Here is my address to the Chesterfield County, SC, School Board last evening! I am also attaching their phone numbers so you can all call and let them know how you feel. PLEASE CALL IF YOU WANT TRUTH TO PREVAIL!! My name is Glenn Gulledge and I attended elementary school in Ruby, high School in Chesterfield and I currently live in Cheraw. I appreciate the members of this board and the responsibilities that each of you accepted when chosen to serve. I also appreciate this opportunity to communicate my perspective concerning some of the recent events at Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School! To stay within the time constraints of this proceeding, I find it necessary to read this for which I now apologize; please bear with me! On Wednesday, April 30th, a notice about a meeting to be held at Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School on Thursday morning was sent through standard channels informing teachers and staff. It turns out this meeting consisted of a group of black students and several black teachers. After the meeting adjourned, it seems that some of the students in attendance were negatively affected by the segregated nature of the whole affair as well as things that were supposedly said in the meeting. It also seems that their discomfort, as described by school personel, was of tension, confusion and even anger and it soon permeated the student body. Later on, more student meetings, none previously announced, were held. As the day unfolded, approximately 5 resource officers, 2 school attorneys and several district personel, all descended on CRMS. They were also present Friday, May 2nd. The campus atmosphere was further disrupted that day and the next, as parents were summoned by their children saying that they, for various reasons, wanted to leave school. Teachers observed racial division that day in the cafeteria and overheard racially charged conversations in the hallways, once again as described to me, “like never before”. What may be best characterized as a “discomforting pale” enveloped Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School for the balance of that day and Friday, May 2nd, and has not been dispelled completely as of yet. Here are “some” of my specific concerns: 1. At the end of the tumultuous day of Thursday, May 1st, a letter was dispatched to the CRMS Family. It stated that subgroup meetings were held in preparation for Pass Testing. It states that the groups consist of 45 or more students that meet similar criteria, and the academic performance of the group is reviewed for goal setting. My understanding of acceptable sub groupings for purposes of public school meetings would exclude using race as the lone criteria. As disconcerting as it is that racially divided groups would ever be allowed in a public school setting, if the individuals making up the group in question at least shared similar test scores, there may be some argument made in its defense. I understand that the group that met the morning of the 1st, consisted of honor students, average students and below average students, so the question that begs an answer, was RACE the only similar criteria? 2. Students that attended this segregated meeting were also required to again, later in the day, attend the sub group meetings of girls and boys. Why the redundancy? Were the subsequent meetings held on May 1st pre-planned or were they implemented as a means of damage control? With no previous notice plus the redundancy, this question certainly deserves an answer. 3. Were any similar meetings held in any other Chesterfield County Schools and if not, why. Was the segregated meeting held at CRMS sanctioned by the district Superintendant or other district personal? If, in fact, the later sub group meetings held on May 1st were not preplanned, who participated in their creation and why? 4. The letter also states that “at no point in time was there any danger to our students”. If extra resource officers, district personel and attorneys descended on Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School, someone must have had a reason to believe that a potential disturbance was possible. 5. In the aftermath of this turmoil, I have become aware of allegations of past incidents concerning potentially racially divisive actions by some of the same administrators involved in this unfortunate circumstance. If true, they may point to a pattern of behavior unacceptable in any school, but in particular , the schools in Chesterfield County. 6. I understand that several teachers and students have been interviewed and will offer the following commentary. It is my opinion that in the search for all the facts, more interviews should be conducted. It is obvious that I was not there to witness any of this first hand. I don’t think that any of you were either. I hope that everyone on this board will work to make sure that a THOROUGH INVESTIGATION be conducted to get to the truth. What factually did happen that day? The complete and whole truth should be ascertained! Does in fact, a problematic pattern exist? I hope that this board will make the necessary decisions to ensure that any investigation that is on-going, complete, or being planned will be held to the highest standards of integrity so that the results will be beyond reproach. Anything less, because it concerns the safety of so many, in my estimation will be beneath the dignity of this board, indeed of each one of you that make up this board. Nietzsche said, “THE LOVE OF TRUTH HAS ITS REWARD IN HEAVEN AND EVEN ON EARTH.” Churchill also said, “THE TRUTH IS INCONTROVERTABLE, MALICE MAY ATTACK IT, IGNORANCE MAY DERIDE IT, BUT IN THE END; THERE IT IS.” We ask for the same standards of accountability, the same rules if you will, for those administrators highest in authority as we do for the students, teachers and staff of Chesterfield County Schools. No more, no less! THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 13:38:33 +0000
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