The Stigma

By Sherwyn Besson

In The StigMa, Sherwyn Besson maps the role race plays in the continuing disenfranchisement of students of color, and White students that attend the Malville school system, where minority students are the dominant population. His work challenges, parents, educators, administrators, residents, policy makers, and other stakeholders, to engage a student-first, all-in philosophy to move the District forward.

Besson draws on his veteran experience in the classroom and community activist role to write a hopeful, informative, and unflinching narrative about the tyranny holding back the Districts progress, delving deeply into its racial struggles with integration through the 60s, and its newest challenge, an attack on enrichment learning, diversity, and morality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496964946

Sherwyn Besson

SHERWYN BESSON is a Distributive Education instructor, community activist, and mentor. He grew up in Trinidad and has been a New York educator for eighteen years. He holds a Master of Science degree in Education from the College of Saint Rose, a Master of Science degree in Business Management from Polytechnic University of New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from St. Francis College. Besson lives in Nassau County, New York.

Book preview

© 2015 Sherwyn Besson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  04/23/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6492-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6493-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6494-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015931124

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Educide

2 The Prophecy & the River

3 That’s Malville

4 Sinister

5 Sideshow

6 Starved

7 Deposed

8 About That Life

9 Differentologist

10 DestigMatize

Epilogue

For my family. Love you so much. Your charity and generosity kept me buoyed. Thanks.

Acknowledgments

To all listed, there would be no book without you. And, I am grateful for your impressions on me.

Most High God

Dr. Brian Meacham (RIP)

Dr. Katherine Corbett

Greg Padmore

Fred Pollard

Bea Bayley and the NAACP, Lakeview Chapter

Joyce McCrae

Michael Alexander

Rener Reed

Dhalia Allard

Glenda Good

Hazel Palmore (RIP)

Ken Smith

Betsy Benedith

Catherine Brown

Gina Cappellino

April Francis

Dr. Neil P. Buffet

Joyce Kenny

1969 Movement

1

Educide

The Stand

James Calabash knew he made the right choice to leave. The security that teaching offered wasn’t enough. He wasn’t prepared to sacrifice his mental and physical health for a pension that he might not have lived to enjoy. Practicing parkour politics and stupid-people fatigue brought on by the rapid erosion of the educational landscape drained the joy from the field. James didn’t want to be an uninspired teacher and he was quickly heading there. There was nothing worse. He wasn’t averse to returning to the classroom to inspire young people through his experiences in the future but he was certain that Malville education saw the last of him.

Contexting. That’s how he defined it. Just packaging things in neat boxes in his head. Why? Perspective, was in order. Things had gotten too messy. Calabash faced career-defining decisions brought on by his passion for the morals he lived. His quandary; abide by the values that made him or, the check that sustained him. James wasn’t distraught about his circumstance, only his arrival there. He could always get a check. His integrity, on the other hand, was irreplaceable. James’ choice was a hard one to make because he felt dislodged from the community that he loved and fought for, helpless that the young people whom he served with passion, who possessed so much possibilities, would continue to be exploited in a subtly erosive coup. The steadfast beliefs that served him well were situational principles, mere obstacles to be hurdled by those who dictated education to his village. Second-rate schooling, however, was extended to all students in the tri-community district – Laketown, Lynside and Malville.

James’ punishment for having a pair of testicles was premeditated castration. A teacher in transition was he. What next? Start his own business? Brave the cut-throat atmosphere of the corporate market with the possible benefit of a thicker wallet? Wishful. Maybe the fulfillment of a non-profit, with little profit. Calabash had choices but they were limited in the short term.

The internet footprint of the lawsuit hamstrung his candidacy. Entrepreneurship ideas were many. Calabash felt it his duty to establish a career preparation enterprise for graduates and community members who lacked or wanted to refine their career preparation skills. But, it was more charity than economic viability. He knew he could also create training media for cultural sensitivity in the workplace. Writing books, movie scripts and plays were also endeavors he considered.

It wasn’t difficult drawing parallels of Malville School District’s current situation and its post-World War II unresolved past. Vestiges of that time of conflict still lingered in the relationships between the three communities. It manifested in traditions that continued unchallenged, the unhealthy reflection of its public school demographic and a shortsighted ownership philosophy that still governed. The River metaphor, still strong. But, there was also a changing. Its own population was beginning to turnover. Precocious children full of optimism, Black, White and Brown, not constrained by the baggage of parents and grandparents were willing to traverse the River for friendship, love, and community. There was hope.

