REDEMPTION, RACE, AND COUNCILLOR LUKES

REDEMPTION, RACE, AND COUNCILLOR LUKES

 

Councillor Lukes

Worcester City Councillor Konstantina Lukes should not return to the City Council of Worcester. She has a history of arguing against solutions to what is now called disparate impact racism. There seems to be no redemption for what some consider her underlying racism.

Councillor Lukes is a lawyer and knows how to put forward what many consider racist ideas while seeming to be a Liberal.  An example of this are the magnet schools which were built to integrate Worcester school students. The liberal cover for opposing magnet schools was neighborhood schools. The neighborhood schools policy would have continued a separate and unequal school system.

Recently Councillor Lukes has attacked immigrants by using the liberal viewpoint that only people who came to the USA with papers should stay. Of course the issue of immigration is more complicated, as seen with DACA and asylum seekers. The impact of a policy of only people with papers entering the USA has a disparately racial.

Protesters again Ms., Lukes antj immigrant policies 2016

Ms. Lukes has taken her lead from the fascist-like Tea Party and other racists.  A recent display of disparate impact racism was her support of William T. Breault who has organized anti-immigrant events,

In the 1960s Ms. Lukes was in the ACLU of Massachusetts.  It seems that she mentions this every time she attacked Blacklives Matter. When Blacklives Matter demanded more accountability of the police, Councillor Lukes supported a City Council resolution praising the status quo police policies.

                                               Hands Up Don’t Shoot 2014

For a time I thought Ms. Lukes was capable of Redemption and Salvation as she had once supported a Black Woman for superintendent of schools. However her subsequent actions including an attack on the City’s affirmative action policies belay that conclusion.

It is now reasonable to conclude that Ms. Lukes continuing in the City Councillor would be more harmful than good.

Time To Change the Worcester School Committee

Time To Change the Worcester School Committee

A way to change the Worcester School Committee for the better is change the Worcester City Charter to include district school committee members. The districts would be based on the four City high schools quadrant. Another requirement would be that these district school committee members have a child in the Worcester public schools.

 The Worcester School Committee consists today of sincere and knowledgeable people. Unfortunately they do not vigorously represent the student population of the Worcester Schools.

It is no secret that the Worcester School District student population is becoming more poor, more foreign born, and with more students with dark skin.  The Worcester School Committee has not become representative of them.

The last Latina on the School Committee is Hilda Ramirez. The last school committee member, that I recall, with children in the Worcester School District is Tracy O’Connell Novick. Both ladies were defeated after they vigorously defended students against the adverse impact of the racist school to jail policies.

The Worcester School Committee is entirely White and without children in the Worcester School district. For the most part they are the same people who hired a favorite daughter, principal from South High School, to be Superintendent of Worcester Schools. This was a disappointment as the then acting Superintendent was Latino, spoke Spanish, and had a Doctorate. The present Superintendent has none of these qualities.

At the last election Dante Carparretto was elected to the School Committee replacing a Tea Party sympathizer. Although a good man Dante has no children in the Worcester Schools.

Presently the Worcester City Charter requires that school committee candidates run an election throughout the entire city which allows the more affluent voters an advantage over the poorer, foreign born, or dark skin populations.

Many White parent just send their children to public grammar schools and afterward to the parochial high School. Many Black and Latino parents do the same. The Public high schools populations consist to a larger extent that the elementary schools low income, foreign born, special needs, and dark skin students. Which means that they are underrepresented at the decision making levels of government. 

There are several pockets of voters who have no children in public schools and seem intent on restricting public education and promoting racist school to jail policies. The Tea Party and especially a right blogger have harmed the public school systems.

A similar system of district representation is working well in Worcester City Council where there are Black, White, and Latino Councillors.  The district representation allows all parts of the City a voice in government.

BlackLives Matter And Body Camera For Worcester Police 2019

BlackLives Matter And Body Camera For Worcester Police 2019

BlackLives Matter has been one of the more significant advocates for police body cameras. The movement for police accountability has gained legitimacy from the recording of police misconduct, especially the shoot of unarmed young Black men by law enforcement at the moment of initial interaction with civilians..

