CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Family & Friends:
If you’ve been reading this blog you know that we have had a rough week. Our car died in Indiana and then Hal, our beloved laptop, was laid low by a coffee tsunami. I can’t say we’re happy about all this but we’re getting by.
On top of all that there has been a situation developing here in Durham around issues with the Durham Public Schools and the Durham School Board. The newspaper article you see below doesn’t go into too much depth on the background of the issue. I know it will come as a surprise to some of you that I would be arrested so I thought I would take the time here to tell you what has lead me to take this action.
During the last election cycle here in Durham I ran for the At-Large position on the Durham School Board. I am on the executive committee of the Durham NAACP and I am involved with many other local community and political groups. Many friends and supporters encouraged me to run for School Board and I did. I got 11,000 votes to my opponents 16, 000. So, it was a pretty good showing. Since the election I have been working with a group formerly called Concerned Black Citizens and now known simply as Concerned Citizens of Durham. This is a group of parents of public school students, all of whom are black except me, who have tried unsuccessfully to have issues concerning their children addressed by the public schools. The complaints include; a child being searched outside the presence of his parents and the principal refusing to give an explanation for the search, a child with a nervous disorder being suspended for not listening to a teacher even though his Individual Education Plan states that he sometimes will “freeze” in a stressful situation, a 5 year old sent to In School Suspension (ISS) for stepping out of line, and many, many, more cases. All of these parents have attempted to have these problems dealt with on the school level and have been denied due process. The problem isn’t that they don’t like the answers they’ve been given, as one school board member has stated, they have not been given any answers. They have been stonewalled. Calls aren’t returned, meetings are cancelled at the last minute, responses to paperwork never come, and on and on.
The response of these parents has been to take their grievances to their elected officials, the School Board. The response of the School Board has been to refer them back to the same school administrators with whom they have gotten so little response. This in turn has frustrated the parents and they/we have become disruptive at School Board meetings. The School Board, rather than investigate and try to correct the complaints, has chosen instead to try to silence its critics. They have opted to eliminate “Open Public Comment” all together. Instead citizens must now submit an item ten days in advance to be placed on the agenda. The suggested item goes to a “gatekeeper” group made up of the Superintendent, the Chair, and the Vice-Chair. Two of the three must agree to allow the item on the agenda. The effect of this system is that items that the School Board does not want to discuss are effectively blocked from ever being brought to the full School Board. It is claimed that there are other Committee meetings in which citizens can be heard. The problem with these meetings is that the full board is not in session and they are not official School Board meetings. They are the equivalent of leaving a phone or email message with the School Board. The board is not in session and has no obligation to follow up on what is said or to even respond to a complaint.
So, parents with legitimate complaints have been told they have no recourse. The School Board refuses to even hear what they have to say much less take any action to resolve the situation. Besides the fact that there are real children suffering real trauma under this system there is also the issue of freedom of speech. We are being denied our constitutional right to bring our complaints to our elected representatives in an official, open public meeting.
This past Thursday night was the first School Board meeting where these new rules were in effect. When I got to the podium I attempted to discuss an item that the “gatekeepers” had refused to allow on the agenda. I was told I was out of order and that I would be removed from the room. I sat down on the floor and the Sheriff’s deputies came over to me. I told them that I would be glad to walk with them once they put the handcuffs on me; I wasn’t going to be “escorted” off the premises. This time they would have to arrest me. One woman officer said that she would “spray” me before she put cuffs on me. I said in a loud voice that she was threatening to spray me and that I was not resisting. I repeated this several times in a calm voice. The officers then placed the cuffs on my hands, behind my back, and lifted me up. I then walked with them out of the room chanting, “Lift the ban and fire Ann”. As we walked I repeated that I was cooperating and that I wasn’t resisting. The deputies, except for that one, were very professional and calm.
I was booked and bailed out for $150 by a bondsman on a $1,000 bond. The charges are disorderly conduct and 2nd Degree Trespassing. My first court date is May 18th. I will plead not guilty to both misdemeanor charges and ask for a trial.
So, there you have it. Any questions? Feel free to email me.
