From: "clucasklucas@yahoo.com" Date: September 13, 2009 9:25:13 PM CDT To: clucasklucas@yahoo.com Subject: Chesterfield County Public Schools Fails To "Own" Core Values Reply-To: clucasklucas@yahoo.com Good Evening Advocates For Our Children, After enduring a horrific first week of the academic year with a family with special needs, all at the hand of Chesterfield County Public School's administrators and officials, I felt compelled, and yes, even obligated to publish this commentary condemning those involved for not only their hypocrisy, but for their relentless efforts to deprive students with special needs of the educational opportunities that they are entitled to. The victimization of students and families has become a way of life within Chesterfield County, all with the approval of school officials. For the record, based on the constant flow of horrific stories that I have received, this commentary will be one of many more to come unless Dr. Newsome and the school board members take drastic and immediate actions to correct this systemic and institutionalized abuse/neglect of students with special needs. I would also like to thank all of the media outlets that have agreed to publish this and future pieces exposing the atrocious injustice that is being committed to innocent children within Chesterfield County Public Schools. Speaking Out For Those That Have No Voice, Kandise Lucas Parent, Advocate, Consultant, Reformist ******************************************************************************* Chesterfield County Public Schools Fails To Own Its Core Values Written By: Kandise Lucas, Ph.D. Columnist EducationNews.org 13-9-09 Categorized in: EducationNews Reports Chesterfield County Public Schools Fails To “Own” Its Core Values Kandise Lucas, Ph.D. - 9.14.09 Columnist EducationNews.org “The Chesterfield County School Board adopted four, community-identified core values; respect, responsibility, honesty, and accountability.” These are the words noted by Superintendent Marcus Newsome within the district’s 2008-2009 Annual Report. It is interesting to note that these core values are “community-identified,” not school district-identified. This would explain the reason that district officials and administrators, from the boardroom to the classroom, consistently fail to embrace and practice these values, especially when students with special needs are involved. Respect….Responsibility….Honesty….Accountability. It is clear that there are many families with students that have special needs that would go as far as to state that his claims in the annual report are not only false, but that they are not upheld with any integrity by either he, the school board members, or the administrators that serve within the district Respect. There is documented account after documented account of school board members, administrators, and even Newsome, himself, disrespecting parents and students with special needs by either dismissing, ignoring, or covering up the atrocities that students are their families have been and continue to be subjected to at the hands of incompetent administrators, while an indifferent Newsome and school board members look on. Responsibility. There is no question that irresponsibility reigns supreme and is readily rewarded within Chesterfield County Public Schools when dealing with students with special needs. Failure to comply with educational plans, endangering the physical and emotional welfare of students, and even avoiding being responsible for any and all unethical acts toward students at all costs seems to be an accepted norm within the district culture of irresponsibility. Honesty. This is definitely a foreign concept for many administrators within Chesterfield County Public Schools. Faced with the choice of keeping their positions by falsifying and/or misrepresenting issues related to students with disabilities, these individuals would choose to be dishonest and keep their jobs, rather than stand up for children and risk loosing their paychecks and positions. Of course, this entire culture of dishonesty and lack of integrity is promoted, maintained, and defended by Newsome and his team of Mafia-like administrators that receive their orders to preserve a corrupt system at all costs, then take whatever steps necessary to do so, even if it means causing harm to innocent children by depriving them of every educational opportunity that they are entitled to based on their civil rights. Accountability. How would one describe accountability within Chesterfield County Public Schools under the leadership of Newsome and the present school board members? The same way that one would describe competence within one of its high schools, Meadowbrook, under Principal Thomas Ferrell; Assistant Principal Shawn Abel; and Special Education Department Chair, Deborah Jones; accountability for adults that consistently violate the civil rights of students with disabilities, then falsify documentation and/or make false statements does not exist. Accountability will never exist in Chesterfield County Public Schools until, as President Obama stated, “all human beings are valued for who they are, and not devalued or dehumanized for who they are not as a means of furthering the political and economic agendas of those in power that are charged with acting with integrity, compassion, and fairness.” Chesterfield School Board Members It is interesting to note that Dr. Newsome is a middle-aged African-American male, who, we are certain, has had his share of challenges as a result of his appearance, background, and what some would even label as a “disability,” due to his race. His profile also notes that he has religious education training, which emphasizes the importance of reaching those that cannot speak for them selves, and are often disenfranchised because they have no one to speak for them. Evidently, both Superintendent Newsome and the Chesterfield County Public School Board members have forgotten where they came from, and more importantly, have failed to remember where our children need to be. A fundamental moral and ethical question that is facing district leaders, as the new year begins, is not whether they will win another “blue ribbon award,” or make AYP again, or even whether seventy percent of the schools within the district will pass the SOL’s. The fundamental question that must be answered, and that will impact the lives of Chesterfield’s special education children for generations to come, is whether Superintendent Newsome and the school board have the moral and ethical conviction to confront, expose, and dismantle the corruption that is rampant within the district regarding students with special needs. If one child with special needs is deprived of an educational opportunity due to the incompetence and corruption of school leaders, then the quality of education for all students within the district is in danger and compromised. If school officials are unwilling to answer this moral and ethical question with actions, then opt to continue down their paths of indifference, avoidance, and ignorance with closed eyes and covered ears, then it is clear that they are making a deliberate decision to destroy the lives and futures of the most vulnerable children within our communities. It’s one thing to “adopt” core values, it’s another thing to “own” core values. When will Chesterfield’s school leaders “own” the core values that will protect, defend, and nurture every student and family within the district? Perhaps if they focused on “owning” each student and their future, then they would be able to “own” the core values that consistently elude them. *Retrieved from: http://www.ednews.org/articles/chesterfield-county-public-schools-fails-to-own-its-core-values.html "Speak out for the one who cannot speak, for the rights of those who are doomed." -Proverbs 31:8
