Detroit Civil War: DPS Board Members Do Not Care About The Children by Akindele Akinyemi

As time dwindles for the state representative races in the 7th district we are now seeing why Detroit Public School Board Member Jimmy Womack is running. He wants to protect the "funding" for DPS. DPS receives over $1.4 billion annually. What protection is he talking about?

Now Mayor Kilpatrick is supporting Jimmy Womack through Mike Turner. Also, we know that State Sen. Buzz Thomas is supporting Womack and have been doing robocalls on his behalf. But Buzz is suspect and Womack is suspct as well. What the hell is relaly going on with Womack and how come he is sending elders out in the district putting lawn signs down on people's personal property when these people are clearly voting for Carol Weaver.

You see there is a serious difference between Jimmy Womack and Carol Weaver. How can ANYONE THINK ABOUT sending Jimmy Womack to Lansing when he is solely responsible for this:

1. The Detroit School District as a whole did not make AYP this year at all. From elementary to high school.

2. On May 16, 2008 it was reported that Detroit Public Schools faced a $45 million deficit. Later, the deficit has reached $65 million deficit. The reality is DPS is $600 million in the red.

3. The DPS student population was 157,003 for the 2002-2003 school year, and has fallen to 106,485 for the 2007-2008 school year. This number is going to drop under 100,000 for the first time since 1918 to pave the way for more charter schools.

4. Detroit Public Schools will close 95 schools by 2009. Where are the children going to go?

5. The plan to secure and close 67 schools has been called "botched" and incomplete after $3 million spent on the task, with nearly half of the schools not having been cleaned out, and a football field of materials being warehoused. The process has been plagued by vandalism and theft. Redford High School on the city's west side has broken windows.

6. The district sought labor union concessions of $105 million, and the Detroit Federation of Teachers expects 300-500 teachers to retire or resign this summer. Additionally, principals and assistant principals will not receive the second half of their raises expected this year. Who will lead DPS in the fall?

7. 450 more teachers were laid off, a championship chess team with a budget in previous years of $120,000 was defunded, and teachers without Spanish language skills were moved to bilingual schools to replace laid off teachers.

8. In 2006, The Detroit News condemned teacher's complaints regarding closing schools, saying that the teachers themselves know there is a problem with DPS, and that teachers are more likely than the general public to send their kids to private schools. So how come Womack has a problem with more charter schools opening since DPS charter schools already.

9. August, 2007, the Michigan Department of Education fined Detroit Public Schools $6 million for operating an illegal alternative schools program.

10. Only 24% of DPS students graduate from high school ON TIME.

Yet, people are going to vote for him because he is a radio personality. We do not need radio personalities going to Lansing we need Carol Weaver, who has a proven track record on business development, education and helping the common family in her district understand that government is a part of the people and people should be involved in crafting policies that work for them. That is what Carol Weaver is all about.

Now Jimmy Womack is not running for re-election in 2009 for the Detroit School Board many suspect that he is running for state representative to dodge the crisis in DPS or make his move for Detroit City Council in 2009. Whatever he decides to do we want to make sure he never sees Lansing as a state representative. And I do not understand why he is going around the district talking about how his daughters graduated from Mumford when Mumford H.S. is a gay and lesbian mill for young teens in the city. Is Womack trying to reveal something to us? Buzz Thomas is supporting him, daughters went there and almost everyone who I talk to in DPS tell me that Womack has sugar in his tank. The question is is it white sugar or brown sugar?

Do you want to send someone with sugar in his tank to Lansing? Or do you want to send a solider for the people to Lansing?

The United Church of Christ supports the following resolution that was passed July 2005 in Atlanta, GA:

The resolution "In support of equal marriage rights for all", supported by an estimated 80% of the 884 General Synod Delegates, made the United Church of Christ General Synod the first major Christian deliberative body in the U.S. to make a statement of support for "equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender," and is hitherto the largest Christian denominational entity in the U.S. supporting equal marriage rights. According to Rev. John H. Thomas, the president and general minister of the denomination, which has 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members, he felt that the United Church of Christ has courageously acted to declare freedom, affirming marriage equality, affirming the civil rights of gay - of same-gender - couples to have their relationships recognized as marriages by the state, and encouraging our local churches to celebrate those marriages.

While Dr. Womack has a Masters of Divinity degree from Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago one can only wonder what is his real positions on family as it pertains to marriage between man and woman. Of course, many professional men are going to come out and speak on how they love their wives but leave their wives at home only to roam the streets at night seeking a piece of ass from a man. Some of these brothers who are Black men and are active in politics I have caught red-handed in bars in both Downtown Detroit, Southfield, Birmingham, Pontiac and Downtown Royal Oak. Because Dr. Womack aligns himself with the United Church of Christ he also aligns himself with the support of gay and lesbian marriages within his own denomination.

It all begin to make sense to me now. Gay and Lesbian gangs are running rampant in Detroit Public Schools and as Board President Dr. Womack is silent on the crisis. I have never heard him talk about family development in Detroit Public Schools openly. I also never heard him talk about ending those same sex gangs as well as the heterosexual gangs. Dr. Womack knows that sex and money is what makes the Detroit Public Schools run on full. My question is which one does Dr. Womack falls under? Sex or Money or BOTH?

However, he is president of the Coalition Inc. (Circle Of Hope – 1992), an organization founded by Dr. Womack and his wife, the late Dr. Sophie Womack. It is an outlet for their deep concerns about the incidence of domestic violence. The non-profit organization has raised more than a million dollars to help combat morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) among Detroit's children.

