Thursday, July 11, 2013

A Flabbergasted Resident: What is Next!

Hi all! Here are the highlights of today's meeting. I have also posted the audio of my speech below.

Date: 7-11-13
Location: Springboro High School LGI
Highlights
  • A community member who supports the board chose to make completely racist comments, waved the confederate flag as a sign of "heritage", and of course, provided completely erroneous information on various social groups. Also, according to this speaker, African Americans should consider themselves lucky since they are treated better in the United States than they would be if they were in "Black Countries" with "genocide". A picture is posted below. Note, that he was not asked to leave the meeting and was actually given much more time to speak than he should have had.
  • A parent  wanted to speak (non-prearranged) about an issue that was not directly related to an agenda item. As she tried to continue with her comments, she was asked to leave the meeting immediately or she would be escorted out by a Springboro police officer. She left on her own.
  • The board president chose to address her daughter's reactions to the AP History summer reading requirements. She was very disappointed that the book did not support her religious ideals --- hmmm, does she know that she is sending her daughter to a public school? She then expressed her concern that the book was anti-military and that she would not require her daughter to read material antithetical to her family's political beliefs. She also asked parents to be aware of this so that the board could make modifications to the teacher's assigned readings if necessary. So I ask, does the board president understand how one develops the critical thinking skills that she so often brings up at the meetings? By the way, the AP History teacher is retired from the Air Force!
  • So what's next on the president's agenda? Well, she mentioned how she and other parents need to closely examine the class readings AND the books available to students in the school libraries. I'm waiting for her to share her list of books that should be banned from the libraries and burned as she recites her religious doctrine!
  • A parent in the audience then noted his concern that the board president and other board members were trying to impose their very skewed and inaccurate interpretation of the constitution on the students of Springboro. So, you guessed it, he was asked to leave the meeting immediately on his own or the president would ask the police officer to escort him out. He left on his own.




3 comments:

  1. Hi Nimisha,

    My name is Rebecca Klein and I am reporter for the Huffington Post. I am interested publishing the photo you posted. Might you be able to shoot me an e-mail? rebecca.klein@huffingtonpost.com.

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  2. Wow, unbelievable. SMH.

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  3. I sit here in shock reading what is happening here. Your speech is on target, and I wish you luck in fighting against these... I cannot even come up with the right words for them.

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