Accusation against SOMA School Board member

kmt said:

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/27/614730785/on-white-fear-being-weaponized-and-how-to-respond

We've got to come up with some policies that raise the costs of bad behavior — of treating people differently than you would want to be treated.

Here's a sentiment I can really get behind, and it's certainly fair to ask for policies that discourage this kind of "bad behavior" as he says.  Somebody should introduce him to his wife.

Have you met this guy?

kmt said:

Yes, racism is real.  

It has been manifest in American law enforcement. It’s possible that one cost of law enforcement’s bad behavior is a black woman’s self-described “irrational response” when she’s pulled over.

DaveSchmidt said:

kmt said:

Yes, racism is real.  

It has been manifest in American law enforcement.

And now it's been manifest in New Jersey board of ed members.  But I won't prejudge all board of ed members based on the behavior of bad outliers like SLM.  That's the whole point Dave.  I'm still hoping for you buddy!  

DaveSchmidt said:

flimbro said:

Sorry about that.

We expected a better apology.

Dave-

I did ask for patience. I’m still working my way through this whole thing. I want to be an ally and an example for others. 

In the meantime I am willing to resign from things- repeatedly, if that is to be my penance. 

Please don't resign flimbro, you absolutely are an example for others.

kmt said:
Please don't resign flimbro, you absolutely are an example for others.

 Thanks so much. Heartfelt sentiment like this is fuel for me to do better and Be Best!

By the way, here is an excerpt from that same interview you cherry picked a line from to make a point that's still unclear to me. This excerpt is in response to white folks summoning law enforcement whenever they're 'uncomfortable':

-------

On how history shapes interactions between people of color and police

Policing in general, it's got to begin to reflect on the fact that people who they've been policing under various forms of zero-tolerance policies or "broken windows" policies has created tremendous mistrust — and done tremendous harm in those communities. 

And as such, every police encounter between a white caller and an African-American or Latino suspect doesn't come with a blank slate. It comes with a history. It comes with a present. And police agencies have to develop new training protocols that deliberately deal with that. I like to think that we could imagine a situation where these nuisance calls are quite distinctly handled from emergency phone calls.

--------

'Doesn't come with a blank slate. It comes with a history. It comes with a precedent'.

That's the point three or four of us were making here pages and pages ago. Your selection of this particular interview is ironic. If you'd listened to it instead of cutting and pasting from a summary, you would have realized that it refutes some of what you and others have been writing. Unless of course the idea was to make sure everyone here made the familial connection. The motive behind that train of thought is another issue entirely.

Yes of course the point was to make the familial connection.

It’s hilarious that you could condemn nuisance calls against black people and defend SLM’s behavior in this traffic stop.

flimbro said:

I'm not alarmed. I think she had a bad day and made bad decisions. I think her attempt to use her position to get out of a ticket was hamfisted and at the same time exactly what millions of people do every minute of every day- employ their privilege, real or imagined, to their advantage.  I'm not surprised, shocked or hurt and I think she should be afforded the opportunity to get beyond the matter, get on with her personal and professional life and then face the voters. I think the person who deserved an apology received one and in my mind that's the end of it.

Ladies and gentlemen, don’t miss the sideshow’s crazy mirror.

kmt said:

It’s hilarious that you could condemn nuisance calls against black people and defend SLM’s behavior in this traffic stop.

I'm missing the hilarity in that 

MOL is going to study ways to protect the grave injustices against white people.  We can't make up for the cost of escaped slaves in one's family tree or the annoyance of having to hunt down and put native peoples in concentration camps (oops, that's the non-pc term for reservations) when killing them began to tire our arms, but perhaps we can censor the word skinhead with asterisks, fittingly the most snowflake-like character on the keyboard.

dave said:
MOL is going to study ways to protect the grave injustices against white people.  

it’s sort of ironic that there isn’t more outrage over an obviously racist member of the BoE .. when that member will be casting her vote on a $127m budget/referendum... of which many of the initiatives as presented by the superintendent are to supposedly make dent to equalize. 