Partially informed about the affairs of the district, he had a hard time reconciling his students, black and white, to their parents and grandparents’ actions of the past. The turnover in Laketown’s population was significant to the lack of political strength it possessed. The war stories were not being handed down and circulated. Although there was always a two-tiered system of political currency between Laketown, Lynside and Malville, the rates had widened drastically over the last decades. Gone were the powerful, courageous, intellectually bright leaders of those tumultuous times. The NAACP branch at Laketown contracted into a feeble force. The children, except for a few were politically unconscious, uninterested in standing against the issues that bothered them. Many of those issues, the same ones that Laketown’s 1969 generation of protesters battled courageously. Their courageous effort seemed in vain.

James built strong friendships that continued online and in random meetings in the nooks of the communities. He learned much from his students and maintained thick friendships with some. Mutual respect made for longevity. James still did recommendations and gave academic and career advice but in the end, the Malville administration were so bent on getting him they sacrificed the education of the community’s children.

It was a season of filtering. Calabash’s true friends would rise. They called him regularly to keep him encouraged, sent him job openings, texted words of support, and even offered loans. Kenton, Betty, Bella, and the King family didn’t let a week go by without some form of communique. It hardened his relationship with them. Bella, one of his few close colleagues, solicited his resume so she could shop it. He was thankful.

James believed he failed them. He didn’t stay in the fight. He was worn by the fighting. It hurt his family immeasurably. Suffering them anymore was just too much.

Led by Dr. Joachim Kroll, Malville’s administrative leadership was a ruthless regime whose notable competencies included intimidation, coercion, manipulation and deception. The Board left the Kroll administration unchecked as state mandates, district policies and union agreements were manipulated to serve his bidding. The District’s educational philosophy was hacked. Kroll, crafted the Board through shrewd politics, stomped resistance, and maintained the narcoleptic state of rapidly disenfranchising Laketown.

Calabash experienced it firsthand. In his last year, they conveniently shifted their educational policy and applied quasi-administrative appointments that favored their friends and families. It was administrative social promotion and no one could do anything about it because they played find-the-lady with the rules. Their planning created an unequal education for the students of Malville. The local NAACP, powerless, and the superintendent’s own hand-sculpted committee, caught up in his web and their own self-importance.

The seeds of division planted during integration years, had grown, changing a predominantly African American, white-collar professional Laketown into a blue-collar ’hood with less college-educated students, divisive politics, un-stabling transience, and increasing rental properties. Far from the image that some projected about it, Laketown still boasted solid economic statistics despite the limited number of businesses in the community. All of 1.2 square miles, according to the 2010 US Census, Laketown’s median household income was over $98,000 and only 6% of the population lived below the poverty line. Of the 1287 families living in the community just over 50% were married couples with another 27% female-headed, single-parent families. The unemployment rate of 8% masked the low quality of jobs, troubling number of part-time workers and the many residents who left the labor force.

Yet, James was an aberration. Recapping his circumstance was easy. Malville offered him a .4 position (40% of a position). Part time. It was significant for several reasons and the main one, no health insurance benefits. They wanted him gone. They tried several times before, including .5 in 2011. No insurance then. They couldn’t get him on performance so Business Education as a discipline suddenly became obsolete. Their predictable, unsubstantiated justification of, budgetary constraints, fell embarrassingly short of rigor since they opted to establish an Astronomy elective while gutting the Business department to 1 teacher, down from 4 in 2009.

Business Courses butchered to 5, of which 3 were computers, 1 an authentic Business course, with the other, keyboarding. Home Economics was eliminated under previous administrations but never restored despite being mandated. State-required middle school Technology classes, gone. Computer classes at the middle school, sacrificed. IPads distributed in 2014, would suffice for the lack of computer literacy skills and basic software proficiency. Electives critical to student learning were stripped past the bone, replaced by mind-numbing test preparation, double-period Honors and AP coursework - a ploy meant to shortcut real learning to the goal of better grades and flashier headlines. All this, while promoting a Career Readiness and College Preparedness focus in 2013-14. Somehow this was reasoned acceptable as Malville prepared its students for global competition yet they weren’t even competitive in its local region of Nassau County.

How they averted public ire after the 2009 state audit was stupendous. Tom Napoli’s report was scathing. The district exceeded its unreserved fund balance of 4% of the ensuing year’s budget by $1.74 million resulting in the District’s taxpayers paying higher tax levies than necessary. The vague terms of the collective bargaining agreement allowed administration to make Board-unauthorized separation payments to administrators where calculation methods were different for departing administrators and, undocumented. The District also paid its Treasurer as an independent contractor in clear violation to its own statute and regulation. The audit also revealed that the Treasurer did not properly control the use of his signature disk used for disbursements, verifying checks for accuracy before payments, and for reviewing cancelled checks. The Comptroller’s Office pointed out that this made District monies vulnerable to impropriety. Lastly, the District was cited for defying its own procurement policy of obtaining requests for proposals (RFPs) when obtaining professional services. Because competition was not solicited, the best value was not obtained.

