Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Can Santa Be Black?
Can Santa Be Black?
It happened in the kindergarten class,Right at the table where they were having snack.
Joanie asked the question and they all sat back:
"Mr. Slater? Can Santa Claus be black?"
Poor Mr. Slater didn't know what to say,
Christmas vacation was twenty days away.
There were snowflakes to cut and
Window wreaths to be hung,
Christmas cards to be painted,
And Christmas songs to be sung.
He hadn't time to think
What Christmas was about,
In twenty more days,
School would be out!
Why couldn't they wait
And ask their questions then,
When mommies and daddies
Were home to answer them?
"Mr. Slater? Can Santa be thin?"
"Is Santa Clause always a him?"
Mr. Slater looked at twenty pairs of eyes,
Twenty children of every shape and size.
He ate a bit of cracker and finished his drink.
"Children," he said,
"I'll need some time to think."
As soon as class was over,
He ran down the hall,
Skidded 'round a corner,
Crashed into a wall.
Ran up the steps to the second floor,
Rapped on the window of the principal's door.
"Ms. Frazer, Ms. Frazer, what can I do?
The children asked these questions
That now I ask of you:
'Can Santa Claus be black?'
'Can Santa Claus be thin?'
'Does Santa always have to be a him?'"
"Mr. Slater, it's a difficult task
To find answers to the questions you ask.
I think with these I'll need some assistance,
But I'll get you the answers with a little persistence."
Ms. Frazer turned in her swivel chair,
Picked up the phone and dialed Mr. Dare.
Mr. Dare was the head of the P.T.A.,
He called for a meeting the very next day.
"Thank you for coming,"
He began with a greeting.
"I'd like to get right to the point of this meeting.
Mr. Slater, in charge of the kindergarten class,
Needs the answers to some questions
And he needs them fast."
"'Can Santa be black?'
"'Can Santa be thin?'
"'Does Santa always have to be a him?'"
The parents didn't know what to say,
Christmas vacation was nineteen days away.
There were cookies to bake and lights to string,
Gifts to wrap and carols to sing.
They hadn't time to think
What Christmas was about,
In nineteen more days
School would be out!
Why did children have to ask questions when
Parents had no time to sit and answer them?
"Well, Parents?
Are there any suggestions?
Do we have any answers
To these difficult questions?"
"Who knows best
What Christmas is about?
Let's ask Santa!"
Someone called out in a shout.
The secretary of the P.T.A.
Sent a letter to Santa the very next day.
The reply came back very, very fast,
Addressed to Mr. Slater
And the kindergarten class.
Dear Mr. Slater, Dear Girls, Dear Boys,
Once a storywriter caught me bringing you toys.
The year he spied me opening my sack,
My skin was white, my boots were black.
You probably know how that story goes . . .
I laid a finger aside my nose?
All these years, needlessly,
That story worries children who don't have a chimney.
All year long I listen to the news,
Read people's thoughts, see people's views.
At the end of the year, when I see what's needed most,
I take that shape, like a Christmas ghost.
I can pass through keyholes, windows and locks,
Apartment buildings, hospitals, tents, and trailer lots.
One year I used a wheelchair in place of my sleigh,
Once I was blind and had to feel my way.
It's hard to understand when I don't leave a toy:
You can't unwrap a gift like hope or health or joy.
My skin has been black, white, yellow, red, brown;
My eyes have been slanted, crossed, and round.
Sometimes I have been a she:
All these things are a part of me.
You may not believe all this is true,
But that's okay, boys and girls, because . . .
I believe in you.
—B. J. Wrights
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Honorable Kathlyn Joy Gilliam (1930-2011) Remembered
Fox 4 News reporter Shawn Rabb
Published : Friday, 16 Dec 2011, 4:00 PM CST
"She was the A+. She was always well prepared. She was sincere. She gave
her service expecting nothing in return and we’re all very grateful to
her,” said Carla Ranger, a current DISD board member."
Friday, December 16, 2011
Teach For America Five-Year Contract Approved 7-2
Dallas ISD Trustees approved a five-Year contract with Teach for America.
Voting for the five-year contract:
Voting for the five-year contract:
- Lew Blackburn
- Bernadette Nutall
- Mike Morath
- Nancy Bingham
- Edwing Flores
- Adam Medrano
- Eric Cowan
- Bruce Parrott
- Carla Ranger
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Teach For America spin
“… The goals of corporate reform are privatization and deprofessionalization.
By deprofessionalization I mean that it is the idea that anyone can teach. You
don’t need any particular credentials or training – just maybe five or so weeks
and you are a teacher. Sometimes not even that – just fill out the papers …”
Diane Ravitch – February 24, 20110.
