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 Post subject: Hammond School Board Meeting 6-20-2016
PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:12 pm 
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Location: Hammond
Here are the highlights of the meeting:

All board members were present.

Recognition/Presentation:

Awarding of the scholarships from the Hammond Teachers Federation(HTF) were presented to 4 high school graduates this evening. They were each given a certificate of recognition, and a check for $1,000. All 4 recipients were Latino females, one each from Hammond High, Clark, Gavit, and Morton. Mr. O'Rourke, the president of the HTF, remarked as to when he told his wife, who is a Latino female, that all of the recipients of the scholarships were also female Latino, she said "This is the wave of the future".

Public Expression 1st Session:

Carlotta King commented on the board policy 5840-Criminal Organizations and Criminal Organization Activity. She said this could be a school to prison pipeline, and there is no wiggle room in this policy. She said a student could be suspected without any proof of an offense covered under this, and there is no wiggle room for circumstances or error.

Reports:

Mrs. Frey talked about 30 board policy updates, most of which considers language in the body of the updates, and also the new Federal transgender policy, and how they can be covered on this by the current non-discrimination policy.

Calendar:
The next regular meeting, July 5th, will be followed by a Public Work Session on NEOLA(board policy). The other July meeting will be on the 18th, both meetings being held at 5:30pm at 41 Williams Street.

Public Expression 2nd Session.

Carlotta King talked about equal education, and also was glad to see that a music teacher has been hired for Hammond High.

My take:

Congratulations to the scholarship recipients !

Mr. O'Rourke's comments can be construed as racist, and were taken as such by members of the community, including myself. I do not appreciate the comments. Why the heck is a demographic such an important thing to throw in everyone's face, when the ACADEMIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS of the winning students should be on the forefront? I find this racist, and totally uncalled for. Is this the sign of favoritism for certain demographics in the SCH?
Ms. King also mentioned during the Public Expression segment, that the policy of picking Valedictorian and Salutatorian, has great flaws. She is correct on this, as several students through the years have been effectively cheated out of their honorarium that they worked hard for. How can a student, who is consistently ranked 1st in their class, NOT be Valedictorian? A mother of a student that was in attendance tonight, said her daughter, who graduated 1st in her class, and had always retained that ranking, was told she would NOT be Valedictorian, because she was .0003% behind another student after the 1st semester. This student graduated 1st in her class, but yet was NOT Valedictorian. This has happened to several students over the years. They graduate 1st in their class, but never get the recognition they deserved. Something really smells here, especially when the majority of the students who were not given their due recognition,were replaced by a student of a certain demographic.
I guess it isn't how hard you work to achieve your success, if you are not in a certain favored demographic.


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