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We really like Coleman for school board
For what it is worth, I’m stepping up for Don Coleman for the school board. I’ve been going back and forth on this, and I’ve come down on the side of speaking my piece.
I’m going to vote for Donald Coleman for a these reasons:
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He has been an active part of the larger community.
I keep running into Mr.Coleman at the grunt-work civic events around the area. Some of these things can be boring as f*ck, but that is where imortant, neighborhood-building stuff happens. The folks that show up at the various meetings are truly investing themselves in everyone’s version of the neighborhood. -
Command of the issues.
He knows what the issues are with regard to the schools. He can speak to people’s concerns, and knows enough to have his own informed opinions. -
His children attend or attended the public schools.
He is invested as a parent and has knowledge of the system. This is important — I don’t think that someone from too far on the outside will be able to succeed. -
He will get things accomplished.
Mr.Coleman seems to have both the desire to make things happen and the will and personal skills to see things through. He will be able to speak to and for every resident of the 7th district.
— John Murden
My problem with Mr. Coleman — or is it Pastor Coleman? — when I heard him at the CHA meeting is that he had little specifics as to what his platform is (aside from the usual platitudes we always hear) and that he kept saying that we’ve got good schools in the City.
Come on now, good schools? How can you fix things if you don’t recognize there is a problem?
On his site and in the mailings, Don puts forth ideas for change. This is good, we need it. He also recognizes that there are some positive things going in the city schools. This is also true and good to hear.
Like everyone, Coleman calls for more parental support and involvement. He is in a position, though, to be able to have some good ideas here towards actully effecting some change. If we can fix this, that’ll go a long way towards bringing real and long-term good to RPS.
He also calls for “community access and ownership” of the schools. This is related to the point above, but also means something to parents that are already involved. The schools should be real centers of the community, not just for parents.
He speaks of working to “unite the many groups” of the 7th district. This is important, especially in a time when we are moving towards redrawing school boundaries and constructing new buildings. These issues will get heated, we ned someone capable of making this a full community effort.
He also supports the need for new and “technologically advanced” schools and the need to offer choices to parents (k-8, public Montessori in Fulton). In doing so, he is giving support to research-based, community-supported, administration-supported plans that are directly aimed at many of the issues that plague RPS.
I wasn’t at the CHA meeting, unfortunately, though I have spoken to all 4 candidates and have seen them together at the UHCA meeting the other evening. The only other candidate that seems substantive is Keith West and I just can’t see him really representing *all* of the district as well as Mr.Coleman. West’s ideas on getting the system’s finances straight and giving the principals more authority in the buildings are right on the money, I’m just not convinced that the system would be responsive to him.
Why do you say Mr. West could not represent “all” the distict but Mr. Coleman can?
I’ve seen Coleman work the crowd at events north and south in the neighborhood and he seems to connect to people.
My prediction for this race is West by a few points…over Murray.
West, along with readers of this site, is making the mistake of thinking Coleman is the competition, because he is the more attractive candidate.
This ignores the fact that Murray has the support of the Democratic Party, REA, Crusade for Voters, and Delores McQuinn. She will do very well with people who vote in heavy numbers and do not use the Internet, elderly African Americans.
West will sweep areas just north and south of Broad, in addition to having made inroads among middle class African Americans.
Coleman’s support appears to be limited outside of his ministry.
Yea, I tend to agree with Pol Pro though if the Republican, business, pro 6th Street Arts Center crowd, otherwise known as Central Greater Richmond (CGR) which has endorsed Coleman, puts some money into his campaign, Coleman could win the thing.
My wife is an educator. She was home when either Coleman or Murray was making the rounds (I confess to not knowing which it was, so feel free to ignore me). She asked the condidate what his platform was and he had no position … he just said that he’d have to take a look at what’s being done currently once he’s elected. Not a very sound platform, in my opinion. Also, my wife commented that his written materials were full of mis-spellings … including the word “Richmond”.
Again, I don’t know for sure which candidate this was, but if you can figure it out, fergodsakes, please don’t elect him.
I do not know what the man stands for but he makes one heck of a beer cooler….I have been using mine for years.
Sounds like Ronald Bond. That man has no idea what he is about.
Could be, calvin. I apologize if I have unfairly associated the other candidates with someone else’s stupidity.
Mr. Coleman is not my candidate for School Board. We here in the 7th district have not had much success with ministers in City Government. I don’t think Mr. Coleman can stand up to the strees of the job and get things done. I think he will join the status quo, then where will we be. We
need someone with a backbone that will ask the important questions and stand firm on the important isssues. Many people get turned off when they hear the real story. They say the candidate is negative in his campaign but if that candidate is telling you the truth we don’t want to hear it. What is it we want from a candidate??? Do we want that person to sugar coat everything and pretend the problems are minimal or don’t exist. My vote is for KEITH WEST. He has done his homework. He has the facts and if we could get past what some call “he is so negative” and listen to the facts we will realize we need a strong leader on the school board to represent the children and parents of the 7th District.
