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San Diego Unified Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten, SDUSD Trustee Richard Barrera, SDUSD Trustee Sharon Whitehurst -Payne
San Diego Unified to Raise Black Lives Matter Flag, Commemorate Juneteenth
Quotes from Article:
San Diego Unified School District will raise the Black Lives Matter flag at its headquarters on Monday, and it will consider a board resolution Tuesday to annually recognize Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in America.
If the school board passes the Juneteenth resolution, which is expected, it will be the first time the district officially recognizes the holiday.
San Diego Unified is one of several public entities to commemorate Juneteenth. Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared Saturday as Juneteenth in California.
On Friday night the San Diego County Administration building and the California Capitol Dome were to be lit in red, black and green — colors that represent Pan-Africa and the African diaspora.
California has recognized Juneteenth since 2017.
And…
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when a Union general came to Galveston, Texas to proclaim the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. The holiday holds deep significance and is often referred to as the real Independence Day for Black Americans, but it has been relatively little known in the general public and is often missing from traditional history curricula in schools.
And…
The board’s resolution also will call for teachers “to teach the importance of Juneteenth and current movements such as ‘Black Lives Matter’ that advance liberation efforts for the Black community with classroom lessons throughout the year.”
And…
San Diego Unified will raise the Black Lives Matter flag Monday along with the pride and transgender flags, which the district raised for the first time last year.
District Deeds Synopsis:
How would white SDUSD Stakeholders react if the district decided to not acknowledge Independence Day for 40 years and then decide to celebrate the July 4th holiday on July 8th?
The San Diego Union Tribune article by Kristen Takata reports that “Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865” and the San Diego Unified School District has decided to actually acknowledge this special historical event on June 23rd.
The half-hearted, poorly planned, late observance of this important AMERICAN holiday is typical of the SDUSD under “whitebread” Superintendent Marten and Trustee Tricky Dick Barrera who continually reinforce by their systemic racist actions that they really believe “Black Lives DON’T Matter”.
The intent to not appropriately honor Juneteenth by Marten, Barrera and cronies is not through lack of knowledge of Juneteenth.
For the record, another article in the Union Tribune titled “The First Annual Juneteenth Celebration in San Diego Took Place 40 years Ago” on June 19, 2020 show that Juneteenth has been ignored by the SDUSD for the past 40 years.
LAST YEAR (ironically on June 23, 2019) District Deeds exposed the “willful ignorance” of incompetent “Literacy Expert” Superintendent Cindy Marten, her “White Woman Mafia” and the corrupt Board of Education for not acknowledging Juneteenth in any way in “SDUSD Juneteenth Neglect”
Here is what we posted June 23, 2019:
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Many families in San Diego celebrated Juneteenth this past week. The “Times of San Diego” posted an article titled “San Diego to Commemorate End of Slavery with Juneteenth Events” that provided details for Juneteenth celebrations.
Also this week, at the June 18th SDUSD Board of Education meeting (the day before Juneteenth), members of the Lincoln High School community protested the abrupt removal of the school site leadership without any community discussion…virtually an exact reproduction of the Malcolm X quote…ESS Marten, Tricky Dick Barrera and the rest of the SDUSD Board of Education including District E Trustee and Board President Sharon Whitehurst Payne “won’t even acknowledge that it is there”.
To prove our theory, we decided to check out the SDUSD website to see what references including curriculum, celebrations, press conferences honoring Juneteenth and other content was provided to acknowledge the Juneteenth holiday that has been recognized as a state holiday since 2003.
Here is what we found:
Surprise!
“Literacy Specialist” ESS Marten and her “White Woman Mafia“, with all of their supposed educational curriculum credentials have completely ignored one of the most important, if not the most important, holidays commemorating Black independence!!!
ALL SDUSD Stakeholders MUST hold Marten and her cronies responsible for their ethnic ignorance and willful omission of parent and community voice in making decisions that directly and negatively impact ALL Students.
Ignorance of Juneteenth by Marten, who holds a “Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction” is WILLFUL ignorance and grounds for her immediate termination.
She is a disgrace to the legacy of her office and to the legacy of the thousands of SDUSD allumnus and employees that have fought for equity and education for ALL.
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Since we have been publishing District Deeds it has been apparent that the Marten Kakistocracy that embraces systemic racism is a reality. For instance, Marten and the SDUSD Board of Education have annually resisted officially naming February “Black History Month” despite outcries from Ms. Francine Maxwell and other community advocates to do so for the last six years at least.
