Open Letter to the CEO and Board of Directors of the NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
August 6, 2003
On June 28, 2003 a two-thirds majority of active members of the Minneapolis
NAACP branch passed a motion to instruct the branch president to take no steps
toward opening any "Parent Information Centers" and to return the $152,400
(plus interest) he received from the Minnesota Department of Education to set up
two Parent Information Centers due to:
1) A conflict of interest. The NAACP has a duty to serve as an advocate for
students it represented in an educational adequacy lawsuit against the
Minnesota Department of Education. The NAACP has no credibility as a representative of
the plaintiffs when it is being paid by and placed under the supervision of
the defendant, the Minnesota Department of Education;
2) The failure of the Minneapolis NAACP branch to serve as an advocate for
students it represented in the educational adequacy lawsuit since 1999. The
lawsuit was settled in 2000.
The NAACP Parent Information Centers, a component of "Minnesota's Voluntary
School Choice Project," are funded by a federal "No child left behind" grant.
The text of the grant proposal, dated August 16, 2002, indicates that
representatives of the Minneapolis NAACP branch and the Minneapolis School District
had
made a commitment to participate in the project. However, the branch
president, Shalia Lindsey did not inform the branch about the state's proposal to open
NAACP Parent Information Centers until October 2002. The current branch
president, Albert Gallmon was a member of the Minneapolis School Board and a
declared candidate for the office of Minneapolis NAACP branch president, but ran for
the post of first vice president on Lindsey's slate.
For active NAACP members, the branch membership meeting on June 28, 2003 was
the first opportunity to approve or reject the state's proposal to involve the
NAACP in the operation of Parent Information Centers after the grant proposal
was made available to and reviewed by branch members in open committee
meetings.
Prior to June 28, 2003 the president and executive committee of the
Minneapolis branch had not received approval from anyone in the NAACP national office
to sign any contracts or to spend any money on the Parent Information Centers
project.
A letter dated June 30, 2003 from the office of Kweisi Mfume, President and
CEO of the NAACP stated that the Minneapolis Branch may go forward with the
Parent Information Centers project, but only if certain conditions are met,
including the approval of a personnel policy by the active branch membership.
However, the president and executive committee of the Minneapolis NAACP
branch have moved forward with plans to open two Parent Information Centers for
business on August 16, 2003 without authorization from the active branch
membership. See "Community Alert," which is appended to this letter / Email.
The settlement of the educational adequacy lawsuit is not an agreement to
allow the people who run the public schools in Minneapolis to set the agenda of
the NAACP and to run its branches. We still have issues with the people who run
the schools which must not be swept under the rug.
The NAACP has traditionally supported K-12 educational policies based on the
premise that all public schools can be good schools and that it possible to
eliminate most of the existing gap in academic achievement between blacks and
whites, and between poor and middle class students.
The Minneapolis School District says it is focused on student achievement;
that its strategic goals are to improve student achievement and to close the gap
in academic achievement. However, the district has not been making progress
toward those goals. The basic problem, in our view, is a failure to take the
necessary steps to identify and change mechanisms within the school system that
contribute to huge disparities in academic achievement.
We know that elementary schools serving the poorest neighborhoods in
Minneapolis have generally overexposed students to the least experienced teachers, but
the NAACP is not telling the Minneapolis District to desegregate those
teachers.
We know that the Minneapolis District uses a part-time curriculum tracking
system on students in the early elementary grades and "dumbs-down" the
curriculum to varying degrees for a large majority of the students, but the NAACP is
not telling the district that our children are entitled to receive the same kind
of education provided to a majority of the white, middle class students.
Our children are not stupid. And education is not a privilege. It is a right.
We request that the NAACP Board of Directors reaffirm the decision of the
Minneapolis Branch membership in this matter, and that the President and CEO of
the NAACP take immediate action to disassociate the NAACP from the Parent
Information Centers project that is being funded through a federal grant to the MN
Dept.of Education.
-Doug Mann and others, *Doug Mann is a life member of NAACP, and has served
on the Minneapolis branch K-12 Education Committee (1998-1999, Chair: Catherine
Williams), and Minnesota-Dakota Conference K-12 Education Committee (2003,
Chair: Evelyn Eubanks).
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Community Alert
On March 25, 2003 Albert Gallmon, the Minneapolis NAACP branch president
signed an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Education and received
$152,400 on behalf of the NAACP to open 2 Parent Information Centers. Under the
agreement the NAACP may receive up to $381,000 for allowable costs in a 6 month
period ending September 30, 2003. The "Revised Parent Information Centers
Budget" includes $65,000 for a director ($130,000 per year), $21,000 for an
administrative assistant, $47,000 for counselor(s) and $26,000 for benefits.
The NAACP Parent Information Centers are part of the Minnesota Voluntary
School Choice Project, which promotes "voluntary" desegregation plans that are
remarkably similar to the "choice" plans used in the Deep South in the mid-1960s.
For example, "The Choice is Yours" program makes 500 slots in higher
performing schools in the West Metro area available to poor performing students from
poor performing schools in Minneapolis. Over 20,000 students attend
"poor-performing" Minneapolis Public Schools. The state and all of the West Metro
school
districts may opt out of the program after the 2003-2004 school year.
The NAACP Parent Information Centers are to provide parents with information,
assistance with school placement, and other services which the Minnesota
Department of Education and local school districts already provide. For example,
only 50 slots in "The Choice is Yours" program will be assigned to students
referred by the NAACP Parent Information Centers. If the number of applicants
exceeds the number of openings at any school through a school choice program, the
school may opt to pick students through a lottery rather than over-enroll the
school.
*Should the NAACP become a service provider for the Minnesota Department of
Education? A majority of active NAACP branch members say no.
On June 28, 2003 a two-thirds majority of the NAACP branch membership voted
to not open the Parent Information Centers and return the $152,400 (plus
interest) it received from the state due to a conflict of interest and failure to
oversee the implementation of an agreement to settle a lawsuit against the
Minnesota Department of Education (approved by Courts in 2000). The NAACP sued the
Minnesota Department of Education on behalf of public school students who are
not getting an adequate education in the Minneapolis Public Schools. The NAACP
has a duty to act as an advocate for the public school students it claims to
represent.
On July 10, 2003, Albert Gallmon convened a special Minneapolis NAACP branch
executive committee meeting which approved measures to open the centers. At
the monthly membership meeting on July 26, 2003, Gallmon stated that he would
continue to move forward with plans to open the Parent Information Centers
without authorization from the branch membership.
It should also be noted that the NAACP's Constitution and by-laws require an
annual audit of branch financial books. The Minneapolis NAACP Branch has not
had an audit since 1998.
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Prepared and paid for by an ad hoc committee of NAACP members (Not a
committee of the NAACP) Contact person: Doug Mann phone: 612 822-3776
Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TEMPORARY REMINDER:
1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject
(Mpls-specific, of course.)
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