Latest / Concerned Clergy Podcast / Concerned Clergy Podcast September 23, 2026

Transcript

Concerned Clergy Podcast September 23, 2026 · Concerned Clergy Podcast

0:01
SPEAKER_0: Praise the Lord and good evening, everyone.
0:04
SPEAKER_0: We want to welcome you to the Concerned Clergy Radio Show.
0:08
SPEAKER_0: Tonight's call-in number, it's a different number on tonight.
0:11
SPEAKER_0: That number is 463-276-4575.
0:19
SPEAKER_0: Once again, for tonight, that number is 463-276-4575.
0:27
SPEAKER_0: We will not be connected to the Praise Indy radio stations on tonight,
0:33
SPEAKER_0: so you cannot call in on tonight.
0:36
SPEAKER_0: They're doing other activities on tonight as they're getting ready for the Circle City Classic.
0:42
SPEAKER_0: But on tonight's Concerned Clergy Radio Show, we've got some items we want to talk about.
0:47
SPEAKER_0: There's a bus driver shortage here in central Indiana.
0:51
SPEAKER_0: We still have IMPD officers that are, it seems to be, misusing the Flock camera technology.
1:02
SPEAKER_0: And then also,
1:04
SPEAKER_0: we just found out that school vouchers here in the state
1:08
SPEAKER_0: of Indiana are You have families that make over $100,000
1:16
SPEAKER_0: per year.
1:18
SPEAKER_0: They are the ones that are benefiting more with the vouchers.
1:22
SPEAKER_0: We're going to talk about all that on tonight, and we invite you to be part of the conversation.
1:27
SPEAKER_0: You can call in to our phone line on today.
1:31
SPEAKER_0: Once again, it's a different number.
1:34
SPEAKER_0: And that number is 463-276-4575.
1:41
SPEAKER_0: You can also, you can still comment on our Facebook page, The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis.
1:47
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President, how are you?
1:50
SPEAKER_1: I'm doing well, Reverend Alexander.
1:52
SPEAKER_1: It's good to be with you and all in our social media space, Facebook and YouTube.
1:58
SPEAKER_1: We continue on.
2:00
SPEAKER_1: So much is happening in our community.
2:02
SPEAKER_1: We can't stop.
2:04
SPEAKER_0: Well, there's certainly a lot going on,
2:06
SPEAKER_0: and on tonight we're going to try to cover some of those items.
2:09
SPEAKER_0: And we want everyone to know also that if you're not able to catch the entire show
2:15
SPEAKER_0: on tonight, you can catch the replay.
2:18
SPEAKER_0: That's our Substack,
2:20
SPEAKER_0: and it's on the Progressive Indiana Network, and that'll be playing on tomorrow.
2:27
SPEAKER_0: That's the replay, our Substack, once again, on the Progressive Indiana Network.
2:32
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President, I want to start with, because last couple of weeks we've talked about education.
2:42
SPEAKER_0: Here we are now,
2:43
SPEAKER_0: we're finding on tonight that education is not only something that's quote unquote
2:53
SPEAKER_0: under attack when it comes from a legislative perspective.
2:57
SPEAKER_0: But here it is.
2:59
SPEAKER_0: We can't find teachers.
3:01
SPEAKER_0: You can't find bus drivers.
3:05
SPEAKER_0: Transportation is a huge issue when it comes to education.
3:11
SPEAKER_0: We had busing that came, you know, in the mid 70s.
3:16
SPEAKER_0: Now here it is.
3:17
SPEAKER_0: We have charter schools.
3:19
SPEAKER_0: We have all the different districts.
3:23
SPEAKER_0: And now.
3:24
SPEAKER_0: We're finding out that we can't even find bus drivers
3:29
SPEAKER_0: that can even transport our children to the various schools.
3:36
SPEAKER_0: We give them more options.
3:38
SPEAKER_0: We say we're giving parents more options.
3:42
SPEAKER_0: We're saying we're giving parents more choices.
3:46
SPEAKER_0: However,
3:47
SPEAKER_0: with those choices,
3:49
SPEAKER_0: There's definitely some roadblocks as to,
3:52
SPEAKER_0: well, how do I get my child, my student, how do I get them to school?
4:01
SPEAKER_0: And there's a report that just came out,
4:02
SPEAKER_0: and I'm getting ready to bring that on,
4:05
SPEAKER_0: in which it highlights some of the,
4:10
SPEAKER_0: I'll say, challenges that we have currently going on.
4:16
SPEAKER_0: Let us go ahead and play that.
4:32
SPEAKER_2: Trey Drexelius takes a look at what's behind this shortage and what it means for families.
4:38
SPEAKER_2: Every school day,
4:39
SPEAKER_2: thousands of students depend on one thing before that first bell rings,
4:43
SPEAKER_2: a driver behind the wheel.
4:45
SPEAKER_2: But across central Indiana, school districts are competing for a pool of qualified bus drivers.
4:50
SPEAKER_2: Washington Township School says it is currently short about 20 drivers,
4:54
SPEAKER_2: leaving nine routes without permanent assignments.
4:57
SPEAKER_2: The district says office staff and mechanics have even stepped in to drive,
5:01
SPEAKER_2: while some drivers are handling multiple routes.
5:04
SPEAKER_2: Some people think driving a school bus is just the routes in the morning and in the afternoon.
5:09
SPEAKER_2: But here in Washington Township, we also average about 1,300 field trips a year.
5:13
SPEAKER_2: And the problem isn't simply finding someone who can drive a bus.
5:17
SPEAKER_2: Indiana requires school bus drivers to meet commercial licensing
5:20
SPEAKER_2: and training requirements before they can get behind the wheel.
5:23
SPEAKER_2: There's a lot of pieces of this job.
5:27
SPEAKER_2: It has to be just the right fit for someone with their schedule and some
5:31
SPEAKER_2: of our DOT Requirements and whatnot.
5:35
SPEAKER_2: Washington Township Schools is among the districts trying to lower that barrier.
5:39
SPEAKER_2: The district is advertising bus driver positions with free CDL training
5:43
SPEAKER_2: while also recruiting substitute drivers.
5:45
SPEAKER_2: We are actively recruiting.
5:48
SPEAKER_2: We attend job fairs.
5:52
SPEAKER_2: We try to get out on social media as much as we can do to recruit some drivers for our kids.
