tatem |
Panelists like Lehigh University's Dr. James Peterson insisted there would have been no walkout at all if school board members just listened to student grievances at a crowded and contentious meeting just a few days before the student strike. He said students have many legitimate grievances, like old textbooks and far fewer teachers than just a few years ago.
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| Chief Mark DiLuzio calls himself "the last teacher" |
"It starts in the home," the cleric observed, speaking in a soft voice that grew louder as he continued. "If we don't do our job, everything else falls down. ... If you don't respect your parents, you won't respect the police." He want on to speak of three generations in just one family being in jail.
Chief Mark DiLuzio, sitting right next to Tatem, called himself the "last teacher" that a young person sees before being sent to the prison system. Both Chief DiLuzio and Mayor Donchez also decried the poverty in Allentown and elsewhere within the Lehigh Valley. DiLuzio asked how, in a country as blessed as the United States, the poverty rate could go up three per cent in just eight years. Donchez decried a "permanent underclass" with "very limited skills."
Educational Disparity
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| Mayor Bob Donchez (L) and Dr. James Peterson (R) |
But all-day kindergartens and teachers cost money in a "Don't tax me" society that is increasingly unwilling to pay the price.
"We've lost respect for the public good," observed Roy."We don;t have money for roads and bridges," he said, referring to our crumbling infrastructure.
Mayor Donchez blamed extremists on both sides of the ideological divide to whom "compromise" is a dirty word. "We can certainly do better,": he observed.
Minority Teacher Shortage
Both Dr. Roy and Dr. Peterson agreed with Lee's observation that "the majority of teachers are white while the majority of students are not." But Dr. Peterson explained that there's "no pipeline" to crate minority teachers. He stated more needs to be done to make "teaching a profession to which students aspire."
Peterson, who directs the African Studies program at Lehigh, noted that one reason so few high schools offer African American studies is because so few teachers are qualified in that area.
Panelists participating in this forum included Mayor Bob Donchez, Police Chief Mark DiLuzio, BASD Superintendent Dr. Joseph Roy, African American Studies Professor Dr. James Peterson, Bethlehem YWCA Executive Director Stephanie Hnatiw and Randi Blauth from the American Association of University Women.
47 comments:
What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Not the divisive hidden racism we see in many comment sand actions. Amen.
What the world needs now is greater participation, hard work, more personal responsibility, less excuses, and fewer 'Somebody oughta do something' reactions to every problem.
Fred Windish
Yet another waste of time by the not ready for prime time players of bethlum
Donchez - The Millard Fillmore of Bethlehem.
"Don't tax me society" ?
Why is it that my taxes have gone up each year for the past 20 years ? Pensions, Healthcare and prevailing union wages may be eating your funding Dr Roy!!
You cry poor mouth every year!!
Big Bob
"We've lost respect for the public good," ... Pretty much nailed it.
As demonstrated by the anonymous comments above.
Interesting that Bethlehem would attempt to address the issues at hand and have a conversation about it.
As white's become more and more the minority, at least they take the time to vote and run for office. I've said it before, if the Latino's cared about the community they live in and voted, things might be different. How will learning about "African Studies" change things? Go there (on your own dime) if it's that important.
Why doesn't Allentown host a forum on this subject?
VOR
Stop making everything a race issue.
8:24, Your comment about "whites" and about them caring in contrast to other groups reveals your own prejudice. Had you attended the meeting, you would have heard many minority members and even the Director of African American studies at Lehigh indicate the importance of a fill understanding of American history, including ALL ethnic groups. But you are a bigot.
VOR, Allentown's NAACP could easily have hosted such a forum, but I'm unfamiliar with their meeting dates and times. From what I understand, nobody in the NAACP supported the student walkout, althjough they did sympathize with students who feel they are being treated unfairly.
"It all begins at home."
Brilliant.
