Gloria and Lee 1970
| Date: | Fri, 7 Dec 2007 23:09:16 -0800 (PST) |
| From: | "lee decesare"  View Contact Details  Add Mobile Alert |
| Subject: | Ignoring the Needs of Minority Children |
| To: | doretha.edgecomb@sdhc.k12.fl.us |
| CC: | MBrown@tampatrib.com, letitiastein@sptimes.com |
Ms. Ethridge: This NYT article outlines the needs of your natural constituency--minority children. I never hear you utter a word on the podium in their behalf. Instead, I hear you dithering about exploring the cul-de-sacs of some policy like the outrageous no-bid situation on the 16th and then voting for it nonetheless.
I understand the black woman who preceded you was outspoken about the needs of minority children and had eyes raised behind her back mocking her by the board and administration bigots. Any black board member should be willing to ignore such bigots' disapproval and plow on to help the minority children, who should get a black board member's care and attention.
Another black woman who is hostile to the needs of minority children is Dr. Stephenson at HCC. She just presided over a proposal to kick out the minority children that comprise most of Head Start's long-time program at HCC. She claims the Headstart children's presence interferes with the college's "business plan."
I went to an HCC board meeting to speak against kicking out the Head Start children. It is dismaying to see Black women such as you and Dr. Stephenson get into positions of authority and then show that they are indifferent to the needs of those left behind in the ghetto. That's the situation that Gunnar Myrdahl explores in An American Dilemma. You could have been in the cast of characters.
Lee Drury De Cesare
| Date: | Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:51:12 -0500 |
| Subject: | Re: Ignoring the Needs of Minority Children |
| To: | "lee decesare" |
| CC: | MBrown@tampatrib.com, letitiastein@sptimes.com |
| From: | "Doretha Edgecomb"  Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert |
You are certainly entitled to your opinion. As a teacher, district level supervisor, principal, and now as a board member, I have no regrets about how I get things done. I have a long history and record of advocacy, action, and support for minority students. I am sure you are aware that one's work is not always before the cameras or that one's strong and persistent voice is not always through a microphone. Yet, I have spoken up, asked the hard questions, and challenged many decisions, now and in the past, - all part of the process for getting things done! Perhaps you missed those moments.
At the end of the day what is most important and what will be valued and evaluated are the results of my actions and my unrelenting commitment. I believe those who know me well neither question nor doubt my contributions or sincerity to ensure that minority students are afforded the best education possible. In fact, I work to support quality education for ALL STUDENTS and when I do that I am also creating opportunities for students who look like me.
Doretha W. Edgecomb
School Board Member
District 5
Hillsborough County Public Schools
All correspondences including email sent to School Board members or School District staff are considered public records, per Florida Statute 119.
| Date: | Sun, 9 Dec 2007 18:01:50 -0800 (PST) |
| From: | "lee decesare" View Contact Details Add Mobile Alert |
| Subject: | Re: Ignoring the Needs of Minority Children |
| To: | "Doretha Edgecomb" |
| CC: | letitiastein@sptimes.com, marilynbrown@tampatrib.com, hooper@sptimes.com, tobin@sptimes.com |
All children don't need your advocacy. The ones in Beach Park where my four children went to school don't. South Tampa parents would make the members of the administration sorry they got up in the morning if they thought the administration were neglecting their children.
It's the ones who look like you and also the Hispanic children who need your muscle on the board. It's the ones who have poor parents who don't speak English well or only one parent in a single-parent household. That's the burden of the NYT article I sent you.
Where were you when the migrant farm-worker families' children were thrown under the bus during the incompetent bus dispensation? Ms. Valdes was there. Even Ms. Elia showed up after the Times had published the outrage. You didn't.
I suspect your spiel about your dense commitment to minority children's needs would not produce any solid evidence to back it up. Give me a bibliography on your claims.
The only admirable thing I am aware of that you have done on the board is not to throw the Muslim children to the wolves in the religious-holiday fracas. The bigots emerged from the fens and the bogs of ignorance on the outer banks of Wimauma to howl imprecations at the "towelheads" for besmirching Christianity. God forbid that Jesus had to depend on these unlovely specimens. Ms. Elia buckled to the bigots instantly.
Use the bigot approach on Ms. Elia. If you are polite to her, she mistakes your decorum for weakness. So howl at her in the fens-and-the bogs mode. Fens-and-bogs dialect is the language she understands.
lee drury de cesare
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