Black2it.com presents...

a Consortia Media Publication

Grown Folks Internet

One who is a product of an urban environment & speaks the language thereof.

All Eyez on the Prize is the How To/ Information Publication for Parents of Urbanian children. When it seems like our children are from another planet remember this aint the world it use to be
Ice Cube Harold Melvin

This is an editorial catharsis of one parents search for the smartest person in the room. A quest to find and investigate who makes decisions regarding the educational welfare of our children... Some names have been changed or omitted to save face for those who believe that engagement regarding something as real as children is not worth getting passionate if not angry about...
Harold Melvin Wake Up Everybody

All artistic materials are referenced by artist for realness value. However, our star editorials are based on facts and current/actual events of our time. Our children live in a digital world and its time we engage them in it! Urbanian Parents Time to Stand Up!!!

All Eyez on tha Prize

Inside Back Cover

Is TN Going to be First to The Top in Charter Schools? A Parents Perspective; The Spook Who Sat By the Door

Are Chris Barbic and the Achievement School District Applicable to the Children of Tennessee?

The 411 guide for Urban Parent Advocacy

American Autumn Edition 2011

Copyright 2011 A Consortia Media Publication

OutKast

Might As well Have fun cause Your happiness is done And your goose is cooked

You show me a grown man thats never said shit and Ill show you somebody thats full of shit!

Chris Rock

From the I Cant Make This Shit Up Files...

Scary Story

ditors Note
Chris:

An Open E-mail to chris.barbic@tn.gov Achievement School District Superintendent

This is writing from the perspective of an Urbanian Black male parent that simply desires quality education options for children of African descent. This issue is dedicated to our Urbanian champion featured on Black2it.com, Dr. Howard Fuller. His life's work has inspired this journey into parental advocacy for quality education options for our children. This is not a scholarly journal by the prescribed APA standards but more of a reporting manual from the frontline of advocacy. So read with purpose of organizing for our childrens best interests. Dr. Fuller is quoted as saying organized interests are dealt with first and students interest are not protected. At the end of this publication we ask that the reader understand that: OUR most precious resources, Urbanian children, are at stake! People who serve them should be vetted ( teachers, principals etc.)! Engagement is required! If we do not begin to move toward self governance then self determination will never be a reality! We have been afforded the champions in education and beyond to draw from! Let us not lose our children over data points and politics as usual !

Thank you again for the opportunity to serve on the Achievement School Districts first round of charter school applications for Race to the Top. One of my mentors at the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Dr. Bob Pavlik advised me that I should summarize my findings. I have completed my assessment of the applicants here are my reflective thoughts on the process: The application window could be longer allowing applicants a pre-application process to build an understanding (capacity) of what is expected of the Achievement School District designation (a pre-accreditation process if you will) The application needs to be native to TN with greater input from community stakeholders (possibly creating ASD community review boards) The ASD designee needs to be the observer in the interview process, the observer team were absent or otherwise occupied (e.g. nodding in the interview, shushing passionate discourse) for fifty percent of the interviews in Memphis Choose your teams for their respective expertise so that they can vet respective portions of the application versus reading information that may not be native to them (i.e. my emphasis was Parent Community Involvement) Lastly, in future incarnations of the RFQ there should be qualitative rankings and emphasis along with the quantitative budget and data points for knowing the jargon of charter/education reform. I have attached a rubric of my applicant recommendations. Best Regards, Dale Muhammad Hamilton High School Class of 2012 Parent Love Hamilton, Absolutely
Originally Sent October 19,2011

In lieu of the current holiday season and remakes, The Spook Who Sat By The Door may be appropriate for the times. I recently had the mis-fortune of witnessing the fast tracking of an education process. In my experience, I knew it should have been given more careful considerations for the ramifications of starting schools. I recently participated in the first round application process for the Tennessee First to the Top/Race to the Top, Achievement School Districts (ASD) Charter School RFQ. (This represents millions of dollars set aside by the Obama Administration). Although the ASD is not responsible for the demonstration of the applicants submissions or the interview process, they are responsible for the application itself and the representation of its office. For those who are unfamiliar with the aforementioned 70s blaxploitation novel and movie it is the story of an intelligent Black man who was able to qualify for a job in a government alphabet agency under the guise of affirmative action. He would go on to make it through the application and training to eventually graduate to an office on the bottom floor as the agency Negro. He would use his government knowledge and training to later train inner-city youth to take up armed resistance. Although this was a fictional novel on the heels of the civil rights struggles in America, it is appropriate in this current struggle for education/social justice we now live in. As the one by the door (literally), I was referenced as the angry man in the room. My association/validity in the process was questioned and furthermore, I was unable to have effective dialogue as I was deemed too passionate when questioning an applicants capacity to perform as a charter school operator. What is troubling about this entire process is in the south, Blacks have especially suffered (e.g. Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Segregation, Integration, Education Reform) only to have America later reflect and say, oops we were wrong. What was recently demonstrated was the possibility of the high-jacking of an idea in which educational resources that the top 5% enjoy can be afforded to the bottom 5% to equal the learning playing field. What has happened (to use the pejorative southern term) is that carpet baggers are in the process of reshaping urban education in Tennessee. This can be demonstrated based on my witness next to the door that:: The ASD did not create, vet, or have local constructive controls over the application for TN The ASD does not have a website for public comments or transparency Arbitrary wording such as capacity is used to deny person(s) who have demonstrated independent abilities in serving urban children A blatant disregard for the process of an observer as he nodded and slept during an interview Taxpayer and vital monetary resources were expended in the name of helping urban children