What the hell do you expect? When minority students have no respect for their teachers, or education for that matter, why would a career in education appeal to them? Minority students with half a brain and decent grades would be welcomed at a state university that prepares teachers. But the thought of them in front of a class of deadbeats appeals to them even less than white teacher prospects. The value of education starts at home. The NAACP should be devoting more time and energy to encourage parents of black kids to become involved in their children's education. To nurture studying and completing assignments on time. Asian kids excel because excellence in education is imbedded in their culture. Why couldn't the NAACP learn from the successes of other minorities to develop a blueprint for successful learning by black students? But they would rather blame the system, blame school boards, cry "inequality" and other bullshit. More of the victim game than to tell it like it is. Parents and so-called community activists, accept responsibility for your own kid's future rather than blame it on everyone else.
Your generalizations about minority students reveal that you are a bigot.
^ You nailed it BOH!
I am generalizing the lack of educational support at home for minority students. This is not bigotry, it is a fact. Why els are they failing? Lack of resources? NO. Lack of quality teachers? NO. Lack of motivation? YES. Lack of family support? YES. Give real reasons for their failures, not just a blanket "bigot" statement. What are YOUR reasons, O'Hare??
It's a legitimate question to ask how many minorities currently sit on the Allentown school board OR are running for it in the upcoming elections (other then Ce-Ce Gerlach)?
Cynthia Mota is an amazing example of a Latina in leadership.
I am tired of carrying the load for these people.
Proud member of the tea bagger Party.
I suspect this is a partisan who is trying to stir up trouble. Unfortunately, bigotry goes across the political spectrum.
Many families, no matter what the racial or economic situation, do not promote learning aggressively. I come from one of those. It took teachers, especially male teachers, to provide the mentoring that encouraged me to study hard and learn. Not all children have solid relationships with their parents and instead, feel they wish to follow a different path.
Unfortunately, in many urban environments, the chasm between teacher and student is large because of culture or race or language differences. It would not solve all problems, but a greater direct connection between student and teacher would facilitate interest in learning.
3:56 -
EXCELLENT COMMENTS! You describe perfectly why I believe class size is a critical determinant of success, or failure. The 'bean counters,' those who never managed a classroom, and those who 'escaped' the classroom for some other educational position within the system, rarely discuss the importance of maintaining a manageable instructional load per class.
Unfortunately, urban districts like Allentown feature too many overloaded classrooms. More than most realize, as 'averages' are presented that include smaller, legally-limited special education class numbers in the mathematical equation.
Difficult to manage roster sizes are precisely what such districts do NOT need in search a improved achievement. The student/teacher interaction component is key in making the education plan work. A close, working relationship between a student and an inspiring teacher can overcome several other impediments faced by city schools, INCLUDING poverty.
Fred Windish
Wonder where the Asians version of the naacp is these days? seems to me the Asian community is even more in the minority than the whites, Hispanics and blacks, yet most Asians seem to do very well/ better than average, in school...whether they came from a single parent home, or 2 parent home or any other excuses the politicians and race baiters like to toss around these days. they do better than most.
Love how Allentown school district is sitting in a meeting with the Reading school district to discuss how they can improve services. they bounce ideas off of both failing districts.....they both are complete failures . it is like the blind leading the blind.
Wonder how and why many of the so called minorities at Central Catholic, Beth Catholic, and Notre Dame seem to all pass, graduate and go on to bigger and better things in life , like college , the military and so on.
What separates Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic and Notre Dame from the failing public schools. Please don't use the typical and expected responses/excuses like they pick and chose their student population or if you have money you get in.
What is the cost per student in the Allentown , Bethlehem , Easton and Reading school districts. What do the kids and tax payers get for their 10 grand plus per kid? A 65% graduation rate in Allentown and a baby sitting service for others. Any kid who makes it out of that mess of a school district and actually becomes something , is to be commended.
Why do the Catholic schools have graduation rates of 96-97-98-99-100% , yet Allentown had a graduation rate of 65%. Out of the 65% less than 30% are academically ready for college.
In order for a kid to make it and become educated , it takes dedicated school teachers, dedicated school admin, dedicated parent(s) and dedication from the kid to all pitch in together to make it work. If any of the above refuse to participate in this process, the kids chances of success decrease dramatically.
