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News :: Children : Civil & Human Rights : Education : Elections & Legislation : Urban Development |
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Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
Current rating: 0 |
by Melodye Rosales
Email: melodye (nospam) nitrogendesign.com (unverified!) |
20 Mar 2006
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The Black Community is asking for all voters of the City of Champaign to go to the polls and vote "NO" for the school referendum Tuesday, March 21, 2006. |
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The African-American ministers have all informed their congregations to vote "No".
Black leaders in the community are asking everyone to vote "NO".
The MLK community committee comprised of Civic Leaders, Black Ministers, Rabbis, Christian ministers to vote "NO".
The bottom line is that the referendum and the Consent Decree were originally to be dealt with as two separate issues. When the Board lumped them together they told the Black community that their Consent Decree would pass easier. What the Board NEVER said was that during this "lumping together" the Black community would lose seats and much needed school expansions within their community.
[ IMC Editors Note: see background articles posted at the end of this story ]
To satisfy developers, a NEW school is going to be built in Boulder Ridge and the Board tried to "bait and switch" their way to claiming a school built in Boulder Ridge would somehow satisfy the Consent Decree because it had 141 Black students who lived in that district and that district was growing.
What they didn't say was that there are a few thousand Black students in the over crowded two schools in the Black areas. What they didn't say were how many non-Black families live in the Boulder Ridge area whose numbers far exceed those comparatively few Black students.
The disproportionately growing Latina/o community lives and attends school in one of the Black areas (Booker T. Washington Elementary). Nowhere did the Board address the issue that these children are beginning to take the already stressed seats in this school. The Board would not address that a mere "new gym" and "new auditorium" at Washington were never going to satisfy the problem of adding more seats and strands to Washington--let alone the desperate need for more Bilingual classrooms and teachers. A strand is the formal label for grade (ex. a two strand school has 2-first grades, 2-second grades and so forth. A three strand has 3-first grades, 3-second grades and so forth).
Currently, all NEW schools are encouraged to have four strands. Currently, Garden Hills (hi-populated Black school) has 2-strands. Washington has 2-strands and under this current referendum will not add any strands, only a new gym and auditorium. On the other hand, Savoy and Boulder Ridge will have 4-strands. This means the kids in the Black neighborhoods are going to suffer in terms of education--or spend a great deal of time being bussed. And what about the low income parents who have no transportation? How are they going to get to parent-teacher conferences and enroll their kids in after school programs when the children are attending schools far away from where they live? Savoy doesn't even want MTD to come to their village. They refused to accept MLK as a national holiday----and we are going to bus Black and Latina/o kids to those neighborhoods?
In Closing---A vote "NO" will force the Board to go back to the table to balance the proverbial pie and satisfy the Consent Decree. With or without a referendum---the school Board still must fulfill the Consent Decree and add seats. Please cast your vote "NO" to help the community we all say we are concerned about and the injustice which is about to crash down upon them.
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Background Resources added by IMC web editor:
March 5, 2006
Extensive background on the legal battle to have Champaign schools serve black and white students equitably and the role the referendum to build new schools plays in that:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/05/a_decade_later_all_sides_praise_the_progress/
March 5, 2006
School Referendum to fund new Savoy school in addition to a N. Champaign school - Black community gives mixed reviews of Savoy addition
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/05/proposal_for_new_schools_gets_mixed_review/
March 14, 2006
Champaign School Board votes to locate new N. Champaign school in newer, white suburbs - both new schools will be in white neighborhoods:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/14/site_picked_for_new_school_in_champaign/
March 15, 2006
Black Leaders outraged at N. Champaign location in the suburbs:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/15/site_for_new_champaign_school_draws_fire/
March 16, 2006
School District considers a compromise solution rebuild and expand existing schools in a black neighborhood instead of building in the white suburbs:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/16/champaign_board_plans_special_meeting_to_consider_school_options/
March 18, 2006
School Officials suggest staying with white suburb choice. Black community feels betrayed:
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2006/03/18/champaign_school_boards_decision_upsets_crowd/ |
This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by urbana Citizen
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Mar 2006
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I certainly support your goal of defeating the referendum. Your voice to get support for the public to get out and vote is so important and I wish you good luck with your endeavor. However, I am appalled with the flyer that is being passed around re: slavery- Did slaves have a chance to vote? Did slaves elect their representatives on the school board? Could slaves sue if they felt their rights were being violated. I feel you are doing a disservice to the citizens in the community for making those comparisons. File another lawsuit, protest, do whatever you do- but when things do not go as hoped for in a democractic society- it is NOT slavery.