And it’s also ironic that the conversation  has morphed into law enforcement racism when there was none in this incident..not even close...

mem said:
I don’t care whether she apologized or not so much as the bigger picture, she has every right to be afraid and angry about police brutality, me too, but if she has non-equitable thoughts like that, she could serve somewhere more applicable than on the BOE.

 Exactly. It’s not about apologies (and non-apologies)... 

Njartist1979 said:

And it’s also ironic that the conversation  has morphed into law enforcement racism when there was none in this incident..not even close...

It hasn’t morphed. Page 2: 

addiemoose said: If you haven't been a person of color pulled over by a cop, you haven't walked far enough in the other person's moccasins to say how you would feel or react in that situation. 

And add to the things here I must’ve missed: Anyone saying there was racism by the officer in this stop. 

I have been debating with myself whether to make an extremely politically incorrect statement which would probably bring down the entire house on my head but, on the other hand, move the discussion away from race.

Hint: Maybe the incident had more to do with gender than race.

dave said:
MOL is going to study ways to protect the grave injustices against white people.  We can't make up for the cost of escaped slaves in one's family tree or the annoyance of having to hunt down and put native peoples in concentration camps (oops, that's the non-pc term for reservations) when killing them began to tire our arms, but perhaps we can censor the word skinhead with asterisks, fittingly the most snowflake-like character on the keyboard.

This is so obnoxious.  This isn’t about white versus black except that SLM wanted to make it about that.  This issue is about equality before the law, abuse of power, and especially traffic safety.

Have you heard from the woman hit recently in front of the middle school?  That’s a pretty horrible case, and a perfect example of why we need the traffic laws that we have.  The two of these cases together make a pretty discouraging picture.

Actually there’s great discussion on this point over in SOMA Lounge on Facebook.  Maybe it’s a better place for discussing local issues.  What do you think dave?

dave said:
MOL is going to study ways to protect the grave injustices against white people.  We can't make up for the cost of escaped slaves in one's family tree or the annoyance of having to hunt down and put native peoples in concentration camps (oops, that's the non-pc term for reservations) when killing them began to tire our arms, but perhaps we can censor the word skinhead with asterisks, fittingly the most snowflake-like character on the keyboard.

Bravo Dave, Bravo.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to deliver the following update concerning the 'sk-word.'

(Please note that the following will have absolutely no effect on my personal quest to cleanse my vocabulary of the cursed slur)

Well, here goes. I am in receipt of a rare communique from an etymological think tank in Atlanta (all think tanks are in Boston, Washington DC or Atlanta). This particular group is charged with the registration, administration and licensing of Racial Slurs, Curses and Epithets. I took the liberty of filling out the online application to register 'sk-word'. Scientists there were responsible for the genius move of removing "igger" from the 'n-word' rendering it safe for all mankind by making the word sound different which also totally erased all of the horrible racial baggage typically associated with that hateful term. They are also the entity that cleared the revised attachment of "igga" for use by entertainment companies in the wake of decreased record sales due to internet piracy. 

Folks, this is not good news. Unfortunately, 'sk-word' does not qualify as a real racial slur. The representative who reached out to me explained that when his job-seeking grandfather was called a Wop or "Guinea-bastard" it was by people who inhabited a socio-economic station higher than his and that the use of the term usually preceded a sound beating by mere seconds followed by further verbal assault- and no job. This same representative went on to explain that to be considered a true racial slur, the word must come with the promise, weight and threat of actual and continuous physical, psychological, social or economic violence delivered by a group or members of a group with the intention and the power to deprive said target of rights- human and/ or civil. He also explained that the slur could not originate with the group attempting to claim that it was a racial slur. He provided 'redneck' as an example.

Please know that I begged the group to reconsider. I told him of the scores of damaged Americans in our small leafy hamlets rendered immobile on fainting couches at this very hour due to the utterance of this reprehensible oath.