It all starts at home.
Wonder where the Asians version of the naacp is these days? seems to me the Asian community is even more in the minority than the whites, Hispanics and blacks, yet most Asians seem to do very well/ better than average, in school...whether they came from a single parent home, or 2 parent home or any other excuses the politicians and race baiters like to toss around these days. they do better than most.
Love how Allentown school district is sitting in a meeting with the Reading school district to discuss how they can improve services. they bounce ideas off of both failing districts.....they both are complete failures . it is like the blind leading the blind.
Wonder how and why many of the so called minorities at Central Catholic, Beth Catholic, and Notre Dame seem to all pass, graduate and go on to bigger and better things in life , like college , the military and so on.
What separates Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic and Notre Dame from the failing public schools. Please don't use the typical and expected responses/excuses like they pick and chose their student population or if you have money you get in.
What is the cost per student in the Allentown , Bethlehem , Easton and Reading school districts. What do the kids and tax payers get for their 10 grand plus per kid? A 65% graduation rate in Allentown and a baby sitting service for others. Any kid who makes it out of that mess of a school district and actually becomes something , is to be commended.
Why do the Catholic schools have graduation rates of 96-97-98-99-100% , yet Allentown had a graduation rate of 65%. Out of the 65% less than 30% are academically ready for college.
In order for a kid to make it and become educated , it takes dedicated school teachers, dedicated school admin, dedicated parent(s) and dedication from the kid to all pitch in together to make it work. If any of the above refuse to participate in this process, the kids chances of success decrease dramatically.
It all starts at home.
Having a good jump shot certainly helps. Many special education students at CCHS or Beca? I went to Central and Dieruff so don't give me the typical answers about not valuing a catholic school education. The cost is not in most in the budget of most families.
4:40pm
Yes, it does begin at home, when a family can afford to send their child to a private school. The child gets a message. "Do well, we are paying for this." On the other hand we are all aware of students in private schools who screw up, too.
@4:40
Many families can not afford to send their kids to private schools but mom , mom and dad and others in the family do what they can to make it work. if that means getting another job, like many of have done, we did that.
if that means no big screen TV, no video game systems, no summer vacation at the shore, no Dorney park trips, no tattoos , no new I phones , no cell phones or new sneakers, we did that as well.
if that means our kids, who went to that school needed to get jobs at McDonalds, a pizza place , Wal-Mart or home depot, then so be it.,. we either know people who did that or did that ourselves.
if that means the student works at the school in the summer, with no air conditioning, scraping gum off the desks or carrying books from one class to another, and gets paid, as well as a reduction in tuition, then that's how we rolled. if that means no car license or car insurance until the age of 18 , then so be it.
for those who can not afford the extra cost, the schools do a lot to help out those with income limitations .
we, the family, made the sacrifices for our kids . we knew the difference between right and wrong and one does not need to be highly educated to figure that out. we are no better than any one else. we just knew how to prioritize and make sure our kids were educated so they would not have to endure what we went through.
Money isn't the problem. Our state spending shows a very high value already placed on education. We rank 23rd in per capita income. We rank 6th in per student spending. We rank 8th in best opportunity for teachers. Some might argue we're spending beyond our means. Perhaps we should consider the cost of EIGHT separate schools districts in Northampton County, alone. That's eight overpriced and underperforming superintendents. That's eight redundant administrations. Our problem is many things. But money isn't one of them.
@ 5:02 PM not one of my kids played sports. they all worked while in school to help pay for their education . we made huge sacrifices as a family, as did our children , just so they would have the opportunity to be educated in a manner we believed in. im just saying it worked for us . not all who attend cchs and bchs and nd are top notch kids. some do make mistakes and some of those mistakes are quite large. my family decided to take the chance on these schools bc the odds were in my kids favor of receiving a quality education and graduating and making it into college on academic scholarship , not a sports scholarship.
""We've lost respect for the public good," observed Roy."We don;t have money for roads and bridges," he said, referring to our crumbling infrastructure."
