Young’uns are Not Automatically Qualified to Lead, Especially When Children’s Lives are At Stake at RCSD
Two young folks in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) who are posing as leaders are literally off the chain. One is Isaiah Santiago—who demonstrated during the April 25th board meeting exactly what many have been saying, that he is NOT nearly mature enough to be among the most important decision-makers relative to public education here in modern-day-slave-town-U.S.A.
Check Mr. Santiago out; see the video at the link below. At the 4:23:00 mark he STARTS to lose it. At the 4:27:17 mark he rudely interrupts Commissioner Griffin, and at the 4:28:38 mark, he straight-up tells Commissioner Griffin, "You're lying."
Santiago became so irate that the RCSD attorney had to remind him several times that he needed to be recognized by the Chair before speaking. It got so bad that Board president Elliot threatened the possibility of ending the meeting, which the young whipper-snapper said he would prefer. IT WAS DOWNRIGHT AMAZING. You can view all of this at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/RCSDNYS/videos/7696416637079287
Also, Santiago kept referring to the April 9th Board Policy Committee Meeting. He claimed that during that particular meeting Commissioner Griffin "disrespected" the Board's “student representative." However, (beginning at the 1:24:36 mark of the video below, and certainly by the time they get to the 1:37:29 mark, I think it becomes crystal clear is not coming from Griffin.
Additionally, the Board's so-called “student representative" is literally all over the place and delivered a largely incoherent diatribe he and Santiago attempted to palm off. I'm still stuck on the “student representative's" response to whiney Commissioner Maloy's question regarding "diversity" of the so-called "SLC" (Student Leadership Congress). The young man responded that “the SLC is very diverse”, but he also said that he was “NOT referring to racial diversity" WHAT???!!! I don't understand how “racial diversity” is (apparently) not a consideration within a school district in which 90%+ of the student population are people of color.
In my humble, but unequivocally staunch and informed view, BOTH Santiago and the so-called “student representative" are really, really, very problematic. The more they babble, the more obvious it becomes! https://www.facebook.com/RCSDNYS/videos/754173493147253.
Meanwhile, during the forum that took place prior to the start of the April 25th Board Business Meeting,THE BEST NEWS THAT CAME OUT OF THE ENTIRE MEETING IS THE FACT THAT MR. TRENTON JACKSON JR. ANNOUNCED THAT HE IS RUNNING FOR A SEAT ON THE ROCHESTER BOARD OF EDUCATION NEXT YEAR. Based on a statement he made during the meeting, I think he's gunning for Cynthia Eliott's seat. She will be up for re-election, along with Camille Simmons and James Patterson.
Unless he changes his mind, Commissioner Patterson has said that he doesn't plan to run again. If not, that seat will be wide open. This is exciting news for some of us who are working closely together, and have said that we plan to put together a list of critically important issues, which we would expect any candidate that we support to champion.
Once we have formulated our list, we want to meet with ANY candidate who might be interested in our support, and get a firm COMMITMENT relative to them remaining grounded in the broader community, and COLLECTIVELY championing the list of issues that we present. In exchange, we will help COLLECT SIGNATURES to get them on the ballot; deliver VOTES of those that we influence, as well as provide some of the fuel that makes campaigns GO: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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Howard Eagle is a longtime educator and local anti-racism advocate, known for his campaigns for the Rochester school board and prolific political and social commentary. Eagle taught social studies in the RCSD for 23 years, before retiring in 2010, and is now an adjunct professor in the Department of African American Studies at SUNY Brockport.
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