Asheville city council’s last school board appointments were worse than disappointing. Superintendent Robert Logan quit shortly thereafter, and a lot of teachers think it had to do with the politics behind the appointments. Logan, who is Black, even indicated that council was only concerned with race. Council was accused by many of harboring a delusion that more Black females on the board would do something to prevent Black males from dropping out in droves.
Appointed to the board were Precious Folston, who applied only after the second extension, and Jacquelyn Hallum. Folston was a fireball with lots of spunk, and Hallum’s most memorable comments in her public interview pertained to retrenching school chefs to learn how to cook with less fatty oils. Losing out was John Legerton, a former member of the board with a resume jam-packed with real and pertinent academic credentials. At least this year’s winners, unlike last year’s, did not submit applications riddled with grammatical errors.
Dr. Carl Mumpower cast only one vote, though he was allowed two. He voted for Folston because he wanted to see passion about the 70% African-American male dropout rate. One disgruntled teacher protested, stating the numbers Mumpower was using came from a flawed study conducted at UNC-A under the directorship of a former school board member, and he wished somebody would set the public straight. The state only publishes data (See p. 34.) on dropout rates broken down by race or gender. It does not say how many Black males, white females, etc. dropped out. Neither the total number of Blacks nor the total number of males dropping out equals 70% of their respective category. 67% of dropouts, however, are males.
A number of teachers thought the two appointees were incompetent, and some went so far as to accuse Mumpower of sabotaging the board to force Logan to resign. Mumpower is now wanting to initiate discussions about electing school board members. Whereas Mumpower was concerned about the dropout rate, which is abysmal nonetheless; Holly Jones asked candidates what they intended to do about the obesity crisis, and Robin Cape asked what role the schools should play in economic development. It matters not that children are being imprisoned in violent, drug-infested schools (or so I was told by a few dropouts) so they can learn about anger management and condoms. What matters is that they feel good about themselves as they master their incompetencies.