6:00
SPEAKER_2: Washington Township Schools isn't alone in transportation challenges.
6:03
SPEAKER_2: Indianapolis Public Schools says they are down about 20 bus drivers
6:07
SPEAKER_2: and MSD Wayne Township says it faces a shortage as well.
6:11
SPEAKER_2: Brownsburg Community Schools says it's exploring a new bus schedule for next year
6:15
SPEAKER_2: to improve efficiency.
6:16
SPEAKER_2: If anyone's ever been curious about driving a bus,
6:19
SPEAKER_2: please come out and see us because we can actually get you.
6:24
SPEAKER_2: On a school bus and drive around our lot to get a feel for what a bus is like.
6:29
SPEAKER_2: Washington Township is hosting a Drive the Bus event looking
6:32
SPEAKER_2: for more driver applicants this Saturday.
6:35
SPEAKER_2: Reporting in Indianapolis, I'm Trey Drexelius, WISH TV and wishtv.com.
6:41
SPEAKER_0: All right.
6:41
SPEAKER_0: So, Mr. President, so there we are.
6:44
SPEAKER_0: We just heard a report there from WISH TV in which they're sharing that in,
6:51
SPEAKER_0: you know, areas such as Washington Township, you see there Ben Davis.
6:57
SPEAKER_0: We know there's transportation issues with IPS.
7:03
SPEAKER_0: This is not,
7:04
SPEAKER_0: you know,
7:04
SPEAKER_0: something that is just affecting a small portion of But transportation is
7:12
SPEAKER_0: a big issue, especially when you're looking at IPS.
7:16
SPEAKER_0: Everything centered around IPS and the challenges and the changes they're making,
7:23
SPEAKER_0: transportation is a big issue.
7:25
SPEAKER_0: And it's not anything different when it comes to our township schools as well.
7:33
SPEAKER_1: Well, we know transportation has always been a challenge and expense of it.
7:39
SPEAKER_1: And given everything that's going on, it's continuing to be in expense.
7:44
SPEAKER_1: When you look at gas prices,
7:46
SPEAKER_1: et cetera,
7:48
SPEAKER_1: and then having staff to do it,
7:50
SPEAKER_1: I see transportation not going away,
7:54
SPEAKER_1: but always being a huge challenge for our school systems,
7:57
SPEAKER_1: especially in this present day and age.
8:00
SPEAKER_1: And when we look at,
8:02
SPEAKER_1: you know,
8:03
SPEAKER_1: transportation,
8:05
SPEAKER_1: Given children,
8:06
SPEAKER_1: parents,
8:06
SPEAKER_1: quote unquote,
8:07
SPEAKER_1: choices and flexibility,
8:08
SPEAKER_1: and we don't have these what we prefer for our child close by in our communities.
8:15
SPEAKER_1: And then you're talking about transporting them to a school that may be miles away.
8:23
SPEAKER_1: And then if they participate in after school programs or before school programs,
8:27
SPEAKER_1: it becomes very challenging to say we're going to have transportation and
8:31
SPEAKER_1: the costs associated with it.
8:33
SPEAKER_1: And getting people to do it.
8:35
SPEAKER_1: And then there's even, I mean,
8:37
SPEAKER_1: all the way to education side of more people are getting out of teaching,
8:39
SPEAKER_1: more people are getting out of, you know, I'm not going to be driving the bus.
8:44
SPEAKER_1: I'm not going to do that.
8:46
SPEAKER_1: And what comes with that?
8:47
SPEAKER_1: So I see transportation continuing to be a huge issue.
8:53
SPEAKER_1: And then there's so many pieces in it for the school system that they don't control.
8:57
SPEAKER_1: They don't control the cost per gallon.
8:59
SPEAKER_1: You know, you budgeted so much and now you wake up with, you know, gas prices the way they are.
9:05
SPEAKER_1: It has a huge impact on them.
9:06
SPEAKER_1: But that means they're going to cut some programs.
9:08
SPEAKER_1: And I think all of our systems,
9:10
SPEAKER_1: whether they're township systems,
9:13
SPEAKER_1: whether they're suburban systems,
9:16
SPEAKER_1: Out in the counties around Marion County,
9:20
SPEAKER_1: everybody's going to be looking at this as a challenge.
9:23
SPEAKER_1: Whether you're in Zionsville,
9:25
SPEAKER_1: whether you're IPS,
9:26
SPEAKER_1: whether you're Lawrence Township,
9:29
SPEAKER_1: I think it's a huge challenge for all of those superintendents from
9:33
SPEAKER_1: a financial perspective, and it's not going anywhere.
9:38
SPEAKER_0: There's definitely not going to be any improvements right now because there's
9:44
SPEAKER_0: so many challenges when it comes to whether you're looking at teachers,
9:50
SPEAKER_0: whether you're looking at the athletic departments,
9:53
SPEAKER_0: whether you're looking at special education,
9:56
SPEAKER_0: whether you're looking at bus drivers, whether you're looking at mechanics.
10:01
SPEAKER_0: Every single entity that contributes to making our schools better,
10:10
SPEAKER_0: making the experience for our students better, we're falling behind on those.
10:18
SPEAKER_0: And here it is on tonight, they're saying, okay, well, we can't even find bus drivers.
10:26
SPEAKER_0: Well, what does that mean, people?
10:28
SPEAKER_0: It means we can't even find people To take your students to school.
10:35
SPEAKER_0: It's that simple.
10:35
SPEAKER_0: Just think about that.
10:37
SPEAKER_0: You know, we fight about education.
10:39
SPEAKER_0: We're fighting about charter schools.
10:44
SPEAKER_0: Are charter schools good?
10:46
SPEAKER_0: Are they bad?
10:48
SPEAKER_0: Well, what difference does it make if you cannot even get your child to school?
10:54
SPEAKER_0: Think about it.
10:55
SPEAKER_0: What difference does it make If because now we've incorporated money going
11:01
SPEAKER_0: to charter schools,
11:02
SPEAKER_0: that now we can't even get our students to the front step
11:09
SPEAKER_0: of whatever school they want to go to.
11:12
SPEAKER_0: Now we have school buses going all over the place.
11:15
SPEAKER_0: You have school buses that are pretty much,
11:18
SPEAKER_0: you know, traveling all across, you know, here in central Indiana and Indianapolis.
