The big story in local politics down here in Charlotte revolves around a recent email distributed by Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James.
The flap started when the Charlotte Rhino Times broke a story about a memo from Superior Court Judge Howard Manning questioning the effectiveness of throwing more and more money at low performing students. The judge opines that it's not all about how much money is spent, it's about getting verifiable results for the money spent by Charlottle/Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and other systems under his watch. The Rhino quotes Manning...
“As stated many times previously there is no ‘blank check’ nor is there going to be a ‘spending spree’. If more resources are required to correct a problem, the present resources within the LEA (Local Education Agencies – in effect, school districts) must be examined and reallocated to meet the basic Leandro requirements for all students. If there is a deficit, then the additional resources must be targeted towards educational success with accountability... The level of academic performance... is below par to put it mildly.... This below par performance is especially troubling in view of the amount of local spending per pupil in Mecklenburg County.”
As the article points out, Mannings memo fueled the fire about recent CMS Board of Education funding initiatives which many say are factors in the dismal results of recent student acheivement measurements. And those factors are "...the direct results of misguided decisions the school board has made that were based more on political pandering and social engineering than a focus on student achievement" according to School Board Member Larry Gavreau.
Enter Commissioner Bill James. After he received Mannings memo, he fired off one himself to his email distribution list. (full text here).
James is a controversial Commissioner in Meck County much in the same vein of Guilford County's Billy Yow and people are used to him lobbing political hot potatoes around... but this time he may have gone too far. Hot potato coming your way....
"Most people know why CMS can't teach kids within the urban black community. They live in a moral sewer with parents who lack the desire to act properly. That immorality impacts negatively the lives of these children and creates an environment where education is considered "acting white" and lack of education is a "plus" in their world. Count on the Democrats and the the media to try and ignore that debate as well."
A firestorm ensued. James is being called names himself, his family has been threatened and he was booed last week during his swearing-in ceremony - but he apologized for his wording and now says he only used such explosive language in order to get people talking... I'd say he succeeded.
The furor surrounding the messenger is finally dying down here in the Queen City and people are starting to talk about his crassly delivered message. Now toned down, James is standing by the gist of his message, stating that he, "...will not sit idly by while another generation of urban black children is lost to drugs, crime, apathy and promiscuity... I think if we're going to succeed in having a debate about this, people -- including me, including others -- need to dial it back a notch."
8:13:24 AM 
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