Wow! The Miracle Really Happened

Wow! The Miracle happened! Philip Howard, the only minority running in the Newburgh Enlarged School District’s Board of Education election, won another three years on the district’s school board. And he won it without the endorsement of the Newburgh Teacher’s Assoc. Wow! Mr. Howard is going to need the voters that voted for him in this election to show up at the board meetings to show their concerns re: the direction that the new board members, more than likely, will be trying to move this board in. Taking into consideration that Philip Howard did not have the NTA endorsement and even though he had the lowest votes of the three that won, he did beat Gregory Philips who was one of the NTA’s endorsed candidates. That’s a Miracle! It’s too bad that Pamela Freeman~Resch, that was running with Mr. Howard, was unable to win. Certain people in the community were telling people to do a bullet vote for Mr. Howard and that might have been one of the major reasons that she didn’t win. Wow! Mr. Howard really needed Ms. Resch to win for her presence on that school board would have made things a little easier for those that are concerned about the direction that the majority might try to take the board in. Even though the the so-called leadership in the Black community did not aggressively support Mr. Howard, the people did and that was mainly due to the hard work that Omari Shakur, Corey Allen, Harold & Hillary Rayford, Elder Stacey Burks and others did on election day. Thank God for miracles but what’s next?

As I’ve promised I want to now open your mind, eyes, ears and hearts to The School-to-Prison-Pipeline.This information is the main reason why it was so important for Philip Howard to win in this most recent school board election for if he had not won our school board would not have had one person of color on it that could and would relate and identify with the significance and importance of being aware of this information and also striving to find ways to seriously begin to address this most serious problem.

The School to Prison Pipeline is able to exist due to these facts: 1) 40% of students expelled from U.S. schools each year are Black. 2) 70% of students involved in \”In-school \”Arrests\” or referred to law enforcement are Black or Latino. 3) Black students are three and a half times more likely to be suspended than whites. 4) Black & Latino students are twice as likely to not graduate high school as whites. 5) 68% of ALL males in State and Federal Prisons do not have a high school diploma 6)50% of children in the Foster Care System are Black or Latino 7) 30% of the Foster Care youth entering the Juvenile Justice System are placement-related Behavioral Cases 8) 50% of young people leaving Foster Care will be unemployed within a few years after turning 18. 9) 70% of inmates in California State Prison are former Foster Care Youth (This information is on the: school-to-jail-pipeline and school-to-prison-pipeline websites. Taking All of this information to heart one must realize the significance and importance of having school board members that are genuinely concerned about All, not just some, of the students. Being that the Newburgh Enlarged school district has a 75% or more minority student population it’s mandatory that wisdom and knowledge re: these issues are on the minds of ALL of the school board members. Only time will tell, but we have no time to waste re: an issue of this great significance and importance.

In the city of Rochester, Mr. Howard J. Eagle, a former school teacher of the Rochester school district, also a Parent-Activist-Educator has brought to the forefront the issue re: the New York Teacher’s Retirement System’s involvement with investments in the private prison industry. He and some others are in the process of building a public campaign to bring pressure on the managers of New York State Retirement System (NYSTRS) re: full divestment from the prison industry. A Resolution was passed recently at the New York United Teachers (NYSUT) Representative Assembly meeting regarding calls for divestment. It is a draft but not signed yet document. The Resolution In Divestment: Recommended by the NYSUT Board of Directors: Whereas, The New York State Teacher’s Retirement System (NYSTRS) has a portion of its pension fund assets invested in shares of Corporations that manage/or construct prisons; and whereas, given the nationwide concerns being raised about the so-called school to prison pipeline, it is important for NYSTRS pension funds to invest in industries and companies and other instruments that improve our state and nation; now, therefore be it Resolved, that the NYSUT RA urges the NYSTRS Trustees to investigate NYSTRS investments in the stock of and corporation or company that profits from the building or operation of prisons and to the extent consistent with their fiduciary duties, seek the divestment by NYSTRS of any such investments by NYSTRS, to the fullest extent possible now and in the future. Wow!

My questions to ALL of this are: 1) Are they going to sign it and if not, why not? My other question is: Are the Newburgh Teacher’s Assoc. aware of this information, and if so do they also plan on putting together a resolution for divestment or are they satisfied with it continuing on the way that it is? Also, the Board of Education should be seriously concerned about this issue. Prison To Pipeline Investment! Could this be the major reason why so many students throughout the state are being faced with being pushed out of school to make sure that they wind up in prison? Wow! Wow! Wow! Seriously think about that!

This is Lillie’s Point of View and I’m just having my say!