Friends, he laughed and then proceeded to regale me with one horrible tale of what he called 'real' slurs- one after another. Finally the call drew to a close when the representative had to attend to a conference call. Apparently the call was a weekly endeavor regarding a lapsed and outdated Racial Slur license held by rich businessmen with a football stadium situated on land stolen from indigenous Americans and worked by enslaved Africans. He hoped to convince the group that 'Redskin' was a pejorative phrase now associated with forced marches, rape and death and not a "harmless fun word full of history and American cowboy tradition".

In closing he did offer the Epithet Pak. It's a big step down from the Racial Slur Suite but maybe worth considering.

 Thoughts?

I think that you should encourage Stephanie to make that argument.

Njartist1979 said:
it’s sort of ironic that there isn’t more outrage over an obviously racist member of the BoE .. when that member will be casting her vote on a $127m budget/referendum... of which many of the initiatives as presented by the superintendent are to supposedly make dent to equalize. 

I have been supportive of the initiatives to reduce suspensions in the district, and increase the use of restorative justice practices in its place. What is good enough for our students, teachers, and administrators, should be good enough for the BOE, the police department, and the community, shouldn't it? Or do we expect our children to do as we say, but not as we do?

==========

To more directly address your concerns, the methods to make a 'dent to equalize', and important aspects of the 'budget', have various proposed approaches in this district - with different factions thinking their way is the best option. Some approaches I agree with more than others.

For example, I tend to be more concerned with Johanna Wright's votes. My perception is that Ms. Wright tends to vote for the teachers' union party line over the SOMSD parents/students' best interests (in the cases when these diverge), and she had one strange vote against increasing transparency of Pilots (I'm still not sure whose interest that served as Pilots reduce the tax base and impact budgets - so it confuses me why she did not want to increase transparency?). 

But I suppose we can encourage Ms. Wright's stance against Ms. L-M and BOE President Ms. Baker. Interestingly, should they both resign or be forced to step down, this would allow the power of Ms. Wright's votes to grow. Do you agree with Ms. Wright's positions on the upcoming initiatives and budget?

There also appear to be more political intrigue if you are interested:

Who Requested Traffic Stop Video and When — We OPRA’d the OPRAs

https://villagegreennj.com/police-and-fire/who-requested-traffic-stop-video-and-when-we-oprad-the-opras/

The article indicates that Walter Fields received an anonymous text and anonymous flash drive with the video on it on May 16th... before any formal OPRA request for the video was fulfilled. Joe Strupp also mysteriously had a copy of the video which he published on that date.

================

Again, feel free to call for Ms. L-M's resignation, and ignore other options such as those we expect from our own school district in handling conflict. As Ms. L-M's resignation  would empower other BOE factions, you may also want to familiarize yourself more with the potential impacts to the budget as well as to district priorities should this occur.

flimbro said:

Thoughts?

We’d better take down the This Way to See the Freaks sign.

LOST said:
I have been debating with myself whether to make an extremely politically incorrect statement which would probably bring down the entire house on my head but, on the other hand, move the discussion away from race.
Hint: Maybe the incident had more to do with gender than race.

PC is just a pejorative for mindfulness. Sounds like you’ve got that covered.

sprout said:

Njartist1979 said:
it’s sort of ironic that there isn’t more outrage over an obviously racist member of the BoE .. when that member will be casting her vote on a $127m budget/referendum... of which many of the initiatives as presented by the superintendent are to supposedly make dent to equalize. 

I have been supportive of the initiatives to reduce suspensions in the district, and increase the use of restorative justice practices in its place. What is good enough for our students, teachers, and administrators, should be good enough for the BOE, the police department, and the community, shouldn't it? Or do we expect our children to do as we say, but not as we do?

==========
To more directly address your concerns, the methods to make a 'dent to equalize', and important aspects of the 'budget', have various proposed approaches in this district - with different factions thinking their way is the best option. Some approaches I agree with more than others.
For example, I tend to be more concerned with Johanna Wright's votes. My perception is that Ms. Wright tends to vote for the teachers' union party line over the SOMSD parents/students' best interests (in the cases when these diverge), and she had one strange vote against increasing transparency of Pilots (I'm still not sure whose interest that served as Pilots reduce the tax base and impact budgets - so it confuses me why she did not want to increase transparency?). 
But I suppose we can encourage Ms. Wright's stance against Ms. L-M and BOE President Ms. Baker. Interestingly, should they both resign or step down, this would allow the power of Ms. Wright's votes to grow. Do you agree with Ms. Wright's positions on the upcoming initiatives and budget?


