On 5/19/04 1:58 PM, "Michael Atherton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> In the past several months, the Minneapolis School >> Board has brought upon itself a pair of public relations >> disasters with regards to hiring a new superintendent and >> possibly closing schools. Both of these have probably led >> a lot of people to believe that the School Board lacks >> communication skills and/or wasn't particularly interested >> in seeking community approval for their plans. > >> Sharon Henry-Blythe currently serves as chair of the School Board. > >> I realize this isn't as compelling as conspiracy theories about >> PELRA or achievement gaps, but could her lack of support simply >> be a matter of holding elected officials accountable? > > I could buy this argument IF the DFL leadership had made > a concerted effort to insure that African American students > were represented by SOMEONE of their own race on the school board. > I could buy this argument IF there were not one single > African American in Minneapolis qualified and willing to serve on > the school board. HOWEVER, I can personally think of several > African Americans who are qualified. So please explain to me > how in the last year the DFL leadership has not been able to > find a qualified candidate?
For someone who doesn't necessarily believe in proportional representation by race, Michael sure seems to be focusing on it a great deal. Here's my question: who says the DFL leadership didn't make a concerted effort to ensure that African American students were represented by someone of their own race? Because they did not succeed, does that necessarily mean they did not try? A few years ago, Michael ran for School board, but did not succeed in his bid to be elected. Does that mean he just didn't try hard enough? Michael notes that he can think of several African Americans qualified to serve on the school board, in which case, I hope he would encourage one or more of them to run. Perhaps that might help bring to light that the key words for finding candidates for any elected position isn't necessarily so much the "qualified" as the "and willing" - and given the mess the School Board currently has in front of it, it would not surprise me at all if it's the "and willing" part of the deal that has so far proved to be insurmountable. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
