Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 11-20-15 Edition

Local
Residents React To Changes In Election Of School Board Chairperson
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Tuesday, the Hillsbor- ough County School Board meeting was anything but tra- ditional. One of the items on the agenda was to select the new Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.
In the past, the Vice Chairperson automatically moved up to ensure that all members had an opportunity to serve. Superintendent Jeff Eakins called the meet- ing to order and called for the vote.
Ms. Doretha Edge- comb, who was the current Vice Chairperson was nomi- nated by Mrs. Carol Kur- dell, Ms. Cindy Stuart nominated Ms. April Grif- fin, and Ms. Melissa Snively nominated Ms. Carol Kurdell.
When the votes were tal- lied, Ms. Griffin was chosen as the new Chairperson by a 4-3 vote. Ms. Edgecomb re- ceived 2 votes and Ms. Kur- dell received one vote.
When Superintendent Eakins called for the vote for the Vice Chairperson, Ms. Griffin nominated Ms. Cindy Stuart. She was cho- sen by the 4-3 margin.
When contacted by the
Sentinel, Ms. Dorethea Edgecomb said, “I am never giving up on the fight to en- sure our students get the best education possible. And,
nothing will stop me from doing that.
“I want to thank the public and my supporters who came out to be a voice and to give me strength and courage.”
Joe Robinson said, “God took care of business last night. It’s a wakeup call. Blacks must learn that the strategies we used in the 1960’s don’t work in the 21st century. We have to build more coalitions across party lines and across community lines with our Hispanic brothers and sisters and oth- ers who are for the cause. And, that race does matter.
“But, we must build better coalitions to move forward with our issues. We can no longer depend on one or two Blacks to deal with our issues, especially when it comes to education.
“Ms. Valdes has done a lot to help Black businesses and issues in the district. That’s why we have Lewis Brinson, Larry Sykes, Owen Young; that’s why we have 3 Blacks and 2 Hispan- ics for the first time in history reporting to the Superintend- ent and we must take that leadership to take care 0f the problems in education.
“As you can see, they are going to stick together and we must do the same thing.
“Adoption of the new strategic plan that they ap- proved last night says all of that. And we need to make
sure that the “Fearsome Foursome” will follow that strategic plan to the letter, and I think they will do it.”
Ms. Ann Jenkins said she attended the Board meet- ing and she is unhappy with the manner in which the vot- ing took place.
“Ms. Edgecomb was nominated and the superin- tendent called for the vote three times. By Roberts Rules, Ms. Edgecomb should have won. The Super- intendent should have moved on to call for the vote for Vice Chairperson.
But then, Cindy Stuart nominated April Griffin. The same four people who have been voting the same way, voted again. It’s the same four who voted against MaryEllen Elia and the same four who voted not to suspend that teacher.
“With these same four controlling the vote, they don’t need the other three members on the board be- cause they vote them down every time. One lady in the audience asked why they de- cided to do the reorganization now and they didn’t answer her.
“This was not the time for that. It was bad, very bad. And, the only way we are going to stop this kind of thing is for the community to turn out and vote.”
Ms. Vivian Heyward
said, “if they were going to
change the way they selected the Chairperson, it should have been done earlier or after Ms. Edgecomb moved into the position.
“These are the same four who ousted MaryEllen Elia and if this is the way they are going to do things, then I think term limits should be put into place just like other political offices.”
Pete Edwards said, “Contrary to what some peo- ple would like to believe in my mind this was not "a race issue," but simply a highly an- ticipated shifting of power on
the Board and block voting. There has always been block voting and power clicks on the Board and in reality it will continue.
“I believe Ms. Edge- comb will continue on the Board as an effective member in the long run and particular after the upcoming 2016 elec- tions. Again, it was not about race but just old-fashioned power blocks. Good recent examples locally are the Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Com- mission changes.”
Rev. Dr. W. James Fa- vorite said, “It was very dis- appointing. You could tell they had their minds made up in getting rid of Ms. Edge- comb. They were retaliating against her for not voting against MaryEllen Elia. It was terrible.”
PAGE 8-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2015