Fpru Poor School System Organization Will Lead to Further Educational Problems In a new school assignment plan, we should be taking a good look at the major problems schools face and the \j|ay the system is organized. We are and have Ijcen faced with ever-increasing disrespect for flthority in our schools. Many of the staffs in mir schools are powerless because of disconnected and disrup tive students. In many of our schools from 5% to 10% of the students reek havoc on teachers and especially principals or their assistants. The amount of time it takes in an average school to deal with problem students can be as much as 60% of their daily work. It is time for the superintendent and the board to take a firm position on violence, drugs, and all the negative behaviors that dis We need educators who will assure that all children are treated equally and demand that they will not tolerate disruptions and poor per formance.. We also need parents who will be respon sible and demand that their children be respect ful and school-oriented. We cannot let Reeboks, gold chains, earrings in ears of our young black males, $200 starter jackets, ragged and torn-up -looking clothes be the norm for our children. We as adults have somehow let what children want and do get out of hand. When we let all this continue, the values of life become mis-directed, and our children begin to place their values on worldly things and not on education and good citizenship. rupt the instructional process in schools. It is also time to put in place a sensible plan for training teachers about other cultures. In reorganizing, we need to look care fully at the place GENEVA SAYS By GENEVA BROWN ment of students in this country. When the sys tem reorganized in 1984 nobody really cared about the proper placement and spread of stu dents. In District I we find most BEH students, dropouts, single-family homes, public housing communities, and possibly the largest percent age of suspensfons in the system. Those who governed the scluxils in 1984 arc responsible for much of the current disarray ? of our schools. In devising an assignment plan * they literally destroyed the inner-city schools. They threw away the positive and cultural ref erences blacks could relate to. This in effect ' made many black parents and black students distrust the system. ?The busing of ail young blacks out of their setting for all of 13 years is almost criminal. If the board had been truly concerned with the welfare of children, they would have divided - tht^cMmMtfar y scftwls equally in the county in 1 <#84. Let us hope that this new plan will be one that addresses the need for inner'-city schools rightly. There are still some on the board who were a part of the 1984 fiasco. Let us watch where their senses lie when the new plan unfolds. Much of the Violc rice in schools Comes from those who feel no conncction or respect for the system and to those who teach. Yes, many other factors play a part in the violence and disrespect for authority in our schools: unemployment, poor housing, failing family values and the like. Until this school system reorganizes with some sense, we can expect the same old things to be happening: violence, drug abuse, disre spect for authority, and a general non-caring attitude from the students who attend our schools. We need to look carefully at the schools in District 1; the student population from it and how they are placed throughout the system; thp number of special education classes it has compared with District T, the kind of resources these schools have that house most of the special education students; and where the assignment of minority principals are in the system. As long as we have a school system run by three white males ? and not a top minority administrator, male or female ? to give input concerning almost 40% of the population, we as a thriving community will continue to have -schools that are full of violence. Parents want schools that are safe, educa tionally sound and user friendly. They want schools that show respect for all students, schools that give equal treatment in learning, and schools that they can understand and be proud of as they watch their children grow and mature. Schools can be this way if, as a board and administrative staff, we pay attention to the real issues of educating children. The author is a member of the Winston Salem/Forsyth County School Board. Clinton May Be Using Familiar Tactics , Never have two black justices sat on the U.S. Supreme Court at the same time. But with a liberal, pro-civil rights president in the White House and a