A quick google of the District’s Treasurer’s name revealed some startling information. In 1996, he was reprimanded with a 2 year suspension but was given a 2-year probation and a $10,000 fine for gross negligence as a result of making errors in an audit. He had his AICPA membership revoked in 2004 for violating the Codes of Professional Conduct of the AICPA. His liability was leverage. He wasn’t the only administrator with a compromising past. It seemed, they were sought after – a requirement even.

A psy-ops approach to public relations was instituted in 2008. It worked. They cultured the information with favorable albeit misleading indicators to the Malville audiences, influencing emotions and reasoning making it easier to accept any Board decision. Kroll supporters followed almost blindly; unbudgeted administrative salary increases; phantom student growth; tragic AP performances tailored for public consumption; and learning opportunities shrunk without opposition. There was no effort to monitor Malville graduates beyond graduation.

Calabash couldn’t endorse Malville’s education product. James, like any serious educator, knew that his students judged the world by the dimensions of their experiences – academic and hands-on. He believed Malville was obligated to show its students how big the world really was. Internships. International trips. Exchange students. New, evolving, and interesting disciplines. Malville once practiced the global development of its young people. The Prophecy, its yearbook, testified in texts and graphics.

Calabash, Jones, and Palacio v Malville Board of Education. That’s how far it got. Calabash and two of his colleagues filed suit against the district for its discriminatory behavior and renowned bullying tactics. Originally there were seven teachers but two, who were forced to retire, couldn’t endure – one physically and the other, emotionally. Another had her charges annulled because the statute of limitations ran out and the last was concerned that she had 2 years left before retiring and didn’t want blowback. But, their case could stand on its own and they couldn’t wait for their day, especially after years of abuse and district gamesmanship.

So, there he was in his mid-forties; unemployed after 18 years in Education, job-hunting with all the wrong stigmas attached – discrimination lawsuit, black-male, 6-figured salary, in an entirely different era. James seriously considered exiting a field that a few of his black, male friends happily did, for essentially the same reasons. Education desperately needed strong Black males to cure her children’s education ills. But, status quo education resented them for their vocal opposition to its continued malnourishment of black and brown children. Quite a dilemma. He put his career on the line for his community but in the fire, support was scant.

Malville had a negligible share of exceptional students who needed very little to be academically successful. Self-motivated. Strong. Inspired. Bash, as James was also known, became active in Laketown because he witnessed too many of his students, who cake-walked the four years of high school, went to college and struggled; others, borderline illiterates, somehow socially promoted through 12th Grade with marginal employment skills. The prospects were much worse for those students who found high school challenging. Many dropped out of college after their first year. Colleges would enroll Snuffleupagus for a semester, as long as tuition was paid. Many lasted only 1 semester. Under-prepared. Overwhelmed.

Remedial classes didn’t help much. Others, changed their trajectory from 4-year to two-year community colleges with open enrollment, less arduous. Their reasons ran the gamut. Finances. Family. Parenthood. Lack of academic focus. Not smart enough. But most would say, boldly, they weren’t ready for college in spite of being perennial, MHS Honor Roll students.

The resilient ones credited their parents for exposure beyond public school, and a will to succeed. There was no sicker feeling as an educator than facilitating failure of your students. James’ constitution didn’t spare his conscience so he had to act. Substandard writing skills, narrow learning experiences, a lenient learning environment, and a community casual about the successes of its public school system was indicted.

Money left the classroom in a resource exodus. It was a damning change in the District’s established model. The administration made a baseless decision to invest in a penitentiary-styled security system for 600 students in the high school where incidences of violence were more nuisance than tangible problem. The scores of cameras watching the middle and high schools, the maintenance contracts that came along, and the beefed up security personnel didn’t exist until 2009. Instead of focusing on building relationships with students, which directly affected, and most times eliminated incidences of violence, the leadership chose to employ cold, expensive, impersonal, cameras with the teenage-aversive, big brother effect. The new structure created administrators who managed the building by monitoring the school’s facilities from their desk instead of legwork.

