It began when a question was submitted and read to the candidates related to one Rusty Reeves, a South Orange resident who cited the impact on black residents and students during a March 5 school board meeting.
Video of his portion of that meeting is below. Reeves was the second speaker. He hinted that black student underachievement is based on "broadly culture and single-parent families."
Fast forward to last Thursday and a question submitted to the candidates forum moderator asking what Jeff Bennett thought of Reeves comments given that Reeves had hosted a coffee event for Bennett, Madhu Pai and Wayne Eastman.
The candidates did not respond, but the incident raised concerns throughout the district for days.
Today, the Community Coalition on Race released the following statement on the incident:
Last Thursday, the Community Coalition on Race held its
annual BOE Candidates Forum. We are
noted for providing a safe environment for candid conversation—especially when
it comes to issues concerning race. That
was our intent at our BOE Candidates Forum.
The format we have used since we began hosting these forums is to develop
questions relevant to the Coalition’s mission, which we then provide to the
candidates beforehand. The questions
focused on the relationship between school policies and integration, student
success, and the minority achievement gap.
Each candidate prepares his or her responses in advance. After these have been addressed, the Schools
Committee gathers questions from the audience.
The committee groups these questions according to topic and selects the
most representative items to submit to the moderator.
The forum was proceeding as planned with all candidates
participating, a racially mixed audience of 85 to 90 attendees present and
solid responses given to the advance questions distributed to the candidates by
the Coalition. The tone of the evening
turned when a question submitted by someone in the audience questioned the
affiliation of one of the candidates with a person named on the card who had
made public statements expressing a viewpoint connecting race, culture and
academic achievement. The question was
read because it represented a concern expressed on six other cards that had
been submitted.
We feel a commitment
to hold to our standard for candor in acknowledging a variety of opinions in
the community. We understand that
questions that focused on a comment made on “black underachievement” at a BOE
meeting submitted by the audience made some people feel
uncomfortable. We had to assess seven
questions on the topic on the fly--in the midst of the debate-- and to select
one which seemed the most representative of all. Given the number of questions submitted by the
audience that focused on that issue, a decision was made to ask the question in
the interests of being transparent and of bringing forward even those issues
that are painful.
The moderator appropriately offered to pull the question and
to move on when concern was expressed by some of the candidates. It is extremely important to the trustees of
the Coalition on Race that we remain true to our mission to be candid about
race in our community. We feel that it
was appropriately transparent and authentic to ask the question, but regret any
perception that is was presented in a manner that did not allow all the
candidates to contrast their points of view with that of the individual in
question. As always, our intention is to
promote transparency in public discourse and we continue to strive to do
so.
Anthony Greene, Chair
Nancy Gagnier, Executive Director
South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race
3 comments:
Joe you are reporting what the question was based on what? Have you seen tape of that portion of the debate? Or has CCR shown you a copy of the question asked? Curious because your report seems to be assuming "facts" Like the exact question that at this point has not been made clear. Also the question was not a general question to the candidates but was asked specifically of Mr. Bennett. One wonders why?
Thanks, corrected to note Bennett was asked the question. Info based on various sources reporting to me, but more always welcomed.
CCR will not release video at this point.
Yeah, odd that the question is not repeated in your article.
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