It appears that law enforcement is now more cautious in regards to the moments before an arrest than it had been previously. Although I have no statistics for a comparison, it seems that there are fewer news stories of unarmed Black men being shot by police.

An ancillary effect of police body cameras has been that some complaints against the police can be more easily be found to be without merit.  The body camera captures violations by the civilian as well. The camera systems protects all parties with what can be called material evidence.

Not too long ago a study done in Washington DC questioned the value of body cameras. The studied was premised on the theory that people changed their behavior from bad to better when we are watched. In this instance by the camera. The study concluded that there was not much change in people’s behavior even when we were being watched.

The smaller pilot program for Boston police body camera use over a 12 month period ending in January 2018 resulted in 12 fewer complaints against police..

The premise that the main purpose of a police body cameras is to make us act better is not the premise of put forward by BlackLives Matter. We advocated for the material evidence of whether an encounter by law enforcement was justified or not. This material evidence would protect both the civilian and the police.

Starting in 2014 BlackLives Matter in Worcester created a coalition of activists and others who want good policing and an end to racist police misconduct. The coalition included CUC, NAACP, Progressive Labor Party, ACLU, and many others. For many years there was no movement on the issue by the City.

As recently as November of 2018 the Police Chief, the City Manager, and City Council could not say that anything was scheduled in terms of the pilot program for the use of body cameras. This lack of action was despite the police union and the City signing a contract to use body camera.

Police at Human Rights Commission 2018

It was something of a surprise when the City Manager and the Police Chief announced in January 2019 that a pilot program for body cameras would be initiated by the Worcester police sometime in 2019.  The announcement indicated that the evaluation would be based on effectiveness and costs.

This tidbit of information regarding the evaluation of body camera use by the Worcester Police leaves a lot out.  First there is not much information about the Police contract. Second, there is no useful information about the criteria that will be used in the evaluation of the use of body cameras.  Third, there is no information about the protocols that will be used in the pilot and the potentislly permanent program. Fourth, input from the public has not been defined by the parties.

The ACLU has developed a set of body camera protocols that protect both the police and the civilian. These protocols should be considered by the parties ast practice. They should be in effect at least temporarily during the pilot program.

The Human Rights Commission should play a role in the evaluation of the use of body cameras.

There should be more transparency regarding the terms of the police contract on this issue. The City Council should have public hearings

Cost Effectiveness of Worcester Mounted Police

Are Mounted Patrols Needed and Cost Effective?

A mounted officer’s  crowd control

At a recent Worcester Human Rights Commission meeting regarding the policies of the Worcester Police Department the representatives from the Police said that the mounted patrols are not evaluated for policing effectiveness or cost. Formerly published statements from the Police Chief Sargant and City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. set  the goals of the mounted patrols as: neighborhood patrol, crowd control, and public relations.

 

Worcester Human Rights Meeting

There is some anecdotal evidence that the horses are good ambassadors for the City.

The City Manager and the Police Chief want us to believe there is no costs to the taxpayers for the mounted patrols. This is counter intuitive as Boston has eliminated its mounted patrols due to the high costs and the relative ineffectiveness in achieving policing goals.

The horses are stabled at the County Jail and facilities’ costs are born by the County Jail and inmate labor. When the mounted patrols first started,  $25,000 for each of four horses were donated by private businesses. Because there is no evaluation, it is not certain to me whether these donations have continued.

It is certainty that there are at least seven police officers assigned to the mounted patrol unit and four horses. In addition there are two trucks and two trailers. These officers and vehicles have a cost to the taxpayer. Seven times $50,000 minimum salary is $350,000.

Worcester horse trailer

The mounted patrols of the Worcester Police are not publicly evaluated nor does it seem to be any internal evaluations. The horse patrols do not seem effective for community policing which is the official policy of the Worcester Police Department. Who can community police when sitting 12 feet in the air? It is not clear in what neighborhoods the mounted patrols are used if any.

In terms of crowd control the history has been that horses are used against Black and other working class people since the times of the slave patrols. It does not seem that the Worcester mounted patrols have ever engaged in any serious crowd control.

