[Peace-discuss] Re: [Discuss] Consent Decree done

Thu Nov 5 11:22:57 CST 2009

I couldn't disagree more.  You are mixing facts with lack of knowledge.  It
is much more complicated then you have described.  I know because I had
children in the system pre-Consent Decree and post-Consent Decree.  I have
seen many Board members come and go as well as administrations---as well as
those Leaders who stayed with the issues---and those who dipped in and
out---and those who stood on the side both cheering and jeering.

I was there during the Aber Report---and those subsequent ones----I was
there challenging the administration and Board when I disagreed----and
applauded them when they made efforts to do the right thing---and I was not
one who earned a penny for what I did or am committed to doing.

The Consent Decree needed to end.  Was I totally happy with the
results---No.  But I also understood (not unlike what we are going through
with trying to get a community police review) if you don't have the
cooperation of those who hold the power of the pen---it matters not what
token or self important agendas are put in place.  As a legal matter, the
Consent Decree negotiations resulted in the best agreement possible for the
situation at the time the Decree ended.

When the Decree began, it was made with certain demands that became the core
argument.  In a legal pleading you cannot change and or add items that are
part of that legal pleading---unless an appeal or the court requests for
more details--but always in support of the original arguments (which is why
it is so important as we look at our current Kiwane situation that we have
forward thinking instead of immediate gratification).  By the time the
Consent Decree came to its end---our community's original pleading had
changed in the form of needs---but remained dated because of when it was
first argued.  So, what those who were not actually following the matter for
the last decade---you wouldn't fully understand that by the end of the
Decree---the community was really at the mercy of those at the table because
we were asking for modification of the original pleading to incorporate
current restitution given the original was no longer vital and demands were
not going to move us forward at this time---nearly a decade later.

As for the current Administration in its current evolution---I am very
pleased because we all have sat down with the peace-pipe and started
investing our energies on progress---not simply the illusion of.  And---for
those who have worked on issues that have long-term effect---you'd
understand you may not see them as they unfold---but you can feel the
climate beginning to feel equitable.

Regardless of the anointed committees and elected Boards----if you live in
Champaign I would encourage you to get involved with the schools---you will
find welcomed arms.  Go to the Mellon and fill out the proper forms for a
background check so you can volunteer to create programs that mentor the
youth and help prepare them for Higher Ed.  You don't need to be on a token
committee or fuss about the what-ifs of the Consent Decree that the two
folks who made it possible---are now dead and buried--and one of them
financially made it possible, that without---we wouldn't even have the
little progress that we can find agreement on.

That said---I am the first to call folks out if they are veering off the
progress path---as I am sure you and others monitoring will as well.

On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Devin Chambers
<devin.he.chambers at gmail.com>wrote:

> The problem with the Consent Decree was collusion on all sides.  The
> plaintiff's attorney was working with Unit 4 attorneys and self-appointed
> black leaders were colluding with the District, and getting jobs out of it.
> The minute Futterman & Howard brokered a deal with the District to begin the
> watered-down, unaccountable Consent Decree, there was little hope for
> progress as the community no longer had any power or say, regardless of how
> many committees or task forces the District created to appease the masses.
>
> We got a Texas transplanted administration (Superintendent Culver,
> McFarland, Dorland Norris, Dedrick Martin who recently left, Beth Sheppard),
> so did we really expect the District to have a stake in educational progress
> in this community??  Everyone is making money off of the miseducation of our
> children, black and white, and I would bet money that there is
> fraud/missapropriation of funding, I just have yet to prove so sufficiently
> enough to get them in trouble (I had the Office of Inspector General do a
> fraud investigation on the District last year).
>
> It's a welcome change that the Consent Decree ended. It opens the door for
> real lawsuits to come forward and challenge the District's business as
> usual.
>
> Devin
> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 9:43 PM, Danielle Chynoweth <chyn at ojctech.com>wrote:
>
>> It would be worth talking to Imani, Rev. Underwood, and others who worked
>> tirelessly on this to get a people's take on the Consent Decree - what was
>> accomplished, what is left to do.  We have only gotten the NG version of the
>> story for years and years now.
>>
>> - Danielle
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with Brian that it is such a lesson. Widespread outrage is a
>>> short-range engine. To accomplish something it takes organization(s) to keep
>>> the focus continuing.  Barbara K
>>>
>>>
>>>   On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 5:33 PM, Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Anything in the print version about city council last night?
>>>> Nothing on line.
>>>>
>>>> This anti-climactic ending of the consent decree.
>>>> It should be a lesson on what happens when an effort loses grassroots
>>>> support and becomes simply a matter left up to the courts.
>>>>
>>>> BD
>>>>
>>>> [image: The News-Gazette.com]   Final approval granted in consent
>>>> decree settlement
>>>> By Jodi Heckel <http://www.news-gazette.com/news/reporter/jheckel/> Wednesday
>>>> November 4, 2009
>>>>
>>>> CHAMPAIGN — The Champaign school district’s consent decree case is
>>>> officially over.
>>>>
>>>> Federal District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade entered an order
>>>> <http://cdn.news-gazette.com/media/pdf/CD_settlement_approved.pdf>Wednesday
>>>> afternoon approving the proposed settlement agreement reached by the school
>>>> district and the plaintiffs this summer.
>>>>
>>>> The docket entry noting the approval of the settlement states: “The
>>>> settlement agreement represents a significant bargain for Plaintiffs that
>>>> outweighs the potential merit of Plaintiffs’ case and is not the product of
>>>> collusion between counsel. The Court is convinced that the agreement
>>>> represents the best method of continuing the progress made in the Champaign
>>>> schools that was started by the Consent Decree. This Court further is
>>>> convinced that the agreement places the future of Champaign school children
>>>> in the hands of persons best equipped to educate: the administrators,
>>>> teachers, and staff of the Champaign schools, the community they serve, and
>>>> the parents that are part of that community. The Consent Decree is hereby
>>>> terminated in its entirety.”
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
>>>> 303 W. Locust St.
>>>> Urbana, IL 61801
>>>> briandolinar at gmail.com
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>> Discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org
>>>>
>>>> http://lists.communitycourtwatch.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-communitycourtwatch.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org
>>>
>>> http://lists.communitycourtwatch.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-communitycourtwatch.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org
>>
>> http://lists.communitycourtwatch.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-communitycourtwatch.org
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org
>
> http://lists.communitycourtwatch.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-communitycourtwatch.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20091105/fa720325/attachment-0001.htm