This is our attempt at diplomacy against the machine. Onward, C. Geese

C. Geese is a 30-something student of history & hip-hop.

Grown Folks Internet

Lastly, while sitting by the door a less than constructive dialogue was occurring. I looked at the window size photograph framed on the wall and asked my esteemed colleagues what it was a picture of. The majority could not ascertain an answer while one described an aspect in the picture and said it was a memorial wreath. The picture was taken from the balcony where Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. This further demonstrates my carpet bagger theory and demonstrates the necessity for more of us to be at the table and sit by the door.
Black2it.com presents...a Consortia Media Publication
Grown Folks Internet

Black2it.com presents...a Consortia Media Publication

Are Chris Barbic and the Achievement School District Applicable to the Children of Tennessee?

I
Do Some self-study Google me...
Ice Cube

In the Next Issue...

Benevolent Learning...White Church, Black

School

From the I Cant Make This Shit Up

Files...Bennie Nelson West Leave My Kinfolk Herman Cain Alone

did the unthinkable. I questioned a white woman. Even more so, I questioned her about the credibility of her boss. Then, to get the tri-fecta, I did it publicly. Now to many of us in this Post Racial America I am speaking to you in the person of Paul Mooney. So to you I ask, Why not get them while you can? Anyhoo, I was now being rushed How were Spanish speaking from the sidelines populations reached? Is it inferred by a second white that all minority groups educational woman saying that needs are the same? Who made the our voices were cardecision that this group of individuals rying and that we were being too pas- possess the capacity for this work? sionate. Now a sleeping observer was getting in the mix, (three on one) all because I dared to open my mouth. The situation rewound me back to a time when life was simpler as a high school history teacher. A time when all who would believe that a mere glimpse of Bill Gates while visiting the school would turn them to gold. I asked my students Does a photo opportunity with a Black celebrity give credibility to a white person? Bill Gates was in a photo with Jay-Z, I wondered would Jay be with Bill on this visit. Needless to say, when we dug deeper into the question we found a video of Bill Gates stating the need to cull (reduce) the planet of human beings for resource management purposes. Back to Chris, I was reading the local paper when I read an article on him and he was quoted as saying we have to gain street cred if were going to do this well. Now for those of us without an understanding of that jargon, ask your child what comes to mind when a person has street cred. (...google Chris Barbic, street cred to fact check me). I n response, I emailed Chris asking to be a part of his street cred initiative(s)). I have yet to hear from him on that matter. To his fame and acclaim he received money from Oprah for his network of schools in Texas. (See the table for a demographic breakdown of

Who is Tameka Hart? Black Champion(s): Marva Collins and

Shirley Chisholm

Achievement School District Superintendent, Chris Barbic on Oprah.

Making the Decision to Home-School; When

Youth Violence Comes Home

Htown

Mtown

his former and current work.)

Should they be in the town?

The issue for me in all of this is even when credible Black people, whove experienced successes in serving Black children are at the table, their capacity to serve is still questioned. Conversely, when those that are backed by money interests dont even bother to show up at the table, they are granted pardon. I have been channeling the sentiments of Fannie Lou Hamer recently, Im sick and tired of being sick and tired, (I wonder if Fannie Lou has come back and is running MCS). Its the Paul Mooney in me! Chris, respect your position, and respect those who have kept it Memphis for all the right reasons! Holla Black!

Spanish 86% Speaking B W A 12% ** **

Less than More than leaving **

T B A

How were Spanish speaking populations reached? Is it inferred that all minority groups educational needs are the same? Who made the decision that this group of individuals possess the capacity for this work?