Black Panther Honoring School District Shows Bias Toward Elitist Spanish Immersion Program

There has yet to be any movement on the part of the South Washington County District 833 School Board in regard to the Black Panthers commemoration at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota.  Apparently, the Board has forgotten that they work for the people of the district and the Superintendent works for them.  When the Superintendent decided that no investigation was necessary since he had already discussed the issue with Mr. Harper, principal of ERHS, the Board seemed to have decided it wasn't worth the trouble to investigate it themselves.  The people of 833 need to speak up and demand that the Board does its job and follows through on this issue.

However, the School Board members might just be a little too busy to follow through on such a small issue as a district high school honoring a Marxist, violent, revolutionary group like the Black Panthers because currently they are in the midst of doing their best to confuse parents about the upcoming budget cuts that will cause some programs to cease and put major dents in others.  Of course, the school board's favorite pet program, Spanish Immersion, isn't facing any kind of cut whatsoever.  No, instead, the board is attempting to acquire an EMID school that happens to be located in the district and use it to alleviate crowding in the school that currently houses Spanish Immersion.  They plan to do this by forcing neighborhood kids out of their home school, Woodbury Elementary, putting the Spanish Immersion kids into that school and putting the displaced Woodbury Elementary kids into the Crosswinds school. Crosswinds is a $25 MILLION state-of-the-art Science and Arts middle-to-high school right now.  So it makes absolutely PERFECT sense to take ELEMENTARY school aged students and put them into a school that is designed for much older children.  And then, after the board has done those things, it wants to build an addition to the Woodbury Middle School that will include a special walk-way between Woodbury Middle School and Woodbury Elementary so the poor little Spanish Immersion students can go back and forth between the schools without having to step foot outside into the cold Minnesota winter.  Forget that Woodbury Elementary not only has one of the largest and most diverse student populations in, to quote a commentator from a previous blog, "lily white suburbia," but it also houses one of the largest groups of the most vulnerable Special Needs students in the district as well.  And let's not mention that in all the coverage, until this week, of the possible acquisition of Crosswinds High School by District 833, not one thing was mentioned about their true intent for the use of the building.

Furthermore, there supposedly were meetings about this issue, but interestingly enough, the only people who seem to have been notified about the meetings were those die-hard elitist Spanish Immersion parents.  Yes, ELITIST.  These are the same people who believe that their little darlings deserve to kick other students out of their home schools so that they can take over the school.  They think nothing of the expense that it costs the district taxpayers to not only transport their little darlings from all over the district to their current school but that the taxpayers should also be footing the bill to pay the special Spanish-speaking teachers to teach their little darling global learners the regular curriculum only in SPANISH.  For some reason, this Spanish Immersion program that begin back in 2003 on a 3 year, $800k grant from who-knows-where and educates an extreme minority of district students, takes precedence over all other students in the district.  This probably has nothing to do with the fact that there is a school board member who has his own little darling children in Spanish Immersion, right?

God forbid that the District would actually think that being open about their plans for this minority of elite children ousting just regular ol' district kids from their school was a good idea.  God forbid that they would welcome the insights and opinions of the very people who PAY THEIR SALARIES and who expect the board to do what is right in the interest of ALL the children in the district rather than kowtowing to an elite few who for some reason, believe that they are ENTITLED to taxpayer money paying for their specialized program.  This ISN'T Special Ed nor is it the Gateway Program for Gifted and Talented (another group of which the elitist Spanish Immersion parents have no problem with kicking to the curb if it means their kids get back into Woodbury): two programs that are absolutely necessary and serve a vital purpose to the community.

Back to budget cuts:  If a taxpayer or parent wants to inform him or herself about the "Options" on the table for the budget cuts, that person must know the lingo the District is using to describe the process: "Service Level Conversations."  That's descriptive, isn't it?  A parent looking for budget options would totally get that, right? To add to the confusion, what the district is actually proposing is described in such a convoluted way that it takes a Masters Degree in Central Planning to understand what they're planning to do.  All of this isn't planned, though, right?  The School Board wouldn't purposely be making the issues as confusing as possible in order to make parents decide deciphering the "plans" isn't worth their time; thereby, allowing the School Board to do whatever they want with the taxpayers' money. 

There will be three School Board seats up for election this Fall.  It would seem in the Board's best interest to take the time to actually listen to the people of the District ("people" meaning OTHER THAN the ELITIST SPANISH IMMERSION PARENTS) and their concerns about the direction this District is headed, rather than ignoring parents and going about the business of running the schools like mini-dic(k)tators.  It is already being felt around the District that Dr. Jacobus is a control-freak who is happy to snub the advice of the School Board.  He seems to be a man in need of an education on for whom he works and that unlike some tenured teachers, he can be fired.

(Updated 2/27/13, 5:58pm)

THE BLACK PANTHERS WERE UNABASHEDLY MARXIST

There seems to be confusion about why parents are upset about the fact that East Ridge High School chose to honor the Black Panther Party during a Black History Month presentation on February 14, 2013.  Accusations of elitist racism are being bandied about like shuttlecocks on the comments sections of previous blogs.  To quote our current President: LET ME BE CLEAR, this has NOTHING to do with racism.  As was stated in a previous blog, the objections stem from the nature of the group that was the Black Panthers in that it was a fundamentally MARXIST, VIOLENT, ANTI-CAPITALIST, ANTI-AMERICAN organization, that, while important to American history (and not just "Black American History"), is not a group that should be COMMEMORATED - definition: "Honored" - by a school regardless of what month it is.  Furthermore, there are MANY other examples of great Americans who would have been better choices to honor, had the teacher and principal done their job and tried to find better examples.

If anyone is confused about whether or not the Black Panther Party actually was a MARXIST organization, here is the Party's Platform from 1968 as it was published in The Black Panther. 23 Nov. 1967:3.:

THE TEN POINT PLAN
1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of our fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
5. WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of the self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and in the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR All BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide our selves with proper medical attention and care.
7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, All OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against black people, other people of color and poor people inside the united States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.
8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desire of the United States ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the United States government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR All PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in United States prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the United States military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trial.
10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are most disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.