That's complete nonsense. We rank 1st in gas taxes that fund infrastructure work. Roy has lost respect for the facts and for taxpayers' intelligence. He's either disrespectful or uninformed. And we pay him how much?
@BHO12:49 -"I would be happy to go into the reason why SOME minority students lack parental guidance, which might go back as far as the days of slavery, when families were ripped apart by your ancestors". BTW not my ancestors. Mine were in Europe as were most of ours. Most of our ancestors had nothing to do with slavery bc most of our families came here in the late 1880's, through 1900. As far as I know slavery was over.
Is this really being used as an excuse or justification these days?
Reminds me of the excuse that was given when Mike Vick was electrocuting dogs after they lost a pit bull fight. The excuse given by some for Vick was, he is from the south and it is cultural. If that is the case, so was slavery. Right is right and wrong is wrong and we all know the difference.
Sir you can blame it all on slavery and being ripped apart as a family.
Some people have more recent memories of a little thing called the holocaust.they too watched their families get ripped apart then tortured, raped, used for medical experiments , then thrown in to an oven and or gas chamber.
Some how , some of those people became doctors, lawyers , business people, and so on. I get your point BHO , but that is a real stretch to say slavery is the reason they lack guidance. When was slavery abolished and when did the holocaust end ?
Wonder how a guy like Ben Carson did it? His Single mom raised one of the greatest brain surgeons the world has ever seen. She couldn't read and hardly could write, but she knew right from wrong, and how important education was for her kids. Not bad instinct for a mother who was one of 18 kids.
Send the malcontents off to Parkland.
Frassetto set up a Gofundme page 9 months ago. It has collected $0. He updated the page to say that:
"Let's help these kids... Donate today - 100% of the donations goes to educating the youth of Allentown."
However, he told the media that the money being raised would be used for Chinese food and McDonalds food during the walkouts. Is that "educating the youth"?
9:33 AM- he actually set up a page. Really ? it should be reported as fraud , but then again, he collect no cash , so I guess nobody was scammed by this snake oil salesman. as much as we like to poke fun at this fraud, he is dangerous and a big time opportunist. he has been caught in numerous lies, confronted for those lies and continues to lie, scam and deceive. when do his actions constitute fraud.
Love this statement from the Bethlehem School district super. "We don't have money for roads and bridges," he said, referring to our crumbling infrastructure."
70 cents per gallon of gas goes for taxes. we don't have a revenue problem , we have a spending problem, a waste problem, a fraud problem and a union problem aka pension issues. where did all the gas tax go prior to the hike?
I was working in Clinton and Whitehouse New Jersey today and on my way back, I paid $1.80 for a gallon of gas. Right across the bridge in Easton, the gas is $2.35-$2.40. What a joke. What a rip off.
Now tell me we have a revenue problem. Pa , now has one of the highest gas taxes in the entire country. Job well done Pa state politicians.
It's not one of the highest. It's the highest.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-school-board-1008-20151008-story.html
I attended last night's School Board meeting, which turned out to be amazingly sedate. The article at the link describes it pretty well. There were 5 Atown police officers and numerous ASD security staff there, in case of trouble. The teachers union president spoke out that she does not believe the district is negotiating in good faith on a teachers' contract.
Frassetto had been telling students all week to show up for this meeting. In particular, he wanted any student who was disciplined during the week of the walkout to come and demand that the punishments be withdrawn. Only 10 students showed up, and only 2 spoke up - only one of which was a ASD student. The tone of the comments was much calmer and much less demanding. A couple activists spoke up and said that there are many problems that should be addressed, but that the walkouts were the wrong strategy.