11:24
SPEAKER_0: But at the same time,
11:27
SPEAKER_0: We're not providing anything that's going to be conducive to them having stability
11:34
SPEAKER_0: when it comes to either a student,
11:37
SPEAKER_0: a family, a community in regards to education, Mr. President.
11:43
SPEAKER_0: And transportation is key because I know for many of us, you know, I started walking to school.
11:52
SPEAKER_0: We didn't have bus transportation.
11:54
SPEAKER_0: We started walking to school.
11:57
SPEAKER_0: Okay, then there become busing.
12:00
SPEAKER_0: And once busing came, okay, that was a huge issue.
12:04
SPEAKER_0: And all of us didn't get bused to the same places.
12:08
SPEAKER_0: And now here it is when we look at transportation.
12:11
SPEAKER_0: There isn't any specific, okay, here's where students are going to go.
12:19
SPEAKER_0: Here's how the transportation is going to be arranged for the students.
12:25
SPEAKER_0: Everything is kind of up in the air and parents really don't know how it is
12:33
SPEAKER_0: in any given school year.
12:35
SPEAKER_0: They're going to be able to provide for their own families as far as transportation,
12:42
SPEAKER_0: knowing that they have that transportation, where they're going.
12:48
SPEAKER_0: And even when it comes to if I've got different students,
12:51
SPEAKER_0: different ages, Some transportation providers may not go to different schools.
12:59
SPEAKER_0: And then you have issues there as well.
13:03
SPEAKER_1: Yeah, I mean,
13:03
SPEAKER_1: it's just a consequence,
13:06
SPEAKER_1: Reverend Alexander,
13:07
SPEAKER_1: as we began, the system began to dismantle really our community schools.
13:12
SPEAKER_1: That's a fallout from all of that.
13:13
SPEAKER_1: Once we started down that path, then you're much more dependent on transportation.
13:19
SPEAKER_1: And if you don't have that to the level you need,
13:23
SPEAKER_1: And then it began to get more costly or has gotten more costly.
13:27
SPEAKER_1: So then it's a bigger problem.
13:29
SPEAKER_1: It is part of, you know, for the IPEC board, the referendum piece, it's a part of that.
13:37
SPEAKER_1: But hey, this is just a huge problem.
13:40
SPEAKER_1: This is just difficult.
13:41
SPEAKER_1: It's not going anywhere.
13:43
SPEAKER_1: Because we,
13:44
SPEAKER_1: for the most part,
13:45
SPEAKER_1: we're dismantling community schools, you know, inside Indianapolis.
13:52
SPEAKER_1: Now it's all down to transportation.
13:54
SPEAKER_1: How good is it going to be?
13:57
SPEAKER_1: It's always more challenging when you've got a working two-parent family or
14:03
SPEAKER_1: a working one-parent family.
14:05
SPEAKER_1: It's always more challenging.
14:07
SPEAKER_1: People who are rich and somebody stays at home and can take the kids and pick
14:11
SPEAKER_1: the kids from school, they don't have this problem.
14:14
SPEAKER_1: But for the rest of the community, it's going to be a challenge.
14:18
SPEAKER_1: How do you do it?
14:18
SPEAKER_1: How do you make it work?
14:20
SPEAKER_1: Who's picking up who when from where?
14:24
SPEAKER_1: And if you want your children involved in various other activities,
14:29
SPEAKER_1: that's just another layer of transportation issue.
14:33
SPEAKER_0: Let's be clear, Mr. President.
14:36
SPEAKER_0: None of us when we were growing up had an option for school choice.
14:43
SPEAKER_0: Pretty much you're going to a certain school.
14:47
SPEAKER_0: You know, here's where you're going, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school.
14:52
SPEAKER_0: It was pretty much laid out for you.
14:55
SPEAKER_0: Everyone knew.
14:56
SPEAKER_0: And you had not only that,
14:58
SPEAKER_0: from a social perspective,
15:01
SPEAKER_0: all of your,
15:04
SPEAKER_0: I'll say,
15:06
SPEAKER_0: other children,
15:07
SPEAKER_0: you know, that were in this, you know, in school age, they all had the same dynamic.
15:14
SPEAKER_0: They're going to the same schools and everything.
15:16
SPEAKER_0: Now it's pretty much, okay,
15:17
SPEAKER_0: whatever restaurant you want to eat at,
15:20
SPEAKER_0: here's where you eat at if that restaurant closes where you go to
15:23
SPEAKER_0: a different restaurant.
15:25
SPEAKER_0: Schools shouldn't be treated as gas stations or restaurants.
15:29
SPEAKER_0: They need to be treated as something that can be,
15:32
SPEAKER_0: you know,
15:33
SPEAKER_0: permanent,
15:34
SPEAKER_0: sustainable,
15:35
SPEAKER_0: that can be dependable,
15:37
SPEAKER_0: that parents, if I'm,
15:40
SPEAKER_0: you know,
15:41
SPEAKER_0: if I'm a 17-year-old parent,
15:43
SPEAKER_0: 20-year-old parent,
15:44
SPEAKER_0: if I'm a 25-year-old parent,
15:46
SPEAKER_0: I can depend on here's what the education system is going to be.
15:51
SPEAKER_0: We don't have that right now,
15:53
SPEAKER_0: and we're expecting parents to be able to Matter of fact,
15:58
SPEAKER_0: to understand, here's the best situation for my child.
16:02
SPEAKER_0: In a lot of cases, some of these parents is like, I wasn't even planning on being a parent.
16:09
SPEAKER_0: Now you want me to make a decision on, you know, what school I'm sending them to?
16:14
SPEAKER_0: We got to be honest.
16:16
SPEAKER_0: A lot of parents were not,
16:17
SPEAKER_0: you know,
16:18
SPEAKER_0: thinking about,
16:19
SPEAKER_0: okay, at 18 or 19 or 20, you know, here's where I'm going to send my child.
16:26
SPEAKER_0: There needs to be some structure to help them.
16:30
SPEAKER_0: And not only structure,
16:32
SPEAKER_0: there needs to be some transportation and all of the supportive,
16:37
SPEAKER_0: you know,
16:37
SPEAKER_0: we talk about supportive services,
16:40
SPEAKER_0: everything there that can help every child,
16:45
SPEAKER_0: no matter what the condition is of that child and student.