Anti-Trump rally in Long Island

It is surprising that not one City Councillor is questioning the effectiveness of the mounted patrols in achieving policing goals. Several years ago I used to commute to Boston with the City’s Mayor Petty. He is by all measures a liberal democrat and a decent man, but he is also a strong proponent of the horses.

It might be the case that the mounted patrols are needed and cost effective. No one in the City can make that claim as there has been no evaluation ever of the Worcester’s Calvary. 

Tough Task for Quality of Life Taskforce

A Taskforce Boss

Tough Task for Quality of Life Taskforce

The Worcester Quality of Life Taskforces has done much good. A recent column in the Worcester Telegram reported that the Taskforce has

1.      removed over 85 tons of illegally dumped trash

2.      levied $31, 000 in fines against the illegal dumpers

3.      visited over 3400 vacant or problem properties

4.      identified 128 homeless people encampments

5.      collected 1500 discarded needles

The Worcester Telegram article further said the following

“The task force has also visited 3,447 vacant/problem properties and citations have been issued for unregistered vehicles, overgrowth, trash, housing violation, unsecured vacant building and code violations.”

I brought attention to the overgrowth, because there is a Worcester (City) owned  property at the corner of Lake Ave. and Sunderland Road that has been overgrown  and trashed for decades. The City of Worcester has de facto abandoned the property.

Quality of Life Taskforce will have a tough time getting its boss City Manager Edward Augustus to clean up this City property at Lake Ave. and Sunderland St.

  

The City acquired the property with the intention of building a fire station. This followed the National Fire Protection Association’s best practice of locating fire stations on the outskirts of an urban area. The best practice was not followed when the City built fire stations on Grafton St. and on Franklin St.

This de facto abandonment allowed years of trash accumulation and overgrowth.The sidewalk along the property is unpassable, especially for the handicapped. Walking in the street is extremely dangerous as there is no breakdown lane at that intersection. There is no alternate route from Lake Ave. to the Plaza or to the bus stop.

Over the years several petitions have been sent to City Council in the hope that it would set a policy that would compel the City Manager to clean up the property and clear the obstructed sidewalks. One City Councillor lives nearby and drives by the overgrown and trashed City she has not done any to effectuate a clean-up. A second City Councillor has written a letter to the City Economic Department where he has no authority regarding the lot. I appreciate his effort.

In frustration I filed a complaint at the City Commission on Disabilities. This is a first step in the process of exhausting all recourses before going to Federal District Court with an Americans with Disabilities complaint. To my surprise the Commission responded and said it would investigate actions to clean up the City’s property. It sent my complaint to the Quality of Life Taskforce.

I do not hold out much hope that the Quality of Life group will overcome the objections of the City Manager who has for years intentionally ignored the problem..  

Are Schools Safer with Cops in the Building?

Are Schools Safer with Cops in the Building?

The Parkland Florida mass school shooting murders have blinded many people from making an objective and rational evaluation of the benefits or hindrances of armed police officers permanently stationed in public schools. Are the schools safer with them and could the costs of the police officers be better used?

 The Worcester Telegram has said recently the debate about School Resources Officers (school police officers) is “over”, meaning that irrationality and subjectivity has won out. As evidence recently the Tamaqua MA School District allocated money for a school resource officer.

The fact remains, however, that school resource officers have not prevented a single mass shooting anywhere in the US. Admittedly school resource officers have mitigated some shooting, but they have not prevented any.

I waited for the details of the Great Mills High School shooting in Maryland before writing this article. Initial reports were that a school resource officer shot and killed a student who had shot another student. The Sheriff Department later said that the student shooter took his own life. In either case the school resource officer did not prevent the shooting.

What have prevented school shootings are students reporting other students in need of services? This include social media monitoring and counselling. It is clear that the shooter in Parkland signaled his intent. This should not be left to the police alone. The School Safety Administrator should take the lead with the help of additional counselors.

