Racial Fallout @ ARHS

Kathleen Anderson addressing joint Amherst Pelham School Committee meeting

The NAACP seems to have the answer to recent troubling racial events at Amherst Regional High School:  sensitivity training for all employees, A-L-L employees.  And that these cultural competency trainings become a "graduation requirement for all students."



So yes, under those carpet bombing conditions the perp responsible for leaving racist notes in bathrooms targeting a teacher of color will probably be ensnared in a "competency training session", but you have to wonder if it will do him or her any good? 

Not to mention wondering how much all this training is going to cost.

The Associated Press reports

 

Greenfield PD had a solution

 

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

N-word, C-word, F-word, Oh My!

So I guess if a staff member overhears a black student using the N-word to a white student, that's okay.

Or if ARHS teenagers decide to do "The Vagina Monologues" again next year, then the C-word will be okay.

Or if student calls another friend, who is not gay,  a "fag" in an endearing sort of way, then that's okay.

Let the witch hunt begin.

Phillips Street Fiasco

 33 Phillips Street, Amherst

Meanwhile, six weeks ago:

And, most recently:

Urinetown?

The final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place in the school lock down scare with confirmation the perp who infiltrated Amherst Regional Middle School and asked a young student for his urine was simply trying to obtain a clean sample for his probation officer.

I guess drugs will do that.

Not to sound like a Gazette editorial, but on the one hand I applaud how quickly the school officials hit the panic button when the perp seemed to get lost wandering around the Middle School for a half hour.  But on the other hand, his easy access to an innocent school child mid-morning of a school day gives rise to security concerns.

I would also, for the first time in memory, give the schools high marks for transparency for sending out a series of alerts concerning the concerning situation.  Right up until Wednesday night 6:30 p.m. when they went silent.

While this final piece of information is troubling, it's still a bit better than some of the scenarios that sprang to mind when rumors first leaked out about the "concerning comment" made in a boys lavatory.

One of the reasons the schools are now in such hot water with the NAACP over how they handled the racist attack on a teacher of color (branded as "anemic") probably stems from the cover up that took place over the incidents that first occurred way back in October.

One of the refreshing things that came out of the "public accountability" session yesterday between UMass officials and students over handling of the Blarney Blowout was the insistence by Chancellor Subbaswamy that the process would be "transparent."

So if an educational bureaucracy the size of UMass can subscribe to the notion of sunlight providing the "best of disinfectants", why not our public schools?

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Blarney Blowout: Standing Firm

Enku Gelaye, Chancellor Subbaswamy, VC John Kennedy

The day of the Blarney Blowout 4,000+ students took to the streets of Amherst with alcohol as motivation to do no good.  Enough of them indulged their demons to where the vastly outnumbered Amherst Police Department had no choice but to intervene.  And intervene they did.

On March 11, about 100 students held a protest march from the Student Union to Whitmore to underscore their demand that APD apologize for using sterner methods than saying "pretty please" to disperse the unruly crowds.

Today Enku Gelaye on her first day as permanent VC for Student Affairs, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and VC for University Relations John Kennedy sat before a crowd of about 60 students for a "public accountability" forum.

 Thousands were invited, few showed up

One student noted the lack of turnout for the event and then proceeded to talk about a prior incident of police brutality when he was arrested for Driving Under the Influence.  Not a great way to gain sympathy.

Another student clearly and succinctly stated, "Students like to get drunk."  He too was not a paragon of potential solutions.  

The Amherst Police apology demand never even came up, and a good portion of the talk about rough police treatment centered on UMPD response during the Red Sox Riot last October and the failed attempt of having a University sanctioned event at Southwest that night.  Which of course went very well right up until the moment the game ended and then quickly degraded into a riot.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy did not back down, or even so much as blink, from his stern condemnation issued the day after the Blarney Blowout.  

The Chancellor reminded the group that UMPD is under his direct control but Amherst Police are not.  And they had to make instant decisions, on the ground, without the luxury of time to call him or his staff for consultation.

But he reaffirmed how Amherst town officials are in favor of the extensive study (led by Edward Davis) commissioned by the University which should be completed in two months.   With an action plan that both the University and the town are now sorely motivated to make happen. 

Before the next Blarney Blowout, or whatever new juvenile name they come up with.

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Middle School Scare

 APD at Amherst Regional High School this morning

UPDATE 6:30 PM

   Geryk Update: School lockdown

#####

The first emailed bulletin from the Amherst Public Schools this morning was a heart stopper:  Three schools had gone into "lockdown" because an unauthorized male was inside the Middle School.  An announcement over the PA system said he had ducked into a bathroom where he made a strange remark to a student using the bathroom.

The next bulletin an hour or so later gave the all clear, but little else.

 

Then at 3:08 p.m. the final bulletin gave more of the backstory and the exceedingly good news that APD had made an arrest, even though it was on an unrelated charge:

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Election Aftermath: Turmoil in the Making?

 Amherst March 25 election 2014:  Do over?

If Helen Berg -- 3rd place finisher in a 4-way race where the top two win a Select Board seat -- gets her way, Amherst taxpayers will spend another $12,000 for a "do over" of yesterday's election.

Ms. Berg finished 3rd garnering only 379 votes compared to the two winners, Andy Steinberg with 1,843 and second place finisher Connie Kruger with 1,700.

Or what most political insiders would consider not even close.  In fact, you don't even have to be a political insider to consider that not even close.

Helen Berg speaks at  3/17 Select Board meeting

The technicality stems from placing the order of candidates names on the ballot.  Traditionally the town has always drawn names from a hat for order of placement, thus giving our Polish friends with surnames ending in W a chance to be first on the ballot.

At the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars, that took about 45 minutes, all the contested town wide races and Town Meeting races were done this way.  Ms. Berg complained about her 3rd place drawing stating the town should go alphabetically, thus placing her first on the ballot.

The town currently operates under the Amherst Town Government Act which was enacted in December, 2001.   And the that document is silent on how to place names on the local election ballot.

Therefore the safest course of action would be to abide by state statute.  

Her complaint did raise a red flag, and it was then the Town Clerk noticed the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars had not been properly posted according to Open Meeting Law.

At that point -- with a do over already in the works, meaning a reprinting of all the ballots, both the town attorney and Town Manager looked at whether the town should go by state statute and simply list all candidates alphabetically (as requested by Ms. Berg), or do it the way it has always been done.

They decided to properly repost the Board of Registrars do over meeting for March 5th, redo the random drawing, and then reprint the ballots.  The only change in Select Board order was Ms. Berg moved up a notch to #2 on the ballot and Mr. Boothroyd moved down to #3 from his former #2 spot.

And it certainly seems like being #4 on the ballot did not hurt Connie Kruger any.

#####

Another angry Select Board loser:

   Boothroyd Rant

#####