democratandchronicle/article/20131025/OPINION02/310250067 Dear Brothers and Sisters It has been a long race. First, and foremost, I would like to thank all of those who supported our campaign, especially Ms. Carla Williams, Ms. Kashima Morrison, Mr. Mark Friedman, Mr. Tim Adams, Ms. Dominique Thomas, Mr. Dana Bratcher, Mr. Jerry Hunt, Mr. John Rouse, Ms. Olivene Adams, and of course my running-mate, Mr. Ronald Hall, as well as many others who supported us financially, and in other ways. I thank my family for their tremendous patience, and understanding. We are humbled by the support of two-thousand-plus voters who backed us at the polls on September 10th, and again on November 5th. WE SINCERELY THANK YALL! Apparently, the majority of the relatively small percentage of eligible voters who came out for the General Election are not ready for change in the Rochester City School District. Because the majority of this relatively small group of participants have chosen to go with the status-quo (again) --- this virtually guarantees that conditions will not improve substantially within the Rochester City School District. PLEASE DO NOT VIEW MY LATTER STATEMENT AS REPRESENTING SO-CALLED SOUR-GRAPES, OR ANY OTHER SUCH SILLY IDEA. Brothers, and sisters this is very serious business, and Im asking you to think --- I mean really THINK. The three incumbents --- whom were just returned to the Board for four(4) more years --- have (collectively) been part of the leadership of the worst performing school district in all of New York State, and much of the nation for eighteen (18) years (eight, six, and four years respectively). Have conditions improved over the past eight, or six, or four years? Of course this is a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. So, what would make us think that these Board members will suddenly gain the knowledge, commitment, expertise, and intestinal fortitude, which will be necessary in order to produce widespread, fundamental change, and improvement? Precisely because it is crystal-clear that conditions will not improve, and are in fact, likely to get worse under the current leadership --- we will begin preparing for two years from now (2015) when four Board seats (the majority) will be up for re-election. It is our hope that by 2015, even many so-called prime -voters, and staunch supporters of the status-quo will come to their senses, and realize that in order to produce substantial change, and improvement --- new, bold, knowledgeable, committed leadership is necessary. Of course, a major task for us will be figuring out how to produce more involvement on the part of massive numbers (the clear majority of eligible voters) who currently (for many reasons) choose not to participate in the electoral process. Brothers and Sisters, so-called democracy in Rochester is not healthy. When the vast majority of the electorate are not participating (for decades) --- democracy is not healthy. When an incumbent school board member who has been part of the leadership of the worse performing school district in the State, and much of the nation for six years --- out-polls the next Mayor of the City by almost 3,000 votes --- thats a clear indicator that something is wrong with the health of democracy. When two novice candidates for school board who have no real, in-depth knowledge, or understanding of educational issues, and no real records of service to Rochester City School District students, and families, out-poll two committed, veteran educators with long records of service (at the level where the rubber hits the road i.e., the classroom) thats a clear indication that something is very wrong with the health of democracy. WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO, AND WE HOPE THAT OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS YALL WILL JOIN WITH US TO HELP PRODUCE WAY-OVERDUE, MUCH-NEEDED CHANGE, AND IMPROVEMENT, WHICH OUR CHILDREN, AND FAMILIES SO RICHLY DESERVE. The Struggle Continues... Thank you, Howard ------------ THIS ARTICLE BELOW (FROM CITY NEWS PAPER) IS VERY, VERY INTERESTING: What this means for the school district is hard to say. NO IT ISNT. IVE JUST SAID WHAT IT MEANS (ABOVE). CITY NEWSPAPER ROCHESTER SCHOOL BOARD Despite the Rochester City School District’s abysmal academic performance -- something that has dragged on for years, marked by a declining enrollment and increasingly disengaged parents -- voters tonight returned the three school board incumbents for another term. Board members Jose Cruz, Cynthia Elliott, and Van White, all Democrats, have beaten their challengers in the general election, and theyve done so with fairly wide margins. Led by White, the incumbents grabbed the lion’s share of votes -- well more than 60 percent. And even though candidate Candice Lucas came extremely close to overtaking Cruz in the Democratic primary, she was no threat to him tonight. What this means for the school district is hard to say except that a strong majority of the voters who turned out tonight passed at the opportunity to remove nearly half of the school board. And while voters also showed their support for Lovely Warren as the city‘s next mayor, who incidentally campaigned heavily on an education platform, they werent necessarily giving her a green light to make big changes.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 08:03:41 +0000
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