The other proven method to prevent mass school shootings is the improvement of authorized entry to a school buildings. This issue was raised in the Good Harbor Safety Analysis report to the Worcester School Committee. The report cited a need for increased front door and other entrances safety at all of the schools.

There were no mass shooting in Worcester Public Schools before armed police officers were assigned an office in each public high school in Worcester MA.

These assignments were the result of bad publicity initiated by a racist blogger (Turtleboy), racist City Councillors (Lukes and Rosen), and an overzealous School Committee woman (Biancheria). They wanted armed police in the schools due to negative stereotypes of young Black and Latino male students.

The Worcester School District is invoiced by the police department one and one-half million dollars a year for the five officers in the high schools and for other protective patrols. The five police officers in the high schools could be reduced to two or three police officers dedicated to high school mobile patrols with additional duties in the patrol of middle and elementary schools. This alternate system should be looked at objectively as there were no mass shootings in Worcester Schools before or after the deployment of armed police in each high school.

The dollar savings could be used to hire qualified counselors, set up social media monitoring by counselors, and improved front door safety.

 It seems that any internal school problems can be handled first by the school staff and then by calling the police dedicated to mobile patrols of the schools.

When the public has asked for an evaluation of the permanent assignment of police to each high school, the Worcester School Administration has consistently responded with the mantra “the kids love them”. Although there is no material evidence of abuse of their police powers, there are antidotal articles of such abuse.

The police assigned to the high schools in Worcester do not meet the training, educational, and the experience requirements of a teacher or counselor. The police have consistently refuse to work under the supervision of a school administrator.

The police system of school patrols and assignments have been in place long enough for an objective review and analysis. It is time the Worcester School Committee and Worcester Police Department stop brushing off such an evaluation by saying “the kids love us”. It is time also to review front door safety

Halting Separate and Unequal Public Schools in Massachusetts

Halting Separate and Unequal Public Schools in Massachusetts

Worcester Panel on Fully Funded Schools, November 13, Tues. 6 PM,

Clark U. Jefferson 218

     The Supreme Court of the United States in the landmark case of Brown versus the Board of Education ruled that separate and “equal” schools could never be equal because of their separateness. The standard being “unequal” education is unconstitutional.

     Today in Massachusetts there is a systemic growth of a separate and unequal education. The cause of this systemic development of inequality is the changing demographics of some Massachusetts cities and town. This change in demographic is taking place without a comparable change in the manner schools are funded.

  

   Many Massachusetts cities are going from mostly White student populations to mostly so called minorities and immigrant student populations.

These cities, such as Worcester, Holyoke, and New Bedford have become known as Gateway Cities. Gateway is a term used to describe where people tend to first move when coming to Massachusetts.

  

   It has been objectively determined that poorer students, special education students, and recently arrived immigrant students require greater resources than the $6, 500 the State allocated per student under Chapter 70. The greatest disparities are found among special education students whose resource requirement might run as high as $15, 000 per annum.

  

   Gateway Cities are facing a spiraling shortfall of funds and a continual cutback in educational services that will only worsen overtime. This lack of fully funded resources for the students in the Gateway Cities is creating an educational system that will become more separate and more unequal.  

     The Gateway Cities are working on a lawsuit to increase the funding required for the additional resources needed by the poor, by recent immigrants, and by special needs students. Unfortunately, it looks like that lawsuit will take several years, if at all, to be effective. 

    There is building among the so called grass roots of the Gateway Cities a movement for Fully Funded Schools and Common Sense Spending. There has been a discussion event in Holyoke and parent driven resolution at the New Bedford School Committee. Worcester is having a panel discussion and advocacy event on November 13, 2018, 6 PM, Clark U. Jefferson 218.

     A partial list of co-sponsors: Clark U, Youth and Community Education Dept. (host), Green Rainbow Party, Worcester Education Justice Alliance, Progressive Labor Party, and Massachusetts Human Rights Committee, Education Alliance of Worcester, Worcester Branch NAACP, Massachusetts Action Network, SURJ, and Latino Policy Institute.

      

     Hopefully a statewide movement will develop to halt and reverse the systemic growth of a separate and unequal public school system in Massachusetts.