There also appear to be more political intrigue if you are interested:
Who Requested Traffic Stop Video and When — We OPRA’d the OPRAs

https://villagegreennj.com/police-and-fire/who-requested-traffic-stop-video-and-when-we-oprad-the-opras/
The article indicates that Walter Fields received an anonymous text and anonymous flash drive with the video on it on May 16th... before any formal OPRA request for the video was fulfilled. Joe Strupp also mysteriously had a copy of the video which he published on that date.
================

Again, feel free to call for Ms. L-M's resignation, and ignore other options such as those we expect from our own school district in handling conflict. As Ms. L-M's resignation  would empower other BOE factions, you may also want to familiarize yourself more with the potential impacts to the budget as well as to district priorities should this occur.

Thank you for your consistent attempts to cloud this issue with coherent critical thought.

sprout said:

Njartist1979 said:
it’s sort of ironic that there isn’t more outrage over an obviously racist member of the BoE .. when that member will be casting her vote on a $127m budget/referendum... of which many of the initiatives as presented by the superintendent are to supposedly make dent to equalize. 

I have been supportive of the initiatives to reduce suspensions in the district, and increase the use of restorative justice practices in its place. What is good enough for our students, teachers, and administrators, should be good enough for the BOE, the police department, and the community, shouldn't it? Or do we expect our children to do as we say, but not as we do?

==========
To more directly address your concerns, the methods to make a 'dent to equalize', and important aspects of the 'budget', have various proposed approaches in this district - with different factions thinking their way is the best option. Some approaches I agree with more than others.
For example, I tend to be more concerned with Johanna Wright's votes. My perception is that Ms. Wright tends to vote for the teachers' union party line over the SOMSD parents/students' best interests (in the cases when these diverge), and she had one strange vote against increasing transparency of Pilots (I'm still not sure whose interest that served as Pilots reduce the tax base and impact budgets - so it confuses me why she did not want to increase transparency?). 
But I suppose we can encourage Ms. Wright's stance against Ms. L-M and BOE President Ms. Baker. Interestingly, should they both resign or be forced to step down, this would allow the power of Ms. Wright's votes to grow. Do you agree with Ms. Wright's positions on the upcoming initiatives and budget?


There also appear to be more political intrigue if you are interested:
Who Requested Traffic Stop Video and When — We OPRA’d the OPRAs

https://villagegreennj.com/police-and-fire/who-requested-traffic-stop-video-and-when-we-oprad-the-opras/
The article indicates that Walter Fields received an anonymous text and anonymous flash drive with the video on it on May 16th... before any formal OPRA request for the video was fulfilled. Joe Strupp also mysteriously had a copy of the video which he published on that date.
================

Again, feel free to call for Ms. L-M's resignation, and ignore other options such as those we expect from our own school district in handling conflict. As Ms. L-M's resignation  would empower other BOE factions, you may also want to familiarize yourself more with the potential impacts to the budget as well as to district priorities should this occur.

The Steve Latz majority on the BOE would still control the vote if Ms. L-M were to resign so a new BOE member would be a minority dissenting member and have no impact on the budget.  Just keeping it real.  I have written to the BOE several times in the past 4 years about concerns in our district.  Number of times Ms. L-M responded to me, zero.  Was I surprised she was shown publicly to act in an arrogant, entitled way? Nope.  Johanna Wright did respond to me and I voted for her.

Njartist1979 said:

nohero said:

LOST said:

Robert_Casotto said:
the only humiliation I sense is on the part of the voters.  