The system doubled as an older brother for keeping tabs on teachers. On typical mornings it was hard to ignore the frustrations of students as they lined up like cattle to get through security. Valuable time was wasted, the process was intimidating and it sometimes created a pretext for early morning confrontation with security before first class. And, for a student, it is one sure way to temper a day. The process criminalized students by its format. No one heard their cry or cared. A sort of conditioning was taking place. Instead of using those resources to understand kids through interaction and stimulating students through exciting programs, they were being treated like state property. The student body was being institutionalized and there was no public outcry. It was intoxicatingly subtle.

The consequence of living in the district where he worked imposed that James function by a different set of rules than other teachers. He knew the terrain and the people intimately. They were his neighbors. He coached and mentored their children. His parent-teacher conferences took place in the groceries, church grounds, streets and homes of his constituents so he bore a different level of accountability. James wore the responsibility proudly even when its weight got heavy.

Although he felt as though he was reaching the end of a long goodbye since the district’s hostility began in 2008, never could he imagine the emotional strain it would inflict. He gave Malville ten years of service, much of it went beyond the confines of his union contract. He was a wealthier man for the Malville experience. From the teeming energy of the campus to the culturally-enlightening conversations in the corridors and humor and tragedy in the classrooms, Bash was Malvillized. He saw the school at its best and felt the wrath of its worst. There was so much to be optimistic about and yet so much that troubled his spirit.

Calabash got used to the phrase, That’s Malville, when something was wrong. So did his students. They internalized it and expected less. It became a district character trait and defined the mediocrity of Malville. No initiative in place tackled it so it was left to fester. When things worked right, it was a pleasant surprise and not routine operation. Whether it be a disabled copier, down network, or an asinine policy, stakeholders just coped. As one teacher put it, had we been a business, we’d be out of business.

In the year that James’ daughter graduated valedictorian of Clifford M. Walker Middle School, he was introduced to the faceless tormenter that so many in the district feared. Calabash refused to enroll her at Malville High School even after being prodded several times by Principal Stepin Fetchit and Superintendent Dr. Joachim Kroll. The powers were not happy. Even before her mediocre performance on Lutheran High School’s (LuHi) entrance exam, he knew her academic achievements were overrated. He kept tabs on her work. She was capable of much more. He also knew she was intellectually curious, resilient and loved challenges. The first of many run-ins with the bully began. Later on, his son, then a 4th Grader, had his learning tampered with, and there was no perceivable motive except a malicious one. James’ son was pulled out of critical periods of instruction, without James’ permission, and placed in an environment where he was taught marginal curricula. It became so grotesque, his teacher alerted James to the depravity.

James’ students left him with much to cherish. Some, comedians that mocked his Trini accent and mannerisms to the entertainment of classmates; others, the fraternity of soccer players who honored the game, school and community under his coaching, precious memories all; and still others, the brilliant minds whose intellectual ceiling was limitless, inspiring him to be better every day. He pondered missing their curiosity; his daily education in pop culture, from street vocabulary, to the next new dance or dress fad. Of his students willing to partake of their priceless connections, he would be poorer. And the many who filled his day with a smiling Mr. C, Mr. Calabash, Mr. Bash or just Bash, just because, he would sadly say goodbye.

Even though he was notorious for his drive-byes - impromptu visits to the homes of students who presented a behavioral challenge – those students appreciated the caring. Graduates would remind him how it affected them then, and now. This carried a certain weight and he used every pound of it for classroom management. James didn’t do it much. Normal course would be to speak to students outside the classroom about various infringements, speak with coaches, make phone calls, and then home visits.

Calabash morphed from a social teacher when he joined the Malville faculty in 2004 into an activist-educator by 2008. His relationship with his colleagues wasn’t complicated. Early on, he was focused on understanding his colleagues and environment. James spent much of his time socializing. He enjoyed the company of his colleagues. Through their friendship and hospitality, he was welcomed to their homes and personal experiences and it felt genuine because it was. As he learned more about the belly of the District, his prism changed. As he stepped into activism, friendships faded.

Bash became close with teachers who he knew shared his passion for young people and the uprightness of a progressive system. They were few. Kenton was his brother. Not only did they share the same demographic but similar experiences in the Malville schoolhouse. Kenton’s tongue was blunt, mind sharp, and possessed the courage to act against establishment. A few others, whose friendship James respected, he engaged in casual conversation rarely rising to the level of serious matters. Then, there were those who just couldn’t be trusted, as they were known collaborators with administration, selling out colleagues for favors and privilege. Most knew how James felt about them, and he them, so distance was mutual. The last group were teachers who just wanted to do their job, mindless of the political debris in the hallways or the troubles of their students in the classroom. They just wanted their paycheck and invested nothing more in the system. This was the approach of many teachers.