By the way, which Rabbi supports this? |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by Champaign African-American resident
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Mar 2006
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the idea of being enslaved is to be forced into compromise. What the Black Community has voiced is the comparison of "40 Acres and a Mule" promise that wasn't kept during slavery time. The mantra "We won't go back" suggests that we won't be fooled again. The Board lied to the people and made promises they haven't kept. Like the 40 acrces and a mule, our community will be set back decades with this current referendum as proposed on the ballot. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by Lucero
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Mar 2006
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The flyers were designed to mobilize a maximum number of people in a minimal amount of time, and judging by the response I've seen, they were successful. Whoever designed the flyers did a job they can be proud of.
Thank you, Urbana citizen, for advocating the defeat of the referendum. I'm glad we can work together for this common goal. My pastor, an intelligent, thoughtful man, deeply respected in Urbana/Champaign, spoke out against the referendum in church on Sunday. He had been involved in some of the negotiations, and felt deeply betrayed by the "bait and switch" pulled at the last minute by the Champaign School Board. I hope that the citizens of Champaign will listen to the voice of thoughtful community leaders like my pastor and defeat this referendum. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by 5
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Mar 2006
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http://www.u4excellence.org./Plan.htm
The link above shows the new schools would be three-strand schools, not four-strand. Frankly, I can't see why you'd build a new school that *isn't* four-strand, but I'm curious as to which is the correct number. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by Lucero
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
20 Mar 2006
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Thanks, 5, for that link to the "yes" site. It has some real howlers, like this:
"The site selection will meet the consent decree by placing two new strands north of University Avenue.... That new school will fulfill the additional classroom requirement of the Consent Decree and help the District move forward to finally putting an end to the Consent Decree and the significant legal costs associated with it."
Now can someone explain to me how Bradley and Staley qualifies as being north of University if University Avenue doesn't even extend that far west? Do they have no understanding of what "north of University" means? Does the School Board think that this will resolve the matter and "finally put an end to the Consent Decree"? Is that what the court says, or is that just their opinion? Shouldn't they get all of this straightened out BEFORE asking for $66,000,000? VOTE NO! |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by concerned citizen
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2006
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A no vote is a mistake. The referendum will put over $30,000 into schools in north Champaign. BTW and Garden Hills are under used. There are not "thousands of students in overcrowded schools. Visit them. They need rennovating, and this bond referendum would have made them viable for generations. Be careful what you ask for. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by concerned citizen
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2006
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oops! $30,000,000 is being put into schools in the north. Sorry about the missing zeroes. Also, the new schools are 3 strand, not 4. Garden Hills is a 3 strand school. it is only 2 strands because children have not chosen to go there. Visit the schools and see for yourself. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by Margie Skirvin
mskirvin (nospam) killfile.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2006
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The new schools north and south are planned to have 3 strands, not 4. The referendum would result in reducing the only 4 strand school, Robeson, into a 3 strand school. Garden Hills already has classrooms for 3 strands but is not full. Stratton is not over-crowded. B.T Washington is not overcrowded - it has many seats open. It is built on a very small site (less than 2 acres) which would be even more crowded with another strand added to it. The only other 2 stran school in Unit 4 is South Side in teh middle of the district.
If the 144 pre-K and elementary age African American students now in Unit 4 chose the new school in Boulder Ridge when it is built (and they would have priority because they are within 1 1/2 miles of the school) they would make up 36% of the students in that school, very close to the 37% of Unit 4 students that are African American. |
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Re: Champaign residents vote "NO" for School referendum |
by Better Luck Next Time
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Mar 2006
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It's pretty clear that Unit 4 wasn't ready for this referendum. I hope these fundamental issues can be worked out over the next few years, so that the next time this referendum comes up, the voters can have a prayer of being on the same page. Consensus building means more than throwing together a constantly-shifting plan a few months before the vote and telling the voters "trust us." Everyone in Unit 4 deserved better. |