This PAST MONTH we have had brave community and organization Leaders and Parents step forward to expose the systemic racism being continuously implemented and supported by Marten and her White Woman Mafia.
Mr. Roosevelt Blackmon on District Deeds June 7, 2020 said:
Please stop and take your knees off our children necks with unfair racial policy and inequity toward the Southeastern Division/District E.
Over 40 years you have systematically divided this community. When are you going to put children first instead of adults? Your narrative has been “We are for all children.”
Really?
I become ill every time I hear this statement from the San Diego Unified School District Superintendent and Board of Education Trustees.
Talk is cheap…actions speak louder than words!
Neighbors, Allies, Friends and Family of SDUSD Southeastern Division/District E:
We can no longer turn a blind eye to condone this double-talk from the Superintendent and Board of Education. Our community is slowly dying because of disenfranchised Latinx and African American children through continued misappropriation of Title I funds.
On June 7, 2020 on District Deeds, NAACP San Diego Chapter President Francine Maxwell posted an open letter to the SDUSD that listed 15 “terrible instances of racial and sexual injustices” under Supt. Cindy Marten and said:
On June 4, 2020, California State Superintendent Tony Thurman implored educators to address the current status of race relations in our society by having “hard discussions about race, bigotry and implicit predisposition.” Richard Barrera, the vice president of the San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees agreed with Thurman’s plea and described his district as leading the effort to establish “Ethnic Studies,” wherein school leaders listen to students “about what we can do better, how we can do better, and we engage in those conversations and do it in a way that doesn’t assume we have all the answers.”
Sounds like a great plan . . . problem is, Trustee Barrera, the rest of the School Board and Superintendent Cindy Marten have done just about everything possible to undermine any and all efforts to effectively address racial and gender problems in the district . . . including dismantling a team of leaders who specialized in this very specific work.
In the 2016-2017 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) document, San Diego Unified School District’s Race and Human Relations Department (RHRA) was mentioned no less than 16 TIMES as assisting the district personnel in accomplishing specific goals related to student achievement. For example, the RHRA team is listed as providing opportunities for stakeholders in “cultural proficiency, restorative circles and academic expectation experiences.” Also, according to the document, the RHRA department “participated in the development of the Ethnic Studies course and in curriculum vetting to ensure cultural relevance of district materials.”
With the Race and Human Relations Department being featured so prominently in the superintendent’s LCAP document, one must wonder why it was one of the only departments ABOLISHED by the Superintendent Cindy Marten during the 2017 budget cuts. In June, the RHRA program manager position was eliminated and the remaining staff was dispersed to other positions around the district. The RHRA department had existed for over 20 years in the district, through numerous superintendents, only to have some of its important work doled out to an external agency and the rest halfheartedly reconceptualized in Cindy Marten’s ever-expanding bureaucracy. This disrespectful move is an absolute slap in the face to the decades of equity work that occurred before Ms. Marten’s tenure.
And…
“Even worse, a list of more than two dozen outstanding educational leaders of color have departed from the San Diego Unified School District during Superintendent Marten’s tenure. These leaders continued to advocate for students of color and provide excellent work to their new communities—truly unacceptable losses for the San Diego Unified School District.”
And then on June 15, 2020, we learned the systemic racist practices of the corrupt, unethical and incompetent Cindy Marten regime exposed by Mr. Blackmon and Ms. Maxwell had a massive negative impact on the daughter of Lincoln High School Parent, Ms. Zuri Williams, who said “They Killed her Ivy League Scholarship Consideration“:
“I’m not sure if it’s the lack of diversity among high level administrators – no one in high positions has any former or current investment in the success of students from this underserved, financially stunted part of San Diego or if plain old hateful racism is to blame. Regardless of the reason for blocking student success, my daughter’s senior year was completely ruined. When she looks back at her 2020 school days, it WILL NOT be COVID-19, the over-policing violence, or even the world wide protests which will mar her memories. She will remember that Lincoln High School went out of its way to crush her dreams.”
And…
“An AP Calculus class containing less than 11 students was abruptly cancelled two weeks before the end of the semester and end of the quarter in December of 2019, and my daughter was placed in a ceramics class. This took place without a word, letter, email, text, or phone call to notify me about a change to her schedule. She came home from school and told me what happened that day. Please be reminded this is her SENIOR year. I subsequently learned she would not receive a grade for either class.