Support staffers, security officers, and maintenance employees held more currency with students than most teachers because they intimately knew students and valued their relationship. Malville’s colorful staff also added a healthy facet to work life. With them, James chatted on all topics that made life interesting and he could let down his guard to a few of them.

Under the current Malville administration, the focus was about the brand, and the brand needed, rebranding. The public relations onslaught of news about district affairs had been tightly filtered. The narrative, dictated an all-positive school health of great scores, great strides, new programs, state awards, and teacher achievements. Absent the Malville name, they could easily have been mistaken for Jericho, Syosset or some other top performing district. Big, bold headlines in large blue and orange text, cleverly crafted bullets void of scrutiny, high impact graphics with fancy tables and charts meant to incite hopefulness and headlines to boast about. It was a visual onslaught. Celebration of Success – 50% of Students Achieve Honor Roll Status, MHS Ranked Among Newsweek’s Best Schools, 700% increase in 4s and 5s on AP Scores, Total Success for Every Child: Achievement, Advanced Placement and Altruism, Malville Named to AP Achievement Lists, and James’ favorite, Malville Outperforms New York State on Assessments. Where was the contexting? Malville compared itself to the state, where the standard was much lower than Long Island’s? The District’s results would pale if there were critical contrast. The psy-op games kept Malville an average of more than 100 SAT points south of East Rockaway and surrendered even more to West Hempstead, and they were far from Long Island’s best.

Gone were the days when a student representative sat on the Board and tempered discourse, or creative students produced the school magazine, or involved parents attending board meetings. Administration was writer, editor and publisher of all things Malville and the public, an audience to the show. It was all about the image of the district. If it looked pretty, potential homebuyers would desire the community and property values would increase. Simple enough.

Enter social media and the I Want More for Our Schools Facebook page. Originally started as an internet presence for a Board of Education candidate, it evolved into a blog for public discourse on Malville education. Constituents, board members, the NAACP and administration supporters all plied their views. In spite of its attractiveness only 400 members were plugged in as of summer 2014.

Malville’s hiring process had historically been besieged by accounts of racial discrimination. Charges continued. Hiring was still based on a system where faithful affiliation to Long Island’s reputed network of powerful administrators trump cultured skill. It was yet a system that overwhelmingly favored white employees over blacks and browns, the same thinking that engineered Long Island’s segregated communities, fought against integration, and was embroiled in an advanced state of flux. Faculty racial statistics continue to reflect a bygone era as Black teachers numbered around 10%, a number maintained since the early 80’s and likely to fall further under the current administration and Board.

Reputed for its successes in basketball and marching band, Malville over-invested in AP programs, mindlessly committed to test preparation to boost its academic profile. In one initiative, the district made it mandatory that students retake Regents examinations if they didn’t achieve a College and Career Ready state score of 80 and above on Integrated Algebra and Geometry, and 75 or better on the Comprehensive English Regents. The simple reality; the district’s tactics served its image more than it did students’ college and career readiness. Students simply didn’t need to retake the examination nor were they told they had a refusal option. Colleges wanted curious students, most with solid SAT scores, strong extra-curricular activities, and wide dimensions of knowledge in their portfolio. A 5 point difference on a Regents was negligible. Malville students stood to benefit more from expanded enrichment in relevant college and career readiness courses than a few points difference on a Regents exam.

The district also had healthy sports programs including football, tennis, and track and field. It still lacked solid commitment in its course offerings, extra-curricular activities and its commitment to the education of its entire student body, to be considered competitive with strong Long Island districts. The community was not all-in where its public school system was concerned. This was its greatest challenge going forward. Businesses and the majority of community had divested of the school system in the 60’s and didn’t return since most of Malville’s school-aged children attended private schools. It posed a unique dilemma for Malville residents; withdraw support from the school system which had a direct impact on property values and public perception or apply more investment that benefitted students across the river, who were Black.

At the high school, on 3 black teachers remain, all female. The facility maintenance and security staff was overwhelmingly black. According to New York State Education Department record for 2013, black students represent over 54% of the student body, with white students accounting for 21% and Hispanic students, 19%. But those numbers carried a caveat; a number of Hispanic and Latino students were classified white in district records. According to district records, approximately 40% of the district’s school-aged children attended private school, and the number included significant African American children from Laketown.

The bully codes were deciphered and the district’s DNA mapped. James knew Malville. In 2014, Malville employed two untenured, black administrators, hired after the Calabash, Jones, and Palacio charges were found meritorious by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2010. One of the current Black administrators was untenured as a teacher