Batala-Ra McFarlane wrote:
> Black Church Coalition/African American Leadership Summit:
> Black Community Outraged by Selection of David Jennings as School
> Superintendent
>
> We are outraged and insulted by the Minneapolis School Board
> appointment of David Jennings as Superintendent. We strenuously
> object to the improper appointment process. Further, David Jennings�
> selection is inappropriate. Jennings is not qualified to head the
> Minneapolis Public Schools District, a district that has 73.8% students
> of color.
Mr. Brauer's objection to my analogy aside (power is not a necessary
condition for racism), I believe that this declaration makes it fairly
obvious that race is one factor in this group's objection to
Mr. Jennings selection.
Speaking of representation, it would be nice to see this statement
signed by individuals. It is not at all clear to me how
many Black Churches or how much of the Black Community this
"Summit" represents (Speaking of leaders who are only interested
in silly symbolic symbols).
Personally, I have a number of reservations about the selection of
Mr. Jennings, but I generally agree with Ms. Heller's position on
representative government. Other than the possibility of a violation
of the Open Meetings law I think that the Board is within its authority,
if not within prudent policy, to make this decision. Personally,
I think that if the "Black Churches and the Black Community" are
not happy with this action they should reconsider their support
for the DFL, given that a majority of the Board are members and
many have been endorsed by it.
I do not have enough information about the educational policies
of Mr. Jennings to know if he will be able to improve educational
quality in the MPS. I find it distressing that people appear
satisfied with the tenure of Carol Johnson, who did nothing
of substance to improve educational quality, while they object
to Mr. Jennings with little or no knowledge of what he intends
on doing. Is it sufficient that the superintendent be African
American regardless of how effective they are?
I also think that it is obvious that the School Board knew in advance
that their selection would be controversial. It would be interesting
to know how this all played out and to see how they are going to weather
the storm. For all I know, this could just be the fulfillment of a
promise that can't be kept to Mr. Jennings. Time will tell, but
for students of color the clock is still ticking.
Michael Atherton
Prospect Park
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