I NEED YOU, YOU, AND YOU TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW!
The Insite was at a meeting of African American ministers who came together to hammer out a plan to save Kashmere High School. It was held at New Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist church on Kelley. But the meeting went really wrong. Attending the meeting were Carol Mims Galloway, Rev. Willie Jones, Senfronia Thompson, Shelia Jackson Lee, Kevin Hoffman and a host of others. But things went sour when the principal of Kashmere, Dr. Charlotte Parker, showed up. Apparently, she was invited by HISD Board Member Kevin Hoffman. Well, what Parker didn’t realize is the ministers and other organizers thought she was part of a conspiracy by HISD to close Kashmere. Dr. Parker was recently appointed to the school – replacing the former principal…Some community leaders were very upset with that decision. So, when Hoffman had his turn to speak to the group he also invited up Principal Parker. She gave the group a folder of information on how they can help improve the school. But after about 15 minutes Pastor Jones got up and abruptly told Parker her time was up and to leave. He also told her the meeting wasn’t about what they could do at the school but what HISD should do to save the school. Pastor Jones also chastised HISD Board Member Kevin Hoffman. Jones told Hoffman he thought the board member intentionally tried to “sabotage the meeting” by bringing Parker to the afternoon session…Now all of this is going on while The Insite is snapping pictures and the cameras are rolling. When Pastor Jones realized the media was still there documenting every word – he also told us to leave. Meanwhile, one person leaving the meeting told The Insite she didn’t believe the gathering of ministers produced any results to help Kashmere. The pictures you see above are of Jones telling Dr. Parker her time was up and to leave the mic…Pastor Jones is in the gray suit jacket…Enjoy! (sorry the photos are so dark – I was far from the podium)
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African Americans have become their own worst enemy. I guess that crabs in a barrell syndrome is real. You guys really need to get it together before you implode.
Where does Jarvis Johnson stand on the issue? Maybe he can invite everyone over to Red Cat Jazz Cafe for a party…I mean town hall meeting.
Now that’s funny! ^^^^^^^^
What’s funny is how white folk try to tear down every black leader in Houston. What they need to do is take care of their people and leave ours alone.
this was not healthy for our community
I doubt ministers can save the school- it’s not like the school cratered all of a sudden and then the churches appeared. No, they have both been around a long time. BTW there is no white conspiracy to tear down black leaders.
The meeting was not concerning the principal at Kashmere. She were not invited. The meeting were called to discuss Dr. Saavedra for programming our African Americans Schools for failure. He plans to CONTRACT Kashmere High School out to Kipp’s Academy along with the feeder pattern schools. WAKE-UP BLACK PEOPLE. We need to ACT NOW, and not let ourselves REACT later!
Please remember that education begins at home. If these children had stable homes with at least one stable parent (preferably two) the school would not be in this quandry.
I am insulted that someone would state that the children do not have stable home. Most of them do, and their single parent has to work, prepare their meals, etc. The school is to educate and get support from the parents. While thirty percent of the students are special ed, due to no fault of their own. The schools are to supply the resources for them to be successful. That’s not happening in the African American schools at H.I.S.D.. Read AAN&I.
I say let the little NIGLETTS go to an alternative school. They don’t want to be there anyway! Do you see any of the kids fighting to keep it open?
Can someone please tell me the problem in closing a failing school. If the community leaders really wanted to help they would start an after school program or something else to aid the children. The leaders should have been meeting years ago when the drop out rate was approaching 50%. The future of all kids in Texas does not look good. How can we blame HISD when they are spending more money per student than any other school and they just stated they are adding to even more money. Someone please tell me what HISD is doing wrong. I could careless who runs the school KIPP or anyone else, but the kids need to learn. As for the posting by Rich stating that we need to get it together, what he does not realize is that this problem goes beyond color if our kids don’t get educated then that more problems for everyone.
Let’s not be mislead, know your fact before you state that the dropout rate is 50%. It is and never been 50%. The state law determine the dropout percentage points rating for a school to be rated low performance. The previous rating were 5% and they lower it to 1%. There are more schools rated low performance now because there dropout rate exceed 1% then in past years before the law was reasonly changed. H.I.S.D reduces core teachers in February from schools that are needed right before testing in March,which causes major disruptions to students. Attendance for students are taken in October, they should know there staffing need at that point. Unnessecary paperwork for teachers and administrators. Always making changes in the middle of the school year, which lead to an unstable enviroment, funding is not allocated to the schools in a timely manner, which tend to holdup resources for students and staff.
Please view this USA today article posted back in June. The graduation rate in Houston is 48.9%.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates_x.htm#grad
If the address does not work, just google “houston high school graduation rate”. I know it is sad
dwj—-There is a difference between drop out rate and graduation rate. You stated drop out rate!!