Diane Ravitch – February 24, 20110.
Since Trustees Lew Blackburn, Bernadette Nutall and Mike Morath recently supported another policy change requiring two Trustees to pull an item for a separate vote, I did not expect this item to be pulled. I was prepared to vote against the consent agenda - if necessary - or abstain.
The price of such a policy is that Trustees can play games. Anything on the consent agenda does not reflect a specific vote; Trustees can claim they voted for the consent agenda as a whole, not the specific item of public interest. They can even claim unanimous support because the item was on the consent agenda.
Such policies undermine democracy.
Each elected Trustee represents over 100,000 citizens. Individual members of the Dallas City Council can pull an item for a separate vote. Individual members of Dallas County Commissioners Court can pull an item for a separate vote. But not individual Dallas ISD Trustees - we cannot pull an item of public interest to the citizens who elected us.
Be careful who you trust with power. People get in positions of power and set things up to exclude the public interest. They set things up for their self-interest.
Teach For America (TFA) has become a part of the top down corporate reform movement that is destroying public education. Study after study has documented the failures of the top-down corporate approach to so-called education reform.
Teach for America is not an education reform - it is a part of the political movement of education toward private entrepreneurship and increasing control of education by private groups.
The highest performing education system in the world (Finland) doesn't use Teach for America type programs. Neither does Highland Park ISD.
Students from Finland outperform peers in 43 other nations – including the United States, Germany and Japan – in mathematics, science and reading skills. There are no yearly mandatory tests or exams. They have invested in the teaching profession as a career.
I have no interest in the current corporate privatization model of public education.
The spin is that TFA teachers perform better than regular alternative certification teachers. Anybody who knows anything about education at all knows that teaching is a career not an experiment in first year test taking in two subjects.
Give our other first year alternatively certified teachers the same $30,000.00 of first year training received by each Teach for America recruit from private sources and there would be no spin possible.
I would rather spend the funds on developing good training for our own first year teachers who intend to make teaching a career.
As was stated elsewhere:
"I do not defend the current trend of sending recent college grads with just five weeks’ training and just a two-year commitment to teach in our nation’s most struggling schools which already suffer from high teacher turnover. But that is the model for Teach for America, Inc. a multimillion-dollar enterprise that is now funded by the Obama government to the tune of $50 million-plus and is arguably de-professionalizing the teaching profession.
Five weeks training does not make these uncredentialed grads “highly qualified,” despite the recent shenanigans by Congress."
See More Here
Looking Past The Spin: Teach For America
"What I have come to appreciate is that things that matter take time. We live in an era when it is rare to meet people in their 20s and 30s who have stayed with something for more than a few years. And certainly, in some cases the right thing is to experiment and move on. But in many cases, the right thing is to stay with something, internalize tough lessons, and push yourself to new levels of knowledge and responsibility. Deep and widespread change comes from sticking with things."
-Wendy Koop-TFA Founder
The Lesson: High Stakes Testing = Mis-Education
Monday, December 12, 2011
Kathlyn Joy Gilliam to Lie in Repose at Fair Park's Hall of State
There will be a public viewing for Honorable Kathlyn Joy Gilliam at Fair Park's Hall of State from 3:00 P.M.to 9 P.M. on Thursday, December 15, 2011.
Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, December 16, 2011 at Christian Chapel CME "Temple of Faith" Church, 14120 Noel Road, Dallas, TX 75254, 972-239-1120. Dr. Jerome McNeil, Jr. is the Senior Pastor.
Immediately after the service, interment will be held in her hometown of Campbell, Texas - 60 miles East of Dallas (I-30).
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Kathlyn Joy Gilliam - a dedicated educational and community 'servant leader' departed this life
"This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able
serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built." Robert K. Greenleaf - The Institution As Servant
On this 11th day in December a dedicated educational and community 'servant leader' departed this life at her home in her beloved sunny South Dallas, where she lived and served for decades.
Kathlyn Joy Gilliam was one of the longest serving Trustees in the history of Dallas ISD - 23 years. She was the first African American female elected to the Board and the first African American President of the Board.
Her Motto: "The only successful products of any school system are well-educated children."
We honor and praise Kathlyn Joy Gilliam for her life of service and advocacy on behalf of children and those left out and left behind.
May she rest in peace.
May her family and friends be comforted by the good news that the joy of her service and the dedication of her life will live in the memories of all who knew and will now remember her with thanks, love and appreciation.
Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Friday, December 16, 2011 at Christian Chapel CME "Temple of Faith" Church, 14120 Noel Road, Dallas, TX 75254, 972-239-1120. Dr. Jerome McNeil, Jr. is the Senior Pastor.
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