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| Andrea Merida: Public flagellations continue |
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The system will use as much ink as necessary to publically flagellate Andrea Merida rather than allow the power structure to bow down to defeat. Merida is being publically flogged by the right-wing media and those namby-pambies whose power was contested. Welcome to politics Andrea!
Let’s hope that the tears shed by her confidant Michelle Moss were not crocodile tears as their friendship goes through a litmus test. I wish that Denver Public School (DPS) Board members would shed real tears for the continued failure of Latina/o children; better yet, I wish they would listen to the public will, the voices of the people who have had the courage to rant, rave, and organize and at times demand educational justice. The board’s unwillingness to practice good listening skills goes against the grain of democratic government. History has taught us that when the public will is not listened to, especially by public officials, the citizenry will do what is necessary to be heard, to wrestle power from the powerful.
Let’s set the record straight. DPS has always operated from a centralized administration model. It’s top down bureaucratic approach, especially in poor and even more so in People of Color neighborhoods, has not changed. Its machine counts on poor folk not to participate. When this happens, radical activism and a potpourri of nasty names are flung at members of those communities; names like bully, nonprofessional and you know the rest. DPS’s futile attempt to decentralize power through ex-governor Roy Romer in the 1990’s was a true innovation that became a sham. The Collaborative Decision Making Model was a successful failure. People who have power or the illusion of power seldom want to share it.
What Andrea Merida did was what we ask all students to do, their homework. She researched and discovered that she could legally be sworn in before the board meeting held on Monday, November 30th. She followed the rule of law. Merida wanted to be part of a conversation dealing with the future of our children and wanted to exercise her decision making powers as a newly elected official. She was very cognizant of the political ploy by the current board to make critical decisions about Northwest Denver schools and the movida to exclude the communities’ voices. I admire that kind of valor. I wish the other winners had done the same; then, community members might have witnessed group flagellation.
Merida will wear the label of radical activist until she behaves properly according to the power structure’s rules. She will be labeled as incorrigible, a raving lunatic, a rogue and a deviant including other choice names that the media have penned on her. She showed enough courage to stand up to a group of bullies that seemingly has lost its statutory commitment to the families and children it supposed to serve. But one thing is for certain, she can walk into those board meetings with pride and dignity.
The board’s major concern seems to be more about accessing Race to the Top dollars. No worry! Senator Michael Bennett in his bid to retain his senate seat will pave the way for this.
In its wisdom and to avert further blemish on its record, the DPS board decided to invite a healer to intervene and place board members on plush couches in a swanky hotel and undergo group psychoanalysis. Ironically the board attempted to circumvent the law and was called out by the same newspaper that humiliated Merida as it attempted to convene in a private family therapy session. Board members have been placed in time out.
I attended several meetings with Northwest Denver’s education activists and DPS’s newly elected officials prior to Monday (November 30) evening’s novela. The group simply wanted transparency, no sweetheart contracts and no back room deals. What they got was articulate non-commitment and fence riding. What they learned is that while on the campaign trail, wannabe politicians will tell people what people want to hear. When it comes time to go to recess, political hawks will play with those who they have made promises to.
There can be light at the end of the tunnel. Soon our DPS’s new board members including Nate Easley, a political greenhorn who managed to emerge as the new board president, will have to display their predilections. Andrea Merida, at the risk of being publically thrashed, openly displayed hers with courage. As the novela continues; let’s hope that irrationality doesn’t trump student’s educational needs.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an Independent Journalist.
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