Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church

SOME THINGS ARE JUST UNFAIR – The Better Government Association Report is one of them!

 – Robert C. Jones, Jr. Pastor of the Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois

It is unfortunate that our Chicago Teachers and Paraprofessionals are being “Characterized” by the so-called, Better Government Association concerning pay out, not pay offs of unused accumulated sick days, also known as “deferred compensation”.

It would seem that all of the analysis and solution strategies would be a part of the economic climate and not the political climate. It is unfortunate than an organization would spend its time and money making a determination that receiving deferred compensation, relative to accumulated sick days is abuse.

It would have been fair, to acknowledge the discovered landscape of accumulated sick days among the teachers and paraprofessionals and propose sitting down and discussing profession-respectful, economic, cost saving ways of dealing with the situation.

I say SITUATION, because, as far as I am concerned, it is not a PROBLEM. How can anyone of good conscience, the BGA or anyone else, say that because, NUMBER 1; You report in for work, every or most days, Number 2; You have accrued the contractually allotted sick days (10 per year) that have been granted you, and NUMBER 3; Because they (sick days) did not expire, and you collected your contractually earned deferred compensation.

It is just unfair that the BGA report makes our teachers and paraprofessionals look suspect, during these times of economic crises.

Children are our most precious resource. We as Christian Pastors and Religious-Faith Leaders at every level are charged with protecting our children from the world's bitterness, hurt, neglect, despair, rage, as well as misguided public policies. The Potential and constantly changing number of closing neighborhood schools is not the way to improve student performance. Unfortunately, this is just another attempt at a quick fix proposed by an unelected and therefore unaccountable Board of Education that does not want to learn how neighborhood schools play a vital role in community.

Our Students, who need the most help in our City, receive little if any help and end up being labeled as failures, along with their parents and teachers. We must take a stand for our youth and fight for the resources they need. The Board of Education's policies adversely impact African-American students, who always bear the brunt of these actions and policies, which economically cripple our communities and perpetuate poverty.

• Most students who were transferred out of "under-performing" schools ended up in other poorly performing schools.
• Most students will have to travel an average of 3.5 miles to their assigned school, causing difficulties for their parents, especially if these are elementary aged children.
• After transfer to another school, performance of the students has been found to remain on the same trajectory as before...who's fault is it NOW!
• I am not naive, there is the need for improvement for all parties involved - Policy-making, Administrative, Facilities, Faculty, and Staffing.

However, our communities, can not allow ourselves to be told that the only solution presented is the best one. We should not allow ALL of our Teachers, Union Leaders and Representatives to be demonized by City Leaders via the Media.

All Children deserve equal access to quality education. All children need a longer and better day, one that includes a rich broad curriculum, to include, art, music, and physical education, as well as teachers who want to teach and are equipped appropriately in order to do so.

Our faith places great value on wisdom. Wisdom is gained not only through exposure and experience, but through appropriate education opportunities. To deny people of appropriate education opportunities is to starve them of wisdom gaining opportunities. Without appropriate education opportunities, our children can not develop the skills that they need, to learn a craft or a trade to navigate their way out of poverty, violence, and apathy.