16:50
SPEAKER_1: Well, the key,
16:52
SPEAKER_1: Reverend Alexander,
16:52
SPEAKER_1: in my opinion,
16:53
SPEAKER_1: is Earlier, back in the day, we would have held the school accountable.
16:58
SPEAKER_1: All the schools locally were accountable.
17:01
SPEAKER_1: So there's going to be quality education because we're going to hold the schools accountable.
17:05
SPEAKER_1: When we cease to do that, the marking term is choice.
17:11
SPEAKER_1: And I would raise the question,
17:13
SPEAKER_1: and I've raised the question numerous times,
17:15
SPEAKER_1: but are you giving the parents any good choices?
17:18
SPEAKER_0: Mm-hmm.
17:19
SPEAKER_1: That's because I used the term choice.
17:21
SPEAKER_1: What does that mean?
17:22
SPEAKER_1: Do I have good choices to pick from?
17:24
SPEAKER_1: Or here are your choices.
17:26
SPEAKER_1: And now we have,
17:28
SPEAKER_1: you know,
17:29
SPEAKER_1: they're walking away from the group that used to help parents get students,
17:35
SPEAKER_1: all that.
17:35
SPEAKER_1: That's a shift in that.
17:37
SPEAKER_1: Because the reality was parents weren't having good choices.
17:41
SPEAKER_1: Here are your choices.
17:43
SPEAKER_1: You still couldn't go to the,
17:44
SPEAKER_1: you know,
17:45
SPEAKER_1: if you wanted to go to You know,
17:48
SPEAKER_1: school A,
17:48
SPEAKER_1: Butler Labs, and you live somewhere else, you weren't getting in that school.
17:52
SPEAKER_1: That wasn't available to you.
17:53
SPEAKER_1: That wasn't one of your choices because you didn't live in the Butler targeting area.
17:58
SPEAKER_1: I mean, so there were so many things out there.
18:01
SPEAKER_1: It sounded good.
18:02
SPEAKER_1: Hey, I'm going to give you choice.
18:05
SPEAKER_1: But what they did not do is say, what am I choosing from?
18:10
SPEAKER_1: And so we need to, you know, we need to be looking at what does that mean?
18:15
SPEAKER_1: It sounds good.
18:16
SPEAKER_1: It's great marketing.
18:19
SPEAKER_1: But a lot of parents don't have good choices to pick from, Reverend Alexander.
18:24
SPEAKER_0: And we got a Imhotep, you know, he's made a comment here on our Facebook page.
18:30
SPEAKER_0: And you can still call in on tonight, even though we're not broadcasting on AM 1310.
18:35
SPEAKER_0: You can call in.
18:36
SPEAKER_0: We have a different call in number tonight.
18:39
SPEAKER_0: That number is 463-276-4575.
18:40
SPEAKER_0: Once again, 463-276.
18:54
SPEAKER_0: 64575, so you can still call in.
18:56
SPEAKER_0: But Imhotep put in our chat on our Facebook page that when you look at school choice,
19:02
SPEAKER_0: we really don't have a whole lot of choices at all.
19:05
SPEAKER_0: And that's true.
19:07
SPEAKER_0: There's not a lot of choices.
19:08
SPEAKER_0: It's not where really the parents have choices.
19:12
SPEAKER_0: It's really the schools are choosing the students.
19:17
SPEAKER_0: And that's really what's going on right now.
19:21
SPEAKER_0: In addition to that,
19:23
SPEAKER_0: when we look at,
19:25
SPEAKER_0: as Imhotep says here in our chat,
19:27
SPEAKER_0: where neighborhood schools should be supported better,
19:32
SPEAKER_0: the whole idea is really not to support the schools,
19:37
SPEAKER_0: but we're at a point right now to where charter schools are all about money,
19:45
SPEAKER_0: IPS, When you look at public schools, it's all about control.
19:51
SPEAKER_0: On one hand, it's all about making money.
19:54
SPEAKER_0: On the other hand,
19:55
SPEAKER_0: it's about controlling the schools and the assets that are coming from
20:00
SPEAKER_0: the public education.
20:03
SPEAKER_1: Well, that's a great summary, and I certainly agree with Imhotep because we've seen that.
20:08
SPEAKER_1: Rather than invest in that community school that people could have walked to,
20:14
SPEAKER_1: And said, hey,
20:15
SPEAKER_1: let's go and fix that school,
20:18
SPEAKER_1: whatever the issue was,
20:19
SPEAKER_1: whatever it was lacking in technology, whatever, and bring it up to speed.
20:24
SPEAKER_1: Somebody decided, oh, no,
20:25
SPEAKER_1: what we'll do is let it decline while we'll do an upstart on
20:31
SPEAKER_1: a charter school somewhere and hope that that charter school works.
20:35
SPEAKER_1: And the phenomenal piece of it is that,
20:37
SPEAKER_1: you know, while a few charter schools have done well, over half of them close up.
20:43
SPEAKER_1: So you're taking a chance on a school that may not be there three or four years
20:47
SPEAKER_1: from now and spend money and all that,
20:50
SPEAKER_1: which to me,
20:51
SPEAKER_1: I'm like,
20:51
SPEAKER_1: why don't we just take the money,
20:54
SPEAKER_1: pour it into our community schools and keep them fresh and keep them going.
21:01
SPEAKER_1: And so now we have,
21:02
SPEAKER_1: you know, I mean,
21:03
SPEAKER_1: I understand that the schools own a lot of property,
21:07
SPEAKER_1: you know,
21:07
SPEAKER_1: so this is a great opportunity for a number of economic things to take place,
21:11
SPEAKER_1: Reverend Alexander.
21:13
SPEAKER_1: Whether that's buying something for a dollar.
21:18
SPEAKER_1: What happens when it fails?
21:19
SPEAKER_1: Who owns it then?
21:21
SPEAKER_1: What's this thing end up being a decade from now?
21:25
SPEAKER_1: See, there's a number of factors in here,
21:27
SPEAKER_1: pretty much all around on money, that we don't often follow.
21:32
SPEAKER_1: And so we get caught up in this thing called choice, because that choice sounds good.
21:37
SPEAKER_1: But if you're not choosing from good things, choice ain't buying you nothing.
21:42
SPEAKER_1: What we need is quality schools that are prepared to educate our children
21:49
SPEAKER_1: with resources really close by all of our neighborhoods,
21:52
SPEAKER_1: whether you live south, east, north.
