Obstructionists would kill the Golden Goose Charlotte

The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners cannot allow the forces that would destroy the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system to succeed in their strategy of “death by a thousand cuts.”

Those forces don’t include those suburban parents who rightfully desire adequate space and facilities at the now crowded schools attended by their children.

But it does include the movement, with lingering ties to the pro-segregation era of our region’s history, which believes public schools are no longer desirable or indeed necessary.

Whether opposing equitable school spending or complaining about the school system’s diversity, their ultimate underlying solution is an end to public schools and imposition of education vouchers.

Why else would a county commissioner propose ignoring the facilities needs of inner city children, while catering to the new children whose parents were drawn here, ironically in part, because of our diversity. Those opposing the $618 million bond issue do so for the express purpose of ensuring the break-up of CMS. They would oppose any equitable bond package. Remember, these are the same forces which opposed the last bond and it was even less than any of the proposals on the table today.

If we allow CMS’s destruction, if their mission is accomplished, such a victory would slit the throat of the Golden Goose Charlotte.

It was community diversity and a demonstration that Charlotte represents the South’s future that helped create this city’s many economic successes. Those successes have drawn so many new families to us. New schools are needed in the suburbs because their employers put down roots here.

We are home to two of the largest banks in the nation and world. There’s more money deposited in this town than in any other in the nation, save New York City.

IBM, Transamerica, Microsoft, TIAA-CREF…. There’s an endless list of Fortune 500, national and international corporations with headquarters or major facilities here.

Charlotte is home to NFL and NBA franchises, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Discovery Place, Imaginon…

This is a place to raise a family, build a future.

Newcomers flock to our community. CMS is enrolling more than 4000 new students a year. This despite the “flight” everyone talks about these days.

This board must not allow opponents of an equitable bond package to kill the Golden Goose by neglecting the diverse communities for which Charlotte is known and respected.

 

Question of the Day

Can we close the educational achievement gap between black and white students and between poor and middle class students? Or, perhaps the better question, can we do so without fixing the troubled communities most of our failing students call home?

Question of the Day

Why are people poor?
Weigh in with your comments.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP branch has financial discord

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County NAACP branch is facing turmoil and discord relating to the management of branch finances, particularly its 2006 Ashanti Awards banquet.
The latest troubles began in September when the organization’s Ashanti Awards banquet was held. According to sources, several branch executive committee members questioned how the event was managed by former local chapter president Yvonne Pettis. The general membership voted in October to conduct an audit of branch finances.
Sources said, however, that when the executive committee’s audit committee began its financial review process they found a number of irregularities in how branch finances were being handled.
Among their concerns were the fact that all of finance records from the Ashanti Awards went to Pettis’s residence, rather than the branch address and that the executive committee could not get a full accounting of branch spending from then treasurer Danny Davis.
The audit committee includes Davis, and executive committee members Mary Covington, Geneal Gregory, Rev. Fred Gibson, Rickey Livingston and Branch president Kenneth White.
Davis was replaced in the branch’s November 2006 branch elections and subsequently closed the NAACP account he maintained. The branch has been unable to secure bank statements and other records from that account, according to sources.
Because of those irregularities, the branch executive committee has initiated proceedings under Article X of the NAACP by-laws which could result in the expulsion of Pettis and Davis. Such an expulsion would have to be approved by the NAACP.s National Board. An Article X action can only be initiated upon a request by 20 branch members, who must sign a petition requesting such an action.
According to unidentified members, an expulsion petition was signed and forwarded to state and national NAACP officials after financial records could not be gathered to conduct an audit of branch finances.
NAACP officials at the national and local level have been tight-lipped about the financial troubles.
White acknowledged that an audit had been requested at the urging of some board members, but refused to provide details about the irregularities.
Pettis responded to an e-mail request for comment by saying she had turned over to White her records and referred this reporter to White for any further comment.
Davis could not be reached for comment.
National NAACP officials said they would not comment either.
Sources said the audit was voted on by branch members in the October 2006 general membership meeting after questions were raised about the organization’s Ashanti Awards banquet a month earlier. While seeking financial information about the banquet, members learned that NAACP mail, including bank statements, were still going to the address of Pettis, who also headed the Ashanti Awards committee, sources said.
Those sources said Davis would not or could not produce a detailed financial accounting for the Ashanti Awards affair, including who donated funds to the event and how much was donated and spent on behalf of the NAACP branch.
When the requested financial accounting and supporting records were not produced by January 2007, branch members began the Article X proceedings, asking the state and national NAACP officials to investigate the situation and possibly suspend the memberships of Pettis and Davis.
An audit committee report obtained by this reporter listed more than a dozen alleged violations of the NAACP constitution by Davis. Among the alleged violations were refusal to verify membership reports for the branch secretary and failure to transfer membership fees to the National NAACP “on a timely basis.”
Other alleged violations include:
• “Signing of unauthorized checks in amounts exceeding $100.” (Sources said Davis was apparently the only signator on a number of NAACP checks, which normally require at least two signators – the treasurer and the branch president.)
• “Falsification of branch treasurer’s reports showing incorrect balances.”
• “Unauthorized use of his social security number on the branch NAACP bank account.”
• Unauthorized closure of the NAACP account on December 29, 2006 at Wachovia Bank…”
• Unauthorized opening of a new NAACP account without the signatures of the president and treasurer.
• “Used the past president’s address as physical address for the NAACP bank account.”
• “Signed (the) Ashanti program contract with the Westin Hotel using his name as contract holder, rather than the…(local) branch.”
When asked about the audit White indicated that once the audit was completed the results would be shared with the membership.