Campaign #157 is for Dona Murphey and Joseph Say in TX
Earlier this month, when a male student arrived at Pearland ISD’s Berry Miller Junior High with an “M” shape shaved into his fade haircut, a violation of the district’s dress code, an administrator gave the boy three choices.
Either receive a disciplinary action or color it in with a marker. [NOTE this was edited to remove “call your mother” as a choice after reading the student’s mother’s press release.]
According to a Facebook post with pictures attached, the student ended up with marker on his head, prompting public outrage and profuse apologies from Pearland ISD officials.
Campaign #157 give us a chance to boost Democratic voter turnout for two excellent candidates to replace Republican incumbents on the Pearland ISD Board. It’s a short list of Texas voters which we will handily complete with your help. Just 5 or 10 apiece can give Dr. Dona Kim Murphey and Joseph Say a big lift in name recognition and winning turnout.
Here are some of the serious issues facing this school district
- A suicide rate that is 150% national average.
- Activities and attitudes that shame and exclude children from economically disadvantaged families.
- Rhetoric and policy that is deeply anti-LGBT.
- African-American students punished at twice the rate expected for their percent of the population.
- Special ed students at up to 5x the rate expected for their percent of the population.
- No outreach to immigrant students.
We have only two days to write #PostcardsToVoters to help elect these two diverse candidates who recognize these problems and share a vision for correcting them.
Dr. Dona Kim Murphey wrote to us, “The school district refuses to provide data on the demographic breakdown of GT identification in the face of concerns that nationally, black and brown students are heavily underidentified. We know that there are very few black students in Advanced Placement classes. The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education reports that while black students comprise 15% of our student population, they comprise 30% of students receiving in and out of school suspension and expulsion. There are plenty of voters in our district who think this is ok. Many more agree that it is not, but they don’t show up for local elections. We MUST SHOW UP and support the only candidates who will push to protect the health and well-being of the full diversity of our students.”
About Dona and Joseph
Dona’s expertise is in brain health. She wants to ensure the school board meets the mental health needs of all students with targeted outreach to those most vulnerable. Their teen suicide rate is 150% national average.
Joseph’s expertise is in technology. He wants to ensure that the use of technology is appropriate, safe, and equitable in the Pearland, TX district. 28% of their students are economically disadvantaged. While neighboring districts provide individual access to laptops and low cost WiFi, Pearland’s relatively affluent district forgets about our students with economic need and further disadvantages them.
The campaign team organized volunteers locally to write #PostcardsToVoters and they did a phenomenal job. They finished a little over half of their list. But, they’re now focusing on door-knocking and need our help to write the remainder of the Democratic voters.
It’s a very short list that may be done in a few hours. But, the stakes are high for the students, families, and educators here which is why we’re giving them our support.
Thank you and write on!
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