black, conservative, anti civil rights justice on the Supreme Court, don't be shocked if you beam that one of the first justice on the Supreme Court, don't be shocked if you leam that one of the first three nominees Bill Clinton designates for Supreme Court membership will be black. Several factors indicate that Clinton would name a black person to serve concur rently with Clarence Thomas on the high court: ? Black people in 1992 gave Clinton 83 formance was outstanding. Soon this man was appointed to a federal judgeship in which he served with distinction. When a vacancy on the Supreme Court occurred, Johnson appointed that man, Thurgood Marshall, to the U.S. Supreme Court. A similar but shorter route of grooming was used to "set the stage" for Clarence Thomas. He dutifully performed his chores as a Reaganite and Bush hatchet man, making choices and rendering decisions contrary to the interest of the black, the aged and the poor. He kowtowed to far-right zealots, jettisoning whatever pride and integrity he may have had, and they supported his candidacy for a seat on percent of their vote. White people and others, includ ing non-black vot ers. split equally giving Clinton ani Bush about 40 per cent. MINORITY REPORT By JAMES E. ALSBROOK ? Clinton wants ? """" ? a friendly Supreme Court that would affirm liberal ideas and vali date their legality. ? When opponents say blacks would be over-represented with two black justices and validate their legality. ? When opponents say blacks would be over-represented with two black justices, Clin ton could respond that Clarence Thomas is beholden to Reagan. Bush. Strom Thurman and Jesse Helms, all far-right reactionaries who oppose blacks' interests. ? Jews, another recognizable minority, have had at least five men on the Supreme Court, two of them, sitting at the same time, 1932 to 1938. Jews constitute only 2.5 percent of the total U.S. population but blacks consti tute more than 13 percent. Clinton already may have adopted the same tactics that Lyndon Johnson used. First, Johnson found a pro-civil rights lawyer with a solid public service and NAACP background and nominated him to be a solicitor general, the government's top trial lawyer. His appoint ment was approved. Being solicitor general gave Johnson's chosen man high public visibility and high sta tus in legal and political circles'. His name recognition became quite strong and his per the Supreme Court. Clinton already has a list of friendly Democrat, mainstream lawyers from whom to select a successor to Justice Byron White, who resigned. But Clinton also has selected an outstand ing black lawyer and has nominated him to be solicitor general. This job was the first stop on the route that Lyndon Johnson used to send Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. The next stop Johnson used was appointment to a prestigious federal court with work loads, cases and other characteristics similar to those of the Supreme Court. The same "finishing" process seems to be afoot again for the present solicitor general nominee, Drew Sanders Days III, a black lawyer with excellent academic and professional credentials and excellent Democratic party connections. . Days is a professor of law at Yale. Among other things, he has been first assistant attor ney general, U.S. Department of Justice; first assistant general counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; and assistant professor of law at Temple U. Earlier, he was a Peace Corps volunteer and an A.C.L.U. vol unteer. He has worked in private practice with strong mainstream legal firms. I GOT T I REP OF TRY/NO 70 OORRALUNPERGRAPUATE&INTO THE CAMfUS CHAPEL. THE/ JUST UJEREtiTlNTOrT. soipec/pep ID START FROM SCRATCH OUT HERB. "cSN^? OF COURSE, THEM'S LOTS OF COMPETI T/ON IN THE AREA - OVER 30 CHURCHES. SO THE FIRST THING I DfPMS RECRUIT A FOCUS GROUP. A FOCUS GROUP * FOR A CHURCH? HZY, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE AfVSTLES \ IVBRZfOR* EVBN JESUS NE&PEP FEEDBACK, \ htm SOHOWV YOURNBW CHURCH 6ET STARJBP, I NEEPEP SOMETHING AERO- 10 ATTRACT RXKSFROM bics ? THscotmjNrry. thb FOCUSGROUPSU6GESEP U UJORKEP, SOZAPPEP YOGA ANP BINGO, ANT? THEN A FEW t 2- STEP PRO GRAMS, ANP THEN ME OPEN EP A SOUP KITCHEN, WHICH LEP TO OOOKJNG LESSONS. SOUJHERE'P I BUILT IT. THE KXJ6ETTHE CHIMNEY CUAS COOL SPIRE , CRUMBLING, SOI REVf JUST COVER#?? V IT/ IP/ HERES WHERE HJE HAVE SERVICES ~\ IN YOUR 0U> UVING ROOM. THE KITCHEN WPVE CONVERTEP INTO -A MRENTM6 SKIU& C&NTB8~? \ SO HAVE NO, NO, I'M STILL YOU HAP TO IN THE PROJECTS 6IVE UP EVERY MY ANP I'M WORKING ALSCSTh urn kips, SCOT* THB STATE PRISON'. ALGn