Which Way Will It Be On Tuesday, May 19th?

A May 19th will be a very important day for the 80% minority student number of the Newburgh Enlarged School District. Why? Because on that day the decision will be made whether or not those students will continue to have a voice on the school board. Those that will be voting in this upcoming school board election will decide the direction that this school district will be heading. The Newburgh Teacher’s Association has already made their choice for they chose not to endorse Philip Howard, whom just happens to be the President of the school board, and the only minority candidate running in the election on May 19th.Why is there only one minority candidate running in such an important election? I ask that question of the many organizations within the Newburgh school district that chose not to seek out individuals of color to run in this upcoming school board election. Why?

My concerns re: this issue are that President Philip Howard, Sup’t.Dr. Roberto Padilla and several other board members have been continuously trying to reverse the high drop-out number in addition to many other issues that are directly affecting those 80% minority students. That in no way means that the other 20% are being neglected for helping that 80% makes things better for the majority. I pray that the voters in this school district will realize this for if not we’re going to have a serious problem in this community. The problems of that 80% minority can no longer be allowed to be ignored and that’s why I ask this question \” Which way will it be Tuesday May 19th? Truthfully, all of those that have it within their power to strive towards addressing those student’s problems, but choose to continuously sit back and not show any concerns re: this most significant problem, don’t realize that they are leading this community towards self-destruction.High drop-out rates wind up directly affecting our city therefore our city government representatives should also be concerned about this very serious issue.

To my Black sisters and brothers let me share with you a statement made by Tony Evans of the Urban Alternative ministry: \”During slavery when we did not have laws on our side, the broader community on our side, the government on our side, our families were a lot stronger. We were a lot more unified and we made a lot more progress. We’re going through regression right now and a lot of this is because of decision-making we are responsible for.\” These words are powerful and should make the Black church, NAACP, black politicians and ALL others that are concerned about the children to go out on Tuesday May 19th and vote for President Philip Howard and Pamela Freeman-Resch in this upcoming Newburgh Enlarged School District’s Board of Education election on Tuesday, May 19th. If not, then you are going to be considered as being a participant in turning things backwards for the 80% minority students within this school district. It’s all about them for when things are made better for them things are made better for our communities. Seriously think about this and then move upon it. \”Which way will it be on Tuesday, May 19th?\”

Next week I will be sharing my thoughts re: an in-depth article which I stumbled upon written by Howard Eagle who is a retired teacher from the Rochester school district. He has written an article investigating the correlation between low student achievement, failing schools, and youth incarceration, especially for black and Latino males in urban public schools. (\”The Prison-To-Pension Pipeline.\”) In his article he says that the New York State Teacher’s Retirement System, the agency that manages the investment funds for the state’s teacher pension, has investments in privately operated prisons. \”The school to prison pipeline is not some abstraction,\” says education activist Howard Eagle. It’s not something people are making up. The link is direct.\” Wow! As a result of his making the Rochester Teachers Assoc. aware of this the Rochester Teacher’s Assoc. Assembly recently passed a Resolution calling for disinvestment. I will definitely be researching this further and then my question to the Newburgh Teacher’s Association will be \”are you aware of this and if so what do you plan to do about it?\” This is Lillie’s Point of View and I’m just having my say!