Probably the best thing the BASD can do to help minority students get a good education is getting rid of the track system in middle schools. I graduated from Liberty in 2011, but it probably still exists, and I am surprised nobody here has mentioned it. Essentially what happens is that kids who performed poorly in elementary school are put into "C track" or "B track" classes, and are not given a chance to compete with students who did really well in elementary school. This tracking lasts all three years of middle school and it is very difficult to move between tracks. Even if a student does move from B to A track, s/he will already be behind because the A track classes move at a faster pace. Inevitably, the students who are in A track in middle school find it easier to get into the Honors and AP classes in high school, which tend to be taught by the best teachers. Often, tracking amounts to de facto segregation, as you can often tell simply by walking into a few classrooms. The students in A track classes, at least when I was at Northeast, tended to be quite a bit paler than the B and C track students. School administrators would do their students well to get rid of grade tracks entirely.
Bernie:
You've dismissed several comments as bigoted when the comments themselves aren't. The author may very well be bigoted, but there's no way to know that based on the comments. For what it's worth, I happen to be an African-American. As to the recent protests in Allentown and this meeting in Bethlehem, however misguided both may be, one point is clear and that is that those in charge of the school administrations are caretakers and are just getting paid regardless of outcomes, so in that sense both the NAACP and the United Youth Group are correct in their assessments of the administrations and their interest in doing absolutely nothing but collecting a paycheck.
Where I have an issue with meetings such as this one as well as the walkout is in their effectiveness or lack thereof. Other than providing some publicity for the organizers, these do absolutely nothing. A new strategy is needed that means real work, planning and execution independent of school administrations and boards. This independent action would be the best way to put them on trial and influence their behavior. Marching, meeting and talking does nothing---particularly if it's not being done with the right people.
If we’re to “meet” and have a forum, the first thing that needs to be done is a sit down with parents and students to assess what exactly we ourselves control independent of convincing Mayo or the other caretakers what they should be doing. First and foremost, there needs to be a discussion around parenting and how that relates to the child's success in life and performance in school. These are issues that folks just simply don't know about and need information on. Many of the failures the kids encounter in school are directly related to poor parenting choices. Given the economic situation, most parents are under stress and when that's combined with poor choices the parents themselves may have made, the difficulties and challenges children face are compounded. If we're going to talk and meet, doing it over this issue is the place to start. The schools can't address this sort of thing and to be honest, they simply don't care. We have to do this ourselves. The NAACP sitting and talking with the police chief, mayor and superintendent simply provides them a forum to "run up the flag" while everyone else goes home afterward thinking something got done, when nothing happened. Frequently, the entire purpose of these sorts of meetings is face time with the politicos.
The second thing that needs to occur is remedial education and tutoring to help kids after school. This needn't cost a lot of money. Schools, churches and libraries can provide the space and surely there are teachers and other folks in the black community who can volunteer to help the kids. The bottom line is that the community must be prepared to help itself and until we do that, we're not going to be taken seriously by anyone including, most importantly, our own kids. Failure to do that ensures that 100 years from now, we'll still be having meetings and protests to no avail.
Any success, regardless of how modest, would probably get more unsolicited "help" than we're getting trying to "convince" folks to do the right thing. Why make it contingent on them? Just do for self and in doing that, you put them on trial and thus gain far more influence than running around with meetings and protests.
cont
cont.
Lastly, I have absolutely no doubt that discriminatory hiring practices remain and that there's no plan to hire black or Hispanic teachers even as the Bethlehem and Allentown school districts become more black and brown. But even if there were a hiring initiative, how many black or brown teachers can be identified and how many would want to live here? It could very well be that an initiative might yield mixed results as the problems of our local school districts are mirrored across the entire country and that means black graduates in certain professions are few. (It might be interesting how many teachers we ourselves could locate for an afterschool tutoring/teaching program). I think this is a red herring issue---I’m not suggesting that an initiative shouldn’t be implemented, but what happens if it fails to increase the numbers appreciably? The community is still back to a self-help scenario and then any success at that for political leverage. Absent no plan for self-help, there’s no control and ultimately no influence over what’s happening.
Watching Eyes
Did you even read the story? Seriously. Had you done so, you would have read there is nothing these schools would rather do than hire more minority teachers. As Dr. Peterson explained, there needs to be more of an effort put into recruiting minority students to make wducation their career.