 The turnout in BOE elections is notoriously low. The only positive result of this incident is If it leads to greater interest in those elections

BOE elections are in November now, and have been.  That was supposed to create more interest.
Personally, this is how things look to me on this Sunday morning.  Ms. Lawson-Muhammad said something very offensive one morning, as she was being stopped for speeding.  She also said something which no elected official should say, claiming to use her position to avoid responsibility.  Since then, she's apologized (news reports say that was in the works before the "leak" of the video), and has not attacked the character of the officer who stopped her, the Police Chief, or the Village President.
On the other hand, there are various people who, upon reflection and choosing their words, are continuing to criticize her and attack her character.
At this point, if people are more interested in the BOE elections, let's hope it's for forward-looking reasons, and not just because some people have told them to vote out someone because of behavior one morning at a traffic stop.

There is no way to vote out a BoE member. Either wait until term expires and don’t vote for her should she seek re-election.. or file an ethics complaint against her with the NJ school board association, which could result in a censure or removal.  

A BOE member may be recalled during their term.

http://www.njelections.org/candidate-recall-election-process.html

https://www.njsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/legal-recall-election-law08.pdf

Robert_Casotto said:

Njartist1979 said:

nohero said:

LOST said:

Robert_Casotto said:
the only humiliation I sense is on the part of the voters.  

 The turnout in BOE elections is notoriously low. The only positive result of this incident is If it leads to greater interest in those elections

BOE elections are in November now, and have been.  That was supposed to create more interest.
Personally, this is how things look to me on this Sunday morning.  Ms. Lawson-Muhammad said something very offensive one morning, as she was being stopped for speeding.  She also said something which no elected official should say, claiming to use her position to avoid responsibility.  Since then, she's apologized (news reports say that was in the works before the "leak" of the video), and has not attacked the character of the officer who stopped her, the Police Chief, or the Village President.
On the other hand, there are various people who, upon reflection and choosing their words, are continuing to criticize her and attack her character.
At this point, if people are more interested in the BOE elections, let's hope it's for forward-looking reasons, and not just because some people have told them to vote out someone because of behavior one morning at a traffic stop.

There is no way to vote out a BoE member. Either wait until term expires and don’t vote for her should she seek re-election.. or file an ethics complaint against her with the NJ school board association, which could result in a censure or removal.  

A BOE member may be recalled during their term.
http://www.njelections.org/candidate-recall-election-process.html



https://www.njsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/legal-recall-election-law08.pdf

Isn’t her term up in January? If so, you can’t file for a recall within 6 months of the end of term. There still time but not much... still it’s extremely difficult to pull this off. If this incident happened last year then yes, this would’ve still been difficult but possible.

“A recall election may not be held in the six months prior to the school board election in the final year of the board member’s term”

Njartist1979 said:

Isn’t her term up in January? If so, you can’t file for a recall within 6 months of the end of term. There still time but not much... still it’s extremely difficult to pull this off. If this incident happened last year then yes, this would’ve still been difficult but possible.

“A recall election may not be held in the six months prior to the school board election in the final year of the board member’s term”

 Page 15:

apple44 said:

Klinker said: It is apparent that S L-M will not be resigning.  Given the broad difference of opinion on this subject, why don't we just vote on it?  When is S L-M up for reelection?

 Next year, 2019 (three-year term)

DaveSchmidt said:

Njartist1979 said:

Isn’t her term up in January? If so, you can’t file for a recall within 6 months of the end of term. There still time but not much... still it’s extremely difficult to pull this off. If this incident happened last year then yes, this would’ve still been difficult but possible.

“A recall election may not be held in the six months prior to the school board election in the final year of the board member’s term”

 Page 15:

apple44 said:

Klinker said: It is apparent that S L-M will not be resigning.  Given the broad difference of opinion on this subject, why don't we just vote on it?  When is S L-M up for reelection?

 Next year, 2019 (three-year term)

Its

DaveSchmidt said:

Njartist1979 said:

Isn’t her term up in January? If so, you can’t file for a recall within 6 months of the end of term. There still time but not much... still it’s extremely difficult to pull this off. If this incident happened last year then yes, this would’ve still been difficult but possible.