21:54
SPEAKER_1: You know, it can't be it happened in Butler area, but it didn't happen in other areas.
22:01
SPEAKER_1: That's that's the problem.
22:03
SPEAKER_1: So then we end up with this number of, you know, somebody wants to start a charter school.
22:09
SPEAKER_1: OK, great.
22:11
SPEAKER_1: And will it be here five years from now?
22:12
SPEAKER_1: Because there's a lot of work in running a school.
22:15
SPEAKER_1: I mean, I respect the whole system.
22:18
SPEAKER_1: You need human resources.
22:19
SPEAKER_1: You need marketing.
22:20
SPEAKER_1: You need teachers.
22:21
SPEAKER_1: You got to do teacher training.
22:23
SPEAKER_1: And that's not all in one person.
22:26
SPEAKER_1: I mean, that's in a heck of a team.
22:28
SPEAKER_1: And you got to build that team.
22:30
SPEAKER_1: And I'm sure a lot of people want to be opportunities to run their own schools.
22:35
SPEAKER_1: I get that.
22:36
SPEAKER_1: That's their passion.
22:38
SPEAKER_1: But it takes a lot to do it and you need them to be successful.
22:42
SPEAKER_1: We need a higher percentage of you did this and it worked,
22:46
SPEAKER_1: not you did this and students didn't achieve and it didn't work.
22:51
SPEAKER_1: And then we like, well, I didn't work.
22:55
SPEAKER_1: You know,
22:55
SPEAKER_1: and so those kids have to move around and parents have to make decisions
23:01
SPEAKER_1: and choices again.
23:03
SPEAKER_1: That becomes difficult as opposed to,
23:05
SPEAKER_1: like you said,
23:06
SPEAKER_1: A clear plan of,
23:08
SPEAKER_1: because of where he lived at,
23:10
SPEAKER_1: you're going to this school,
23:11
SPEAKER_1: you already knew what your middle school was going to be,
23:13
SPEAKER_1: and you knew what your high school was going to be,
23:15
SPEAKER_1: and you was just in kindergarten.
23:18
SPEAKER_1: And so then, because they were all going to be there.
23:21
SPEAKER_1: And you can't say that now.
23:23
SPEAKER_1: Now it's like, well, you don't know.
23:25
SPEAKER_1: You're going to be figuring it out.
23:26
SPEAKER_1: So even if they're at this school now, you don't know what middle school they're going to be at.
23:31
SPEAKER_1: And you for sure don't know what high school they're going to be at.
23:34
SPEAKER_1: Like, is that really...
23:37
SPEAKER_1: A good strategy.
23:39
SPEAKER_1: And it started in New Orleans.
23:40
SPEAKER_1: And New Orleans now is going back to a public school model.
23:44
SPEAKER_1: But we're plowing head along with, hey, let's do it this way.
23:47
SPEAKER_1: And I'm not sure what success is going to bring in that area.
23:53
SPEAKER_1: There's a number of things happening.
23:54
SPEAKER_1: Be like, hey, this is dismantling us some stuff.
23:59
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President,
24:00
SPEAKER_0: we've come to a point in time in which we are treating our Public education,
24:09
SPEAKER_0: like a Friday night date.
24:12
SPEAKER_0: Honey, where are we going to eat at tonight?
24:15
SPEAKER_0: And then you go back and forth and you decide where you're going to eat.
24:20
SPEAKER_0: That's what we're treating our public education is right now.
24:24
SPEAKER_0: It's like, well, where are we going to send our child to?
24:28
SPEAKER_0: Having no idea,
24:30
SPEAKER_0: it's just what's the best,
24:32
SPEAKER_0: who's given us the most marketing,
24:35
SPEAKER_0: and now you're thinking about where I'm going to send my child.
24:39
SPEAKER_0: And that can change because today, that school could be open.
24:48
SPEAKER_0: Guess what?
24:49
SPEAKER_0: By Christmas, it could be closed.
24:52
SPEAKER_0: By the time the second semester opens, it could be closed.
24:58
SPEAKER_0: You could get a notification that we got a shiny new school that's going to be open
25:04
SPEAKER_0: and literally within six months, it's going to be closed.
25:08
SPEAKER_0: That's what, you know, parents are having to deal with.
25:12
SPEAKER_0: They don't know even,
25:13
SPEAKER_0: you know, what's going to be open, you know, next week, next month, next semester.
25:21
SPEAKER_0: And they're trying to make decisions based on that.
25:24
SPEAKER_0: We're going to go to a commercial break,
25:26
SPEAKER_0: and when we come back, we invite you to be part of the conversation.
25:30
SPEAKER_0: Once again,
25:30
SPEAKER_0: we have a new call-in number tonight,
25:33
SPEAKER_0: and that's because our radio station,
25:35
SPEAKER_0: they're doing other duties on tonight,
25:37
SPEAKER_0: but hey, we're hanging out with you on Facebook.
25:49
SPEAKER_0: Once again, 463-276-4575.
25:54
SPEAKER_0: We'll keep it up on our Facebook page,
25:56
SPEAKER_0: but let's go to a quick break and when we come back,
25:58
SPEAKER_0: we'll continue our conversation.
26:00
SPEAKER_0: You're listening to the Concerned Clergy Radio Show.
26:04
SPEAKER_0: We'll catch you here right after the break.
26:09
SPEAKER_0: Welcome back to the Concerned Clergy Radio Show.
26:12
SPEAKER_0: And if you'd like to be part of the conversation, we're on YouTube.
26:17
SPEAKER_0: We're also on Facebook.
26:18
SPEAKER_0: We're streaming live.
26:20
SPEAKER_0: You can call in to our phone line, 463-276-4575.
26:23
SPEAKER_0: Once again, 463-276-4575.
26:25
SPEAKER_0: That number is scrolling on our Facebook page.
26:37
SPEAKER_0: And we've been talking on tonight just about some of the challenges
26:41
SPEAKER_0: that we're seeing here in regards to transportation in central Indiana when it comes
26:47
SPEAKER_0: to our students that are going to whether it be public schools,
26:51
SPEAKER_0: IPS, charter schools, township schools.
26:56
SPEAKER_0: There's issues with finding bus drivers.
26:59
SPEAKER_0: If you cannot even get your student to school,
27:03
SPEAKER_0: How do you expect your student to be able to be in an environment in
27:07
SPEAKER_0: which they can learn if they can't even get there?
