Good Job SB Schools Classified Personnel Commission

I am happy to hear that the San Bernardino City Unified School District and Classified Personnel Commission were able to reach an agreement on next year's operating budget for the commission. The commission is a legal body established by state law for district's who vote to have them for all non-certificated employees. It has three commissioners that have independent authority to hire a director and staff to carry out their functions which is to ensure a fair an equitable classification system for classified employees of the district by conducting studies and keeping salaries commensurate with the prevailing wages in the area. They also make sure personnel policies and practices are current plus act as hearing officers when the need arises on behalf of employees.

A dispute occurred between the commission and the district when the new classified director requested to increase the commission budget from $273,809 to $4.3 million dollars. The budget increase would have done nothing to improve student performance or add to classified employee benefits in the district. It would have gone toward empire building of the classified commission and not to help the district.  It is my understanding that the district did meet with the commissioners and agree to a modest 10% increase. I want to commend the commissioners and Board of Education for looking out for the best interest of taxpayers, students, and district employees.

Reporting on Crime in Our Neighborhoods

Just this past week in a Westside neighborhood in San Bernardino a lady got up before dawn to do her regular walking exercise in the park. To her surprise she came upon a dead male body lying on the cement walkway. She called the police and they in turn cornered off the area and went door to door to determine if anyone seen or heard anything. They did uncover that several neighbors did hear gunshots early in the morning but none called the police at the time of the shots. Now in this case, just like others, the police said "this park is well kept and we are not accustom to coming out to this park and having this issue at all," as stated in the Sun newspaper.

This story is playing out in neighborhood after neighborhood throughout southern California, where bodies are found and someone heard or saw somethings but failed to report it. Now part of the many reasons are people don't want to get involved, some fear retaliation, police request too much information if you call. Whatever the reason, we, the public and police need to arrive at a procedure that is safe, workable, easily understood and can be used nationwide on how to report suspicious happenings in our neighborhoods. What should a citizen do when they hear gunshots in their neighborhood? What should a citizen do if their neighbors are always fighting and using profanity, which you know one day will escalate into a killing? What should neighbors do when your neighbor's kids are home alone, doing all kinds of things that you know will escalate into destructive activities in the neighborhood?

I would like to hear from the police chiefs in our various cities on how citizens are to report on crime especially in the Black neighborhoods. You can email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or send me a copy of your policies, better yet send me a op-ed piece for printing in the paper. I would love to hear from you on how we can assist you with these issues.

Miss USA A Class Act

This past week the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant was held in Mexico where some of the Mexican citizens booed Miss USA. Now I am sure that when the booing started it was not done because Miss America was Black but because she was an American. I am certain it was done because of the recent illegal immigration issue facing the American people. For one thing there is enough blame to go around on both sides of the border on this issue but it is the little people who have the greatest emotions tied to immigration.

On the USA side, we have big business wanting cheap labor and exploiting the people who do the work. On the Mexico side, they have a government that will not demand their businesses pay decent wages nor provide safe working conditions. The Mexican government in turn wants to keep the estimated $12 billion dollars earned by the illegal immigrants working in the USA but sending dollars back to Mexico.   Now there are many issues but the crux of the issue is big government and big business playing games with little people. Which brings me back to the booing of Miss USA.

This booing of Miss Universe has not sit well with many Blacks who have called and voiced outrage against the booing as well as the illegal immigration issue currently before congress. Some have expressed opinions like if that is the way some feel then we should finish the "Berlin Wall" on the Mexico border. Some have said if they feel this way about Black people now what do you think they will feel once they become a citizen. Some expressed reservations that many Black have expressed in the past and that is many Mexicans want to vote and only for their own. Some voiced concerns over the fact that many of the Black elected officials have remained silent on this issue and believe Blacks will suffer greatly from this legalization of between 12 and 20 million illegal citizens.

If you have an opinion on this illegal immigration issue, please write, email or call me with your concerns. If you would like to let the public know your opinion I will print some and place others on our website www.blackvoicenews.com that is read by over 1 million readers each month around the world. Let me conclude by complimenting Miss USA on the way she conducted herself after the fall and booing. She responded to the crowd in Spanish and with a smile. What class.