“A recall election may not be held in the six months prior to the school board election in the final year of the board member’s term”

 Page 15:

apple44 said:

Klinker said: It is apparent that S L-M will not be resigning.  Given the broad difference of opinion on this subject, why don't we just vote on it?  When is S L-M up for reelection?

 Next year, 2019 (three-year term)

She’d have to file by July 31st with the county if she seeks to be re-elected.

The right thing for her to do would be to resign before then and let someone else take her place.

There was an election where a candidate referred to certain people from his opponent's campaign who disrupted a rally as having engaged in Fascist conduct.

The opponent attacked the use of "Fascist" as an Anti-Italian slur. I thought that was rather silly but the candidate who used the term "Fascist" got all defensive and apologized profusely. He lost the election and was never heard from again.

chalmers said:
The Steve Latz majority on the BOE would still control the vote if Ms. L-M were to resign so a new BOE member would be a minority dissenting member and have no impact on the budget.  Just keeping it real. 

If Ms. L-M and Ms. Baker were to step down (which is what Mr. Fields is calling for right now), then there are 7 BOE members left. 

There's a lot I don't know about the lawsuit, or how it will interact with the BOE, but here's my off-the-top-of-my-head thinking. (Note: I'm neither pro-leveling nor pro-deleveling, but I am pro-data-based-decision-making.): 

We just deleveled ("STEM Realignment") the high school from a large amount of levels to somewhat more 'normal' levels, without too much drama. I expect Mr. Fields' suit will push for further deleveling by indicating that this initial deleveling was insufficient. This push for further deleveling of the high school could be for the 2019-2020 school year. Three out of the 7 remaining BOE members seem likely to vote for additional realignment. Only one more would be needed to push through this initiative.

For the 2018-2019 school year deleveling, there was more than enough data to indicate that the current levels were failing students, and where those points of failure were. After the first year of the new levels, any data will be unreliable as the implementation will still be in development. In other words, any discussion on further deleveling would be citing examples of where it failed after a first year with the new levels -- but most initial implementations are not optimal in their first year. The argument will be whether to be a good progressive BOE member, and delevel more based on these initial points of failure, or wait another year for more reliable data to after some kinks are worked out. 

Removing Ms. Baker and Ms. L-M seems a good strategy for pushing through something too fast that will be highly divisive. And require budgetary support for it.

sprout said:

chalmers said:
The Steve Latz majority on the BOE would still control the vote if Ms. L-M were to resign so a new BOE member would be a minority dissenting member and have no impact on the budget.  Just keeping it real. 

If Ms. L-M and Ms. Baker were to step down (which is what Mr. Fields is calling for right now), then there are 7 BOE members left. 
There's a lot I don't know about the lawsuit, or how it will interact with the BOE, but here's my off-the-top-of-my-head thinking. (Note: I'm neither pro-leveling nor pro-deleveling, but I am pro-data-based-decision-making.): 
We just deleveled ("STEM Realignment") the high school from a large amount of levels to somewhat more 'normal' levels, without too much drama. I expect Mr. Fields' suit will push for further deleveling by indicating that this initial deleveling was insufficient. This push for further deleveling of the high school could be for the 2019-2020 school year. Three out of the 7 remaining BOE members seem likely to vote for additional realignment. Only one more would be needed to push through this initiative.
For the 2018-2019 school year deleveling, there was more than enough data to indicate that the current levels were failing students, and where those points of failure were. After the first year of the new levels, any data will be unreliable as the implementation will still be in development. In other words, any discussion on further deleveling would be citing examples of where it failed after a first year with the new levels -- but most initial implementations are not optimal in their first year. The argument will be whether to be a good progressive BOE member, and delevel more based on these initial points of failure, or wait another year for more reliable data to after some kinks are worked out. 
Removing Ms. Baker and Ms. L-M seems a good strategy for pushing through something too fast that will be highly divisive. And require budgetary support for it.

While levels are the bogeyman in our district, if levels caused the achievement gap there would be no gap in our unlevelled elementary schools and mostly unleveled middle schools (except for math) but there is. The real issue is that equality of opportunity is not enough for those who want equality of outcome.