If he is that serious about his work then how come he never took any initiative while he was board president? What kickbacks did he take? In fact, the very person he should have been helping is his fellow minister on the school board Rev. David Murray. You know his ass is crazy when you legally change your name to Reverend and starve your wife and children in the University District of Detroit.

Unlike Dr. Weaver who is running for state representative in District 7 because she has a love for children and seniors in the district I view Dr.Womack as an opportunist. Remember, this is the same person who was targeted for a recall effort by fellow candidate Michelle Gibson. However, she said Womack was on the Mildred Gaddis Show talking about how Womack was asking parents to send their children to charter schools.

The thing with Womack, Gibson and others in this race talking about charter schools are extremely suspect. Talking to Womack about charter schools is like negotiating with the devil. Gibson wants to keep our children in failing public schools. If Womack cannot even come out in public as an elected official to discuss family policies in DPS then what the hell is he going around saying this type of mess? Meanwhile, Carol Weaver, who is unbought, untainted, and completely unbossed, is the only candidate in this race that should discuss educational choices from a family, academic and economic development perspective.

Michele Gibson (who is also running for state representative in District 7 as a Detroit Federation of Teachers candidate) stated this in the Michigan Citizen in 2005:

"You cannot be president of the school board and advocate for charter schools. Every child deserves an equal chance, and all parents cannot afford to send their children out of the district.”

Without a shadow of a doubt this is a very ignorant statement from Ms. Gibson. If DPS would charter schools this would be a non-issue.

Also. State Rep. Virgil Smith is supporting Womack. Womack's style of politics consists of disrespecting the elderly and woman as well as being a flamboyant dresser with all his loud colors. Carol Weaver is the exact opposite.

Is Womack really going to Lansing to save children or protect Gay and Lesbian laws on the books since he is slowly coming out of the closet?

What's worse is if you look at District 11 look who is running in that seat. This is Jimmy Womack's good friend anti-charter school advocate Annie Carter.

If you think Womack is incompetent you should look at the person running in this race. This is why I have Jeanean M. Bryant running against her for State Representative.

Now Annie Carter and Jimmy Womack are the ones who voted to bring in Dr. Connie Calloway and approved of her $280,000 a year salary. Since then DPS has gotten worse. 200 schools have closed under Annie Carter's watch and while she is aiming to close more schools Jeanean Bryant is aiming to open MORE schools. Not just trying to open DPS schools but schools in general. A friend to the educational choice movement Jeanean understands the need for more competition in our city.

Carter has continued to allow Armark to receive millions and billions of dollars of the districts money for services that they have not did. Not to mention that she is a complete idiot when it comes to educational policies. Carter was an attendance officer in DPS before going to the school board. Attendance has been dropping in DPS rapidly and now she wants to go to Lansing. Not on our watch as educational choice advocates.

And you have to be joking for anyone to take Terry Catching seriously. Look closer into this man's crystal ball and it will be revealed that the only reason why he is running for state representative is to keep his name out for the State Senate seat in 2010 (or before if Martha G. Scott wins her primary against Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick on August 5). Watch this guy run for Detroit City Council next year. This man does not pay any child support and does not care about the children. This is why we are supporting Rep. Bert Johnson in this race.

The reality is this. All three of the DPS Board members who are running are running because of this bill that was introduced by Rep. Bettie Cook Scott.

Introduced House Bill 5765 to reduce from 100,000 to 75,000 the number of students that qualify a school district as a “school district of the first class.” Detroit is the only such district, which is a statutory device to allow the Detroit School District to be exempted from a variety of regulations that apply to other districts, and receive special treatment in other ways.

This bill is the most asinine bill I have ever seen coming out of Lansing. It's not even clearly thought out. This is why we have Carol Banks running against Rep. Scott who has stated openly that she will prevent any additional charter schools in the City of Detroit. That is a open declaration of war on every single educational choice advocate in Detroit. And this is the reason why Rep. Scott will serve one term that will conclude on August 5.

This is the same Bettie Cook Scott who threw a lawn sign at a resident in broad daylight because the resident told Scott not to place her lawn sign on her grass. This is the same Rep. Scott that is lying about who is endorsing her because she cannot gain any support from her base. The weaker Scott is getting the stronger Banks is growing each passing day. A friend to the educational choice movement in our city and region we know that Carol Banks will support choices for our children and parents.

We are urging these last 2 weeks to get behind Dr. Carol Weaver in District 7, Jeanean M. Bryant in District 11, Rep. Bert Johnson in District 5 and Carol Banks in District 3. They are the ones that support educational choices and competition in our city. All of these candidates place God and family first. They are not running for the hell of it. They are running to save children in their districts.

As for Jimmy Womack, Annie Carter and Terry Catchings they are no more than trying to be career politicians. Detroit has suffered enough under this foolishness and we would be fools to elect any of these tired, selfish, and greedy elected officials to Lansing. If they cannot solve a deficit then why should they serve in Lansing? We are NOT allowing ANY DPS Board member to be elected to the State House. They are not Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman (who used the same springboard to jump from DPS Board to State Representative back in 1998).

When all three are defeated this year then we will come back in 2009 to knock off Annie Carter and Terry Catchings (Womack is not running for re-election because he is running for Detroit City Council). Detroit Public Schools need a new board that thinks along the lines of the free market. This purging of weak and docile leadership falls under our Covenant for Detroit platform.