27:11
SPEAKER_0: Once again, call in 463-276-4575.
27:15
SPEAKER_0: And Mr. President,
27:16
SPEAKER_0: we have Imhotep,
27:18
SPEAKER_0: you know,
27:19
SPEAKER_0: he's commented on our Facebook page here saying he's trying to,
27:24
SPEAKER_0: you know,
27:24
SPEAKER_0: teach his young, you know, his youngest son, some of the history of what's going on.
27:30
SPEAKER_0: But we also have a caller that's calling in.
27:33
SPEAKER_0: Let's go ahead and try to bring in our caller.
27:41
SPEAKER_0: Welcome to the Concerned Clergy Radio Show.
27:43
SPEAKER_0: I can help you.
27:45
SPEAKER_3: Hey, how's it going?
27:47
SPEAKER_0: Good evening.
27:48
SPEAKER_0: Who do I have?
27:50
SPEAKER_3: This is Mayhem.
27:50
SPEAKER_0: All right.
27:51
SPEAKER_0: Good evening, Mayhem.
27:52
SPEAKER_0: What's your comment or question?
27:54
SPEAKER_3: Hey, good conversation.
27:57
SPEAKER_3: I want to chime in.
28:01
SPEAKER_3: Y'all have historic amnesia.
28:04
SPEAKER_3: So this focus on Forest Manor,
28:08
SPEAKER_3: how many times that been flipped, so-called charter, and where did the money go?
28:18
SPEAKER_3: It's been flipped a couple times,
28:20
SPEAKER_3: and I'm not going to mention who got it now, but it's another charter school.
28:26
SPEAKER_3: But you remember a couple years ago,
28:29
SPEAKER_3: a couple guys that we, I'm not going to mention their names, that had it.
28:33
SPEAKER_3: And it didn't last a couple of months.
28:39
SPEAKER_3: They flipped it, used the children like it was nothing.
28:47
SPEAKER_3: They squeezed a couple of million out of it.
28:50
SPEAKER_3: Then this charter got it now.
28:53
SPEAKER_3: I'm not going to mention their names, but we know who it is.
28:56
SPEAKER_3: But we don't know how it's going.
28:59
SPEAKER_3: But How many times are we going to use our children to get millions and millions
29:07
SPEAKER_3: of dollars out of and they don't really get an education and they're not guaranteed,
29:13
SPEAKER_3: as you say, buses or any kind of safety or anything?
29:20
SPEAKER_3: That's just one example.
29:22
SPEAKER_3: Imagine all the so-called charters out of Naptown or inside the Dome.
29:30
SPEAKER_3: That are being flipped and our so-called parents are just being used
29:38
SPEAKER_3: because they're getting hopes and dreams and don't realize
29:45
SPEAKER_3: that they're using their children as scapegoats or guinea pigs.
29:52
SPEAKER_3: I just feel sorry for Naptown,
29:55
SPEAKER_3: but you know that That example has been used from, like you said, the other state.
30:01
SPEAKER_3: It fell.
30:02
SPEAKER_3: Now they're going back to the original plan, and we're still using this so-called escape plan.
30:10
SPEAKER_3: And we already seen that that plan been played.
30:15
SPEAKER_3: Now we've been played.
30:16
SPEAKER_3: Now we got this...
30:20
SPEAKER_3: I don't know what it is.
30:21
SPEAKER_3: Is this a mess?
30:22
SPEAKER_3: And this... Our parents...
30:25
SPEAKER_3: They're using their kids, and everybody's ignorant, and this is just sad.
30:34
SPEAKER_3: I don't have the words from it,
30:36
SPEAKER_3: but the so-called elites are using the ignorant parents,
30:41
SPEAKER_3: and the ignorant parents are using their kids
30:44
SPEAKER_3: because they think they're really doing something to advance their children.
30:48
SPEAKER_3: It's just sad.
30:50
SPEAKER_3: I'll take it off the air.
30:50
SPEAKER_3: Thank you.
30:51
SPEAKER_0: All right.
30:52
SPEAKER_0: Thank you so much for your phone call and continue to listen.
30:58
SPEAKER_0: I don't want to call the parents ignorant, Mr.
31:00
SPEAKER_0: President,
31:03
SPEAKER_0: because of the fact that young parents,
31:08
SPEAKER_0: it's not like they've been able to,
31:11
SPEAKER_0: most young parents,
31:12
SPEAKER_0: even if we think about our own parents,
31:15
SPEAKER_0: When they were young parents,
31:17
SPEAKER_0: it's not like they had,
31:19
SPEAKER_0: you know,
31:19
SPEAKER_0: books that said,
31:20
SPEAKER_0: here's what this school district did or here's how they taught,
31:26
SPEAKER_0: you know, in another township.
31:29
SPEAKER_0: It's like, here's where we sent our children and we depended on them.
31:35
SPEAKER_0: We got another call coming in.
31:36
SPEAKER_0: Let's go ahead and bring them in.
31:40
SPEAKER_0: You're listening to the Concerned Clergy Radio Show.
31:43
SPEAKER_0: How can we help you?
31:45
SPEAKER_4: All right, how you doing?
31:46
SPEAKER_4: How you doing?
31:47
SPEAKER_0: All right, Imhotep.
31:50
SPEAKER_4: All right, how you doing?
31:51
SPEAKER_4: How you doing?
31:52
SPEAKER_0: Go right ahead.
31:55
SPEAKER_4: Yeah, this problem has been so multifaceted.
32:01
SPEAKER_4: Project 2025,
32:02
SPEAKER_4: when I went through and read their whole manifesto,
32:04
SPEAKER_4: what started in the 70s,
32:05
SPEAKER_4: late 70s,
32:06
SPEAKER_4: I think it was, if I'm correct, Dr. Green, I think it was around the end of them.
32:11
SPEAKER_4: So when that report came out the other day that over I think it was
32:16
SPEAKER_4: over 17,000 households with an annual salary.
32:23
SPEAKER_4: A private school.
32:26
SPEAKER_4: I remember when vouchers were first, private schools say they didn't want vouchers.
32:32
SPEAKER_4: They weren't going to dilute their talent pool or they weren't going
32:36
SPEAKER_4: to open up their pool to voucher kids because at that time it was pushed to just
32:41
SPEAKER_4: that it was just going to be supposedly poor urban black children.