Do you think it is right that any candidate should plaster their signs over all the vacant and boarded up buildings in the area? There is enough blight in the neighborhood without this being added to it. I cannot support any candidate for the School Board that has done this. I’m sure that he has not had the permission from any of the property owners (I wish we could find them). It is bad enough when the music distributors plaster their signs all over the neighborhood, but why do we have to put up with political candidates doing it?
Is it not illegal to post campaign signs on public property? The number of campaign signs “littering” the streets and yards everywhere looks really trashy. I would assume that an individual property owner has the right to post these signs but I don’t think it is legal to post “for sale”, “open house”, “now open”, or campaign signs on public spaces. If you take a look around the neighborhood, these signs have sprung up everywhere and it looks terrible. Bill H. makes a great point. Signs on vacant buildings (or any building) really detracts from the neighborhood.
The law says that signs cannot be placed in public right of way. Signs can be on private property with the owner’s permission. Chesterfield County (not usually the most progressive) has taken the initiative to remove all signs from public property, and Henrico is beginning to do the same. Any citizen can take it upon themselves to remove any signs from the public right of way. Realtors can put up signs during a specific period of time (like an open house) but must remove them at the end of the event. I think it is time to take back the quality of our neighborhood and get rid of signs that are illegally placed. Next we need to put pressure on our political candidates to stop trashing our neighborhood. Keith West, are you listening?
Thanks for the clarification Bill. I completely agree that all of these signs–everywhere and for every reason–look terrible. The signs placed in the tree wells around my house are going right into the trash!
I have not placed any sign in a right of way or on public property. I have been asking building owners before placing the signs on buildings. I have given signs to volunteers to place, but I’m not aware of any placed improperly.
Bill H. The issue here is who should represent the 7th District on the school board. All of our candidiates for public office have placed signs in our community just as Mr. West has, but you do not mention them. We need to address the signage issue with City Council or whoever after the election. It is a shame you would not vote for a qualified candidate because they put up signs during an election as everyone else has. I think we need to stick with the issue of the election for now.
Bill H., The campaign signs will be gone before you know it but the school system’s deep-seated and significant problems are here to stay unless we vote for someone who can really make a difference. For me, the clear choice is Keith West. He’s intelligent, articulate, sincere, knowledgeable, and, maybe most importantly, has the determination, grit & fire to see that real improvements to our school system are brought about.
I can understand why you are tired of the signs. I am, too, but in the big scheme of things, having to look at political signs for a month is nothing compared to the formidable challenges associated with the school system and the help that is needed from everyone–including you–to make things better. I hope you’ll reconsider for whom you will vote on November 7.
No offense, but Keith West is hardly articulate. Ever seen him talk in public? Don Coleman eats his lunch. Anyway, if Mr. West got the approval of the empty lot owners to place his signs, he should be running for city code enforcer, not the school board. My guess is he did not, and his suggesting here that he did…well…on second thought, perhaps he is qualified to be a Richmond public official!
Keith West is a well-educated businessman and could help the schools run more efficiently, but he seems to look down on public education. Keith West said: “I had no choice but to attend public schools.”
Somehow I doubt his kids (ages 1 and 3) will be attending Richmond Public Schools when they get old enough. And this is one of the major problems with the schools. People who have any money either put their kids in private school or move out of the city.
We need a School Board representative who has been in the schools and knows first-hand what problems teachers, administrators and students face — not just someone who can look at papers and reports to decide our children’s future.
I’d like to see Keith West run in a few year after he’s been a parent with kids in Richmond schools, but until then, I think we need someone who has more devotion and experience.
Once upon a future, there were candidates who truly loved the children…not politics. What if the children had a say? Who would they vote for? What if, instead of millions spent on campaign clutter, there were playgrounds being built…drug dealers being taken out of public parks and roofs being put on the homes of grandmothers raising their children’s children…? How much more would the campaign sign speak if it were attached to a good deed…instead of attached to the remnants of what out city children have to see everyday…? What if research on childhood development were the platform for public schools…would we then all be able to “afford” Montessori-type learning. The voice of the child, the learning patterns, the dilemna of children if our harried, adult, world….who truly speaks for them?
b, I think you need to be a little more careful when you make accusations. Keith West’s post dated October 25 on this thread notes that he has not placed any sign in a right of way or on public property. He says, “I have been asking building owners before placing the signs on buildings. I have given signs to volunteers to place, but I’m not aware of any placed improperly.” If you are aware of inproperly placed signs, I would encourage you to call Keith directly (644-1081) because I know he would want to remedy the situation.
To j: I am not sure I follow your logic. Keith attended public schools all of his life, including the U.S. Naval Academy. The public schools in Charlotte, NC, were underperforming but he made the best of it given that his family was poor and options were limited. In running for school board, Keith has walked every street of the 7th district talking with people about the school system. He has educated himself about the issues. Keith knows what needs to be done and is willing to spend the next two years of his life helping to make RPS better. Somehow you draw the conclusion that Keith “seems to look down on public education” and that we need somone who has “more devotion and experience.” Is there something I’m missing here?
An interesting tidbit: The Richmond Education Association (teacher union) is supporting Delores Murray. I received a letter to this effect in the mail today, with a number to call for more information.