Steven
If you’ve been reading this blog you know that we have had a rough week. Our car died in Indiana and then Hal, our beloved laptop, was laid low by a coffee tsunami. I can’t say we’re happy about all this but we’re getting by.
On top of all that there has been a situation developing here in Durham around issues with the Durham Public Schools and the Durham School Board. The newspaper article you see below doesn’t go into too much depth on the background of the issue. I know it will come as a surprise to some of you that I would be arrested so I thought I would take the time here to tell you what has lead me to take this action.
During the last election cycle here in Durham I ran for the At-Large position on the Durham School Board. I am on the executive committee of the Durham NAACP and I am involved with many other local community and political groups. Many friends and supporters encouraged me to run for School Board and I did. I got 11,000 votes to my opponents 16, 000. So, it was a pretty good showing. Since the election I have been working with a group formerly called Concerned Black Citizens and now known simply as Concerned Citizens of Durham. This is a group of parents of public school students, all of whom are black except me, who have tried unsuccessfully to have issues concerning their children addressed by the public schools. The complaints include; a child being searched outside the presence of his parents and the principal refusing to give an explanation for the search, a child with a nervous disorder being suspended for not listening to a teacher even though his Individual Education Plan states that he sometimes will “freeze” in a stressful situation, a 5 year old sent to In School Suspension (ISS) for stepping out of line, and many, many, more cases. All of these parents have attempted to have these problems dealt with on the school level and have been denied due process. The problem isn’t that they don’t like the answers they’ve been given, as one school board member has stated, they have not been given any answers. They have been stonewalled. Calls aren’t returned, meetings are cancelled at the last minute, responses to paperwork never come, and on and on.
The response of these parents has been to take their grievances to their elected officials, the School Board. The response of the School Board has been to refer them back to the same school administrators with whom they have gotten so little response. This in turn has frustrated the parents and they/we have become disruptive at School Board meetings. The School Board, rather than investigate and try to correct the complaints, has chosen instead to try to silence its critics. They have opted to eliminate “Open Public Comment” all together. Instead citizens must now submit an item ten days in advance to be placed on the agenda. The suggested item goes to a “gatekeeper” group made up of the Superintendent, the Chair, and the Vice-Chair. Two of the three must agree to allow the item on the agenda. The effect of this system is that items that the School Board does not want to discuss are effectively blocked from ever being brought to the full School Board. It is claimed that there are other Committee meetings in which citizens can be heard. The problem with these meetings is that the full board is not in session and they are not official School Board meetings. They are the equivalent of leaving a phone or email message with the School Board. The board is not in session and has no obligation to follow up on what is said or to even respond to a complaint.
So, parents with legitimate complaints have been told they have no recourse. The School Board refuses to even hear what they have to say much less take any action to resolve the situation. Besides the fact that there are real children suffering real trauma under this system there is also the issue of freedom of speech. We are being denied our constitutional right to bring our complaints to our elected representatives in an official, open public meeting.
This past Thursday night was the first School Board meeting where these new rules were in effect. When I got to the podium I attempted to discuss an item that the “gatekeepers” had refused to allow on the agenda. I was told I was out of order and that I would be removed from the room. I sat down on the floor and the Sheriff’s deputies came over to me. I told them that I would be glad to walk with them once they put the handcuffs on me; I wasn’t going to be “escorted” off the premises. This time they would have to arrest me. One woman officer said that she would “spray” me before she put cuffs on me. I said in a loud voice that she was threatening to spray me and that I was not resisting. I repeated this several times in a calm voice. The officers then placed the cuffs on my hands, behind my back, and lifted me up. I then walked with them out of the room chanting, “Lift the ban and fire Ann”. As we walked I repeated that I was cooperating and that I wasn’t resisting. The deputies, except for that one, were very professional and calm.
I was booked and bailed out for $150 by a bondsman on a $1,000 bond. The charges are disorderly conduct and 2nd Degree Trespassing. My first court date is May 18th. I will plead not guilty to both misdemeanor charges and ask for a trial.
So, there you have it. Any questions? Feel free to email me.
Steven
posted by Durham Community News @ 3:20 AM
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