32:45
SPEAKER_4: But now we see that's different.
32:46
SPEAKER_4: That's not the case.
32:47
SPEAKER_4: We see that now the game is in to allow middle, upper middle class whites.
32:55
SPEAKER_4: And the main argument is that when we pay these taxes,
32:58
SPEAKER_4: we should have better schools in our districts.
33:00
SPEAKER_4: Well, if you didn't support segregation and if you didn't support discrimination,
33:08
SPEAKER_4: the neighborhood schools would drive.
33:12
SPEAKER_4: When I moved here,
33:13
SPEAKER_4: people told me they were being bussed from,
33:15
SPEAKER_4: I guess,
33:16
SPEAKER_4: around college or whatever,
33:17
SPEAKER_4: down there, 25th or 29th, all about the Decatur Township.
33:21
SPEAKER_4: I'm like, you've got to be kidding me.
33:22
SPEAKER_4: How in the heck are you getting bussed that far out?
33:24
SPEAKER_4: I mean, that's crazy.
33:26
SPEAKER_4: And Judge Dillon, I did get myself abreast of what Judge Dillon did and all that.
33:31
SPEAKER_4: So it's really a bait and switch.
33:37
SPEAKER_4: And he's right.
33:38
SPEAKER_4: Ignorance is a state of not knowing.
33:41
SPEAKER_4: And they don't know.
33:42
SPEAKER_4: And it's really the baby boomers and part of us Gen Xers,
33:47
SPEAKER_4: I'm a Gen X, 66, it's part of our fault for not preparing it better.
33:55
SPEAKER_4: My father's been gone eight years,
33:58
SPEAKER_4: traveling around the universe right now, but he's been gone physically eight years.
34:01
SPEAKER_4: But he told me back maybe in 2010, 2012, 2015, some days before that,
34:06
SPEAKER_4: The reason why they were able to get everything they got, and he was a boomer.
34:12
SPEAKER_4: No, he was a me generation.
34:13
SPEAKER_4: I'm sorry.
34:14
SPEAKER_4: He was a silent generation born in 39.
34:16
SPEAKER_4: I think that's the silent generation.
34:18
SPEAKER_4: Boomers was after that.
34:19
SPEAKER_4: So he told me the reason why they got everything.
34:22
SPEAKER_4: And boomers benefited from the main leaders because they fought, they fought, they fought.
34:26
SPEAKER_4: I remember when I first learned about the Flint,
34:29
SPEAKER_4: the attack from the National Guard up there at General Motors in Flint.
34:32
SPEAKER_4: You know,
34:33
SPEAKER_4: my father's engineer with Bethlehem Steel,
34:34
SPEAKER_4: so steel workers and auto workers were pretty much entwined.
34:37
SPEAKER_4: And they fought, fought, fought.
34:38
SPEAKER_4: Well, nobody wants to fight anymore.
34:41
SPEAKER_4: We got people marching for a woman who killed three kids.
34:44
SPEAKER_4: More than we're seeing people in that 18 to 30 or 18 to 35 age bracket
34:50
SPEAKER_4: Out here fighting.
34:51
SPEAKER_4: You know, you had the No Kings protest.
34:53
SPEAKER_4: That was a performative thing.
34:55
SPEAKER_4: We're talking about real, real substantive fighting.
34:58
SPEAKER_4: Fighting for the neighborhood schools.
35:00
SPEAKER_4: Fighting to have everybody involved.
35:02
SPEAKER_4: You know, and so that's the main issue.
35:06
SPEAKER_4: It's a police job.
35:08
SPEAKER_4: It's really a shame.
35:09
SPEAKER_4: And I blame the people we put in office get just as much blame, too,
35:14
SPEAKER_4: because That city council down there,
35:17
SPEAKER_4: those mayors down there,
35:18
SPEAKER_4: Maggie Lewis and Leroy and Carlos Perkins,
35:21
SPEAKER_4: my councilman and all of them,
35:23
SPEAKER_4: they're complicit in it too because they can stop this with legislation and
35:27
SPEAKER_4: then force it into the courts again and then maybe we can see a better change.
35:31
SPEAKER_4: So I just want to thank you for taking my call and keep the good work.
35:35
SPEAKER_0: All right.
35:35
SPEAKER_0: Thank you so much, Imhotep.
35:37
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President?
35:39
SPEAKER_1: Well, uh, There's been a lot to say.
35:42
SPEAKER_1: I mean, I concur with most of it because, I mean,
35:49
SPEAKER_1: like this week or maybe last week, okay,
35:52
SPEAKER_1: we're getting rid of Enroll Indy,
35:54
SPEAKER_1: something that helped bring on the charter movement.
35:58
SPEAKER_1: It was huge.
35:59
SPEAKER_1: You got parents, you know, you need to use Enroll Indy.
36:03
SPEAKER_1: They're going to help you.
36:04
SPEAKER_1: And the next thing you know, now we are, we're getting rid of that.
36:08
SPEAKER_1: Okay, people.
36:09
SPEAKER_1: I mean, it's all of that manipulation of adults, parents.
36:17
SPEAKER_1: And it's not to say that the parents shouldn't be responsible for doing his
36:21
SPEAKER_1: or her own research and making wiser choices.
36:25
SPEAKER_1: But what happens is when they're,
36:27
SPEAKER_1: you know,
36:28
SPEAKER_1: battling with poverty, trying to make things fit, they don't do all this research.
36:32
SPEAKER_1: So the stuff that comes to them, it looks glossy.
36:35
SPEAKER_1: It looks better on the other side when there was no fight.
36:39
SPEAKER_1: There was no fight to keep our, I wouldn't say there was no fight.
36:44
SPEAKER_1: There was some of us that were pushing for we need to save our community schools.
36:49
SPEAKER_1: Unfortunately, though,
36:50
SPEAKER_1: when you have quote unquote black elected officials and others who are silent
36:56
SPEAKER_1: or supporting it, then it's hard to, you know, to win that battle.
37:03
SPEAKER_1: Most of us wanted to have a public school board that's elected.
37:08
SPEAKER_1: We did not want an appointed board.
37:12
SPEAKER_1: But there were people, again, African-Americans who sat to help make that happen.
37:18
SPEAKER_1: I believe that's going to prove that that was not a wise move.
37:23
SPEAKER_1: Because how do you have accountability when they're disappointed?