I called and asked how they selected whom to endorse. The nice lady on the other end said that each candidate had to return a questionaire and then go through an interview process. OK, this is the good part: I asked how which of the candidates had returned the questionaire. Delores Murray was the only one to return the questionaire, so *BLAM* she gets the endorsement.
The endorsement process is an interesting backstage event. The REA sent a packet for me to fill out asking for their endorsement. It baldly stated that the endorsement would go to the candidate who would best represent the interests of school system employees.
Sorry, but I couldn’t sign up for that. The interests that need to be represented are those of the children, parents, and citizens, in that order.
The point of most of these endorsements is the money that comes with them. Look at the campaign finance reports and you will see that I am the only candidate who is primarily self financing- along with many donations under $100 from people who are glad to a qualified candidate running for School Board.
Maybe you should ask yourself, what do these groups donating $1000’s to Murray and Coleman expect in return?
Sorry Mel K, but his signs are CLEARLY on empty lots and abandoned housing units around here. They have his name on it, he paid for them, they are his responsibility. But, I could personally care less, I was just trying make a joke. Although I am sure that once the race is over, win or lose, Mr West will wheel his little red wagon around here and pick them up.
The REA is going to endorse their members who are running for office — it’s as simple as that.
West, Coleman, and Bond would have been just wasting their time if they filled it out.
By the way, if the REA is running Mrs. Murray’s campaign, they really are pathetic. Did anyone get that mailer of hers aboout a month ago? It was awful! My 12 year old could have done someting more professional!
And, what about those recored calls from Ms. Murray? I got one around Labor Day and if I didn’t have a bit of the political junkie in me, I would not know who the person was on the phone was or remebered her come election day! And, since when I hit *69 the REA number came up, you know the REA was behind it!
Wake up, Ms. Murray, the REA doesn’t know what the hell they are doing!
Hi b, It’s impossible not to like you! You’re just very funny and cute. 🙂 have a good day
I’m the parent of 5 school age children, 3 of them in Richmond Public Schools and 2 in private schools. I am not looking for a candidate who can give an excellent political speech, or receive endorsements from organizations or people who have done at best the minimum to move our school system to become an Academic Centers of Excellent for K-12 education.
I want a person who has a clear sense of what a high-quality school system should look like. I want a person that understands accountability should happen at all levels (classroom, administration and School board). I feel like that person is Keith West!!! I know that some people may feel that Keith can not represent the entire district because he is white; this is 2006 when will we stop voting based on race and start voting based on substance!!! I’m BLACK and I’m voting for Keith and several of my Black friends and family will also be voting for Keith West.
The racial thing seems a bit simplistic. Black or white, I think we might want a school board member who is not trying to get elected on the backs of school employees (do you mean teachers Keith??). Mr West’s prior post here leaves the impression that teachers are to blame for a set of large scale social problems that he cannot solve on anyone’s back, let alone those who have chosen to serve society by teaching in a very difficult environment. Yes, there are no doubt bad or burned out teachers, but, if Mr West’s is espousing an anti-teacher rhetoric, it seems both is ill conceived and illustrative of his political leanings. Teachers are probably the most important group to gain the trust of in school reform schemes (I invite Mr West to clarify his point made earlier). And as far as his policy expertise…most of the recent academic research in urban schools suggests that smaller schools are beneficial for poor, minority students –so why is consolidation being sold as a policy elixir? Politics! (this time, on the backs of students). If the goal is to reduce taxes, then OK, but if the goal is to improve classroom outcomes, then research suggests that this policy agenda is not appropriate. But, I guess Mr West is getting a pass on his policy expertise BECAUSE he is white. That said, I am impressed by Mr West’s supporters on this site, he seems to have connected with many people who believe that he is right for the job: with all due respect to Mr West, and his supporters, I tend to disagree.
B,
I don’t know if you’re intentionally twisting my positions or simply misunderstanding, but the result is a thorough misrepresentation.
First, both of my printed pieces say that we should support teachers by redirecting money from administration to classrooms. In many ways, teachers are as much victims of the school system as students. Most understand what the problems are, but have no power to fix them. Therefore, we are losing many of the good teachers we recruit who leave due to frustration. Sure there are good and bad teachers in the system, but that’s not the place to start if you’re looking for real improvement.
Neither am I talking about reducing the budget on the backs of anyone. It’s clear that we’re spending the money, and just as clear that we’re not doing a good job. Much of the money is not being spent in the right places, that’s the problem.
It’s ironic that you would claim I’m being given a pass on policy, when I’m the only candidate pointing out any real problems or offering any suggestions. Any candidate can claim we need an excellent education for the children, but that takes a specific action of some sort.
Finally, it seems you think I am some sort of threat to public education, which I am not. Public education is its own worst enemy now in Richmond, which is why the Mayor and City Council are getting involved. I have won the support of many of the teachers I have met in my campaigning.
If you’re looking for a threat to education, I think you should look at Don Coleman, who stated unequivocally during the Fulton debate that tax money should follow the student and not the system. In other words, vouchers. To me, that was a surprising comment from someone running for School Board.
Is Pastor Coleman a Republican?