You talk about parenting. That was a big part of the discussion.
I also completely disagree with your disparagement of the meeting so that local black and Hispanic leaders could claim some face time. That is bullshit. There was no press there, except for me, and I'm often told I don't count.
I thought it was an excellent exchange of ideas and left that place thinking highly of every person there. Talking things out, communication, is very much part of the answer. I think you are way off.
Yes, I read the story and actually re-read it and I don't see where there's a concrete plan to hire more black and brown teachers other than a passing acknowledgement that "we must do better". That's straight out the standard "playbook" of responses when there is no real plan to do a damn thing.
I find it strange that you think I'm disparaging the leaders here. No disparagement is intended, however, I do think they need to expand their vision and see solutions to the problems at hand extending beyond what the government can do. To position this thing solely as a function of changes that the superintendent and others need to make presumes that only they can address the issues, thus if they do nothing, we can't move forward. That's too much power to cede and there are many of us who reject that notion and we're not waiting around for "massa" to "approve" or give permission. Some might dismiss the whole notion of doing for self as radical, however, there's no group in the country who have come up other than by their own efforts. Usually it's those who do for self who get government support anyway.
What I find interesting is that you've positioned yourself as a self anointed arbiter of what black and brown folks ought to do. You were against Shiloh's effort to start a charter school and made the statement that they were looking to fund it on the "white man's dime", as if black folks don't pay taxes. (Admittedly, there were missteps beginning with the failure to vet the ED). Although the students know best that they're being jerked, you don't "approve" their walkout to demonstrate their dissatisfaction. But yet you "approve" of this forum that has no action plan to address parenting, minority hiring, failing students and etc. As I said, most of these things have to be addressed by black and brown.
Watching Eyes
"What I find interesting is that you've positioned yourself as a self anointed arbiter of what black and brown folks ought to do."
Actually, I think you've assumed that role.
" You were against Shiloh's effort to start a charter school and made the statement that they were looking to fund it on the "white man's dime", "
Now i get it. This is all about the Shiloh Church's effort to impose racial segregation in Easton with a charter school that would in effect be completely black. The demagogue who calls himself rev. Phil Davis was pushing that move bc he wanted more cash for his church. This is a guy who dishonestly referred to himself as "Truth1" in his comments on LVL. That is a phony preacher if ever there was one.
I am enclosing links to the three stories I wrote about that botched operation, which was opposed by the NAACP bc it is discrimination. My exact words are " It is all about filling the coffers at Shiloh and at the expense of the white man."
I stand by those words. But my main argument is that this would actually be segregation. And it would.
You are a bigot.
Bigots come in all shapes and colors,and some of them pretend to be men of God.
http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2014/02/easton-charter-school-advocate-on-ard.html
http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2014/02/naacp-opposes-easton-charter-school.html
http://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2014/08/shiloh-pastor-plays-race-card.html
Go preach a sermon somewhere.
Let's be clear, I'm not Pastor Davis. Moreover,there's no need to post your stale links. Most people who've followed you know of your duplicity. I only bring up Shiloh to expose who you are. You're all to ready to defend a forum which, while well intentioned, has no concrete action plans while an attempt to actually address concerns with a proposed charter school raises your ire and you stomp around with your panties in a bunch crying "segregation" and impugn the motives of those who supported the move. Although missteps were made, the charter school proposal was directly aimed at the perceived problems and was an attempt to address them directly rather than merely talk about them, but you don't "approve". It's your position to be a self anointed racial paternalist running around thinking anyone gives a tinker's damn about your "approval". And it's your claim that the charter school was taking the "white man's tax money", as if black folks pay no taxes, that exposes you as a rank garden variety bigot who for some reason thinks he's earned some sort of pass. You have no standing whatsoever to even write anything on the subject of schools and black and brown kids.
Watching Eyes
And an anonymous coward like you does? I stand by what I wrote, Fake Rev Davis, while you can't even accept responsibility for your words. The links are there for others to read bc they expose you as a liar. Go plan another all-black charter school that supports your racism.
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