Cathi Forbes
Parents were out in force Tuesday night in support of Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance in the wake of a controversy over a tweet.
After the presidential election, Dance shared an educator’s tweet that encouraged empathy for minority students and any “non-white” students.
In an op-ed, BCPS board member Ann Miller, who has long been a critic of Dance, called for his resignation.
“Even if Mr. Dance feels his post was justified, he should recognize the division this is causing in our school system, county and beyond. He should have taken it down, even if he chose not to apologize. A petition calling for Mr. Dance’s termination has garnered over 2,400 signatures in a matter of a few days,” she wrote. “I have had BCPS parents tell me their student was bullied because they supported Donald Trump, and I have had numerous BCPS teachers tell me they were offended by the retweet.”
But at Tuesday’s board meeting, parents and students struck back.
Rona Kobell
“Dr. Dance was not saying that white students don’t need empathy. He was suggesting that vulnerable students need an extra eye,” Rona Kobell, the mother of two BCPS students, told the board.
“If we had more empathy for minorities we would not have just had the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht, we would not have had a Trail of Tears, we would not have had Jim Crow, little girls would not have been burned to death in a Birmingham church. Dr. Dance understands how it feels to walk in these students’ shoes. He exercised his free speech to stand up for these students,” Kobell said. “I am proud to send my children to a school where the top leader leads through a lens of equity. My question to those who oppose him is: Why aren’t you?”
June Keating
June Keating, a 10th grader at Towson High, said she is “not Dr. Dance’s biggest fan,” but she felt the re-tweet was appropriate.
“I am a white BCPS student and I can say with 100 percent certainty that the tweet was not racist against myself or any other students. I fully support the message that Dr. Dance is sending to educators, which is that we must show students of all races that we will protect them when their rights have been threatened,” she said. “Having witnessed first hand the fear being experienced by non-white students at my school, I am grateful to have a superintendent who is willing to address these issues in a peaceful way.”
And Cathi Forbes, a long-time school activist and head of Towson Families United, said Miller’s call to get rid of Dance was “outrageous and ridiculous and a waste of all of our time.”
“Ms. Miller, you’ve used your energy to first try to find a way to make the Board not renew Dr. Dance’s contract. Then when you failed at that, you continued to look for any conceivable way of having him dismissed. Dr. Dance’s administration, while not perfect, has done good work. And yet you seem to view your role as an obstructionist even when no obstruction is called for. This greatly undermines your credibility,” Forbes said.
“You took your seat at this table with a political agenda. And I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had enough of politics for now,” Forbes said. “It’s time to put aside agendas and turn our attention back to the reason we’re all in this room tonight: for the children.”
To see a video of these and other speakers, which start at the 31-minute mark, visit http://www.bcps.org/video/liveStream.html. (Disregard the June date; just click “watch again” for the Nov. 22 meeting.)
Unfortunately (or fortunately, for some), the retweet issue (and the drummed up drama about it) served well to bury the real story that was occurring at the exact time of the latest ethics issue: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-co-dance-ethics-20161121-story.html Also unfortunate is that not a single reporter picked up on a little detail from Liz Bowie’s article (maybe not even Ms. Bowie, herself) which is that what the Superintendent said was the intended purpose of the LLC – versus the actual registered description of that LLC – are not exactly compatible. Moreover, that little detail also serves as a reminder of the previous ethics violation for SUPES Academy. What the public does not know, however, is that Dr. Dance also seems to have had a history with a completely different company during that exact time period and yet failed to mention THAT too: Synesi Associates. While SUPES Academy employed Dr. Dance as a consultant and master teacher for current and aspiring principals and superintendents for their professional development (outside of Baltimore County Public Schools), Synesi had its own very specific function for schools within school systems. And while owned and operated by the proprietors of SUPES Academy, Synesi Associates was a completely separate entity with an entirely different mission. Synesi was a company founded by Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas in 2001 to “…help K-12 institutions assess, determine, develop and implement reform strategies in order to improve student achievement. Our holistic approach to turnaround services provides nourishment and support for financial, operational, and educational… Read more »
I’m glad people spoke about this. I hope these and other advocates will speak up, equally loudly, about the very serious concerns regarding BCPS across many other areas.