Tonight on BTR News we will tackle the topic of forced school busing that has historically uprooted and disproportionately impacted black students and resources diverted away from predominately black communities towards schools in predominately white communities, just like during the days of Jim Crow school segregation. We will have a roundtable report from three panelists are opposed to similar actions in Crete Monee Community Unit School District 201U, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Cynthia Hudson-the original Plaintiff in the Consent Decree case, both Black Trustees of the Monee Township school board members Mo Brown and DR. Nakia Hall.
A Press Release says,
At The District 201U Committee of the Whole Meeting held on Tuesday, August 15th, 2018, District Business Manager Kenneth Surma announced his intentions to move forward with the demolition of the 6th Grade Center using all of the 2-million dollars of cash-on-hand currently held by the District, an action that is a precursor to the closing of Coretta Scott King International Baccalaureate Magnet School in University Park and Talala Elementary School in Park Forest in favor of Grade Centers being constructed in the white neighboring towns of Crete and Monee that will require Black students to be bused to elementary schools from University Park and Park Forest. Such a move would constitute a violation of the, now expired. University Park Consent Decree of nineteen-ninety-eight , where the court found that University Park students bore the burden of being bused out of their communities, disproportionally.
As a result of the racially disproportionate busing of students,
The Crete Monee High School is a part of the Board of Education School District 201-U that has been under Consent Decree since 1998 for “establish(ing), maintain(ing) and enforc(ing) attendance units, attendance policies and practices, and a one-way busing scheme which as had a disparate impact upon African-American community of University Park.’ read more
Tonight's panel is as follows.
DR. NAKIA HALL
Dr. Nakia Hall is a 9 1/2 year member of the Crete-Monee Board of Education. She is currently the longest seated member on the board and has served as President for 4 years, as well as Vice-President and Secretary. She is a long time resident of University Park with 4 children who have all attended Crete-Monee schools, and most specifically attended Coretta Scott King Magnet School. Dr. Hall can often be found advocating for students and educators on the local, state and national levels. She has served as an appointed educational expert on various educational committees and boards. An educator by trade, she also works as an educational consultant assisting with school leadership, school culture, student voice, family engagement and equity issues. Dr. Hall holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with an endorsement in English as a Second Language, Master of Arts in Professional Counseling and School Counseling, and an Educational Doctorate in Ethical Leadership.
MAURICE “MO” BROWN
Maurice "Mo" Brown wears several hats in the school District. A Senior Electrical Engineer by profession, he has been a taxpayer in the District for the past 27 years; has been a standing member of the District 201U school board for the past eight years;he has been a distinguished Trustee of Monee Township-the governing body for the 201U school district-for the past 10 years; and is a parent whose had three of his four now grown division I college graduated children to matriculate through the Crete-Monee High School. Mr. Brown was elected by the taxpayers to be a voice for all constituents.