I spent the rest of that week with Lincoln on redial. I lost time at work trying to reach anyone to beg for reinstatement of the class. After realizing I wouldn’t be ignored, I was rebuffed by Clayton Ballard, lied to by Stephanie Brown, and given the run around by Cindy Marten until I ascended the ladder of authority. After getting the message that I’d contact the State if I couldn’t reach them, my calls were answered.
Sorrowful, Cindy “give me the money” Marten, Clayton “hide student sex abuse” Ballard, and Stephanie “loves to call the police on Black passersby” Brown could have started cutting anywhere but chose to begin with advanced Math. Since the merry band of oppressors have zero expectation of student success, it actually makes sense that they value ceramics over STEM.
The interrupted AP Calculus class disrupted her entire schedule with only two weeks left in the semester. Altogether, it’s been of no consequence that deliberate and conscious decisions were made to hinder the education process because the decision makers at Lincoln have no value for the student body nor the surrounding community. All of my begging and pleading eventually got the class somewhat reinstated.
My daughter would not only have been short of credits, but also the weighted AP score towards her GPA, and the knowledge – you know, actual education- she needed at the most crucial time of her life. Her plan to attend a prestigious University would have ceased to exist. They successfully killed her Ivy League scholarship consideration, the fruition of my biggest fear.”
After ALL this community of color feedback in the midst of 27 days of continuous protests regarding racial equity, transparency and accountability, where was Superintendent Cindy Marten, her White Woman Mafia and Board of Education response to the community on Juneteenth?
After we posted our District Deeds Juneteenth post around 12 noon on June 19, 2020 we checked the SDUSD website main page to see how the SDUSD “honored” the historic date:
Absolutely nothing!
Then we decided to check the disgusting propaganda arm of the Marten regime…the infamous SDUSD “Newscenter”:
No surprise…nothing there either.
Less than 2 hours later, after being exposed by District Deeds, the multi-million dollar propaganda “Newscenter” finally sent out a rushed news release telling the press that the SDUSD Board of Education would be taking action to acknowledge Juneteenth at a board meeting on June 23, 2020…FOUR DAYS AFTER the historic 155th anniversary!
Where was Superintendent Cindy Marten and her White Women Mafia advisors in planning and recognition for Juneteenth in the months before Juneteenth?
Just like the total lack of distance learning planning prior to the 59 Instructional day LOSS during the Marten Educational Sandimic.
JUNETEENTH PLANNING WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!
Apparently since almost ALL Marten advisors are white and the “others” are afraid of Marten retribution, it apparently never came up,
Where were the plans for Juneteenth on the the Board of Education agenda at their JUNE 16th MEETING…3 days before the June 19th Juneteenth 155th Anniversary?
NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.
Where was incumbent District E Board of Education candidate, Trustee Sharon Whitehurst Payne regarding Juneteenth at the June 16, 2020 board meeting?
As usual, Payne made no effort to stand up for her District E Community and DEMAND district-wide acknowledgment of Juneteenth.
As usual, like her last 4 years in office, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!
Payne appeared passively by as a puppet for corrupt Trustee Richard “Tricky Dick” Barrera in the June 16th meeting demanding nothing for Juneteenth and her community!
The lack of consideration and respect for the SDUSD African American Community by the corrupt Marten, her White Women Mafia, Tricky Dick Barrera, Payne and the rest of their Trustee and senior staff cronies is disgusting and unforgivable.
So today, June 21, 2020, just before publishing this post, we decided give them one last chance and search the SDUSD website one last time for the deserved acknowledgment of Juneteenth…
Just like our search during the last 6 years of the Marten regime for competency, transparency, accountability and REAL racial equity in the SDUSD, our “search yielded no results”
This unethical, immoral and corrupt behavior by Marten, Barrera, Payne and the rest of their gang cannot be allowed to continue.
#martensgottago
#barrerasgottago
#paynesgottago
VOTE!!!
Now for our Quote of the Week:
“We’re in denial of the African holocaust. Most times, people don’t want to talk about it. One is often restless or termed a racist just for having compassion for the African experience, for speaking truth to the trans-Atlantic and Arab slave trades, for speaking truth to the significant omission of our history. We don’t want to sit down and listen to these things, or to discuss them. But we have to.” – Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X.
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ESS Marten Sandimic Motto:
Hardly Work, Act Blind, Lie Big, Make Excuses
#martensgottago
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IF
- Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
- YOU ARE TIRED OF THE COVER UPS AND LIES BY SUPT. CINDY MARTEN…
Please Click the Link Below and sign the Petition Today and READ the COMMENTS to Support the REMOVAL of Marten by SDUSD Stakeholders!
District Deeds 