37:27
SPEAKER_1: It's no longer voted on board by the community.
37:31
SPEAKER_1: You can do whatever you want to do.
37:32
SPEAKER_1: The community puts you there.
37:34
SPEAKER_1: Whoever puts you there is going, you're at the mercy of You know, who the mayor is, basically.
37:43
SPEAKER_1: And, you know,
37:43
SPEAKER_1: depending on the length of term,
37:44
SPEAKER_1: you may not have to worry about that mayor too much if the majority
37:48
SPEAKER_1: of them are already in sync.
37:50
SPEAKER_1: And so those are the type of challenges we've created for our community.
37:55
SPEAKER_1: And when you go back,
37:57
SPEAKER_1: the example used about the Forest Manor School,
37:59
SPEAKER_1: that is a prime example of this whole thing in terms of The school that was there,
38:06
SPEAKER_1: then it was closed, and who owns it, and where's that money at?
38:11
SPEAKER_1: That whole thing is marred with controversy.
38:16
SPEAKER_1: And should it have even happened, Reverend Alexander, given what we've seen happen?
38:24
SPEAKER_1: And it did nothing but damage.
38:26
SPEAKER_1: And who tracks that?
38:27
SPEAKER_1: Who tracks what happened to these kids?
38:30
SPEAKER_1: How far did they go in their education process?
38:33
SPEAKER_1: What was that all about?
38:35
SPEAKER_1: Those things are, and I agree with LMA, you got gatekeepers.
38:39
SPEAKER_1: These gatekeepers are guiding the community, many people in the wrong direction.
38:48
SPEAKER_1: And I think that there are too many people who don't know.
38:52
SPEAKER_1: And now you can argue should they know, but, you know, they don't know.
38:56
SPEAKER_1: They know what they get sold.
38:57
SPEAKER_1: They know what they get told.
38:59
SPEAKER_1: When Enroll Indy was coming, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
39:03
SPEAKER_1: You can remember that.
39:04
SPEAKER_1: We're going to have this whole enrollment system.
39:06
SPEAKER_1: And so if you want to go to APS school, you can get here.
39:09
SPEAKER_1: You want to go to MBA school.
39:10
SPEAKER_1: You want to go to our school.
39:12
SPEAKER_1: And now we wake up and y'all don't want it.
39:17
SPEAKER_1: And they helped sell it.
39:18
SPEAKER_1: They helped create it to wake up and say, now you don't want it.
39:23
SPEAKER_1: And what's the consequences of that?
39:24
SPEAKER_1: And what are we going to now?
39:26
SPEAKER_1: And what did you just do with this parent that you sold on Enroll Indy?
39:32
SPEAKER_1: Who's going to wake up and find out that Enroll Indy,
39:35
SPEAKER_1: when they go to log in, oh, this don't work anymore.
39:38
SPEAKER_1: They won't even know what happened.
39:40
SPEAKER_1: They didn't see the news.
39:42
SPEAKER_1: They didn't see what's transpired.
39:44
SPEAKER_1: And so they're going to miss it until they go to use it.
39:49
SPEAKER_1: And then what are they going to do?
39:51
SPEAKER_1: I mean,
39:52
SPEAKER_1: all of this just adds layers of confusion and chaos that tend to keep us bound,
40:00
SPEAKER_1: going in a negative circle.
40:03
SPEAKER_1: And the gatekeepers don't allow us to break free.
40:06
SPEAKER_1: We make it hard because they're going to talk about if you're going against it,
40:10
SPEAKER_1: that you're anti this or anti that when really I'm just pro education
40:15
SPEAKER_1: of our children.
40:18
SPEAKER_1: I need our children to be learning.
40:20
SPEAKER_1: All of our children.
40:21
SPEAKER_1: I need them to be in the past that I read in third grade.
40:25
SPEAKER_1: I need them to be successful.
40:26
SPEAKER_1: That's what I want them to do.
40:28
SPEAKER_1: So what school is that that can do that?
40:31
SPEAKER_1: And without all the lying and jiving.
40:34
SPEAKER_1: Because they're not going to get to go to Brebeuf if they don't have no money.
40:37
SPEAKER_1: That ain't one of their choices.
40:39
SPEAKER_1: Cathedral is not one of your choices.
40:42
SPEAKER_1: If you don't have money to go there or your son or daughter is some type of athlete.
40:48
SPEAKER_1: That ain't a choice for you.
40:49
SPEAKER_1: Now, what choices do you have?
40:52
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President, that right there, if anything's going to anger me, is that right there.
40:59
SPEAKER_0: Because I got to figure out, as a young parent, what's the choice, what's the best.
41:07
SPEAKER_0: I shouldn't have to figure it out.
41:10
SPEAKER_0: I should be able to just send my child to school and And they get a quality education.
41:19
SPEAKER_0: It shouldn't be competition.
41:22
SPEAKER_0: All of our children,
41:24
SPEAKER_0: whether they go to Washington Township,
41:26
SPEAKER_0: Pike Township, Lawrence, IPS, they should all get the same education.
41:35
SPEAKER_0: I shouldn't have to try to figure out which one's the best.
41:40
SPEAKER_0: Now, I understand wholeheartedly.
41:44
SPEAKER_0: People decide where I'm going to move,
41:46
SPEAKER_0: where I'm going to reside, where I'm going to have my family at.
41:52
SPEAKER_0: They'll say,
41:53
SPEAKER_0: I want it in a school district that's going to be conducive to having
41:58
SPEAKER_0: a better education for my children.
42:01
SPEAKER_0: But at the same time, it should not be such huge gaps between one or another.
42:09
SPEAKER_0: And it's not just school districts now.
42:12
SPEAKER_0: It's just between, it can be one year to another.
42:16
SPEAKER_0: It can be 2025 to 2026 because one school can be doing great in 2025
42:24
SPEAKER_0: and next year it could be closed because they didn't have enough funding.
42:28
SPEAKER_0: They don't have the students and now it's gone.
42:32
SPEAKER_0: We need to have consistency and Once again, I'm going to go back to your average parent.
42:39
SPEAKER_0: Your average parent is a young 20-something.
42:46
SPEAKER_0: They're not going to have no historical data facts.
42:50
SPEAKER_0: They're barely trying to figure out where they're going to live.
42:54
SPEAKER_0: They're trying to figure out how they're going to feed their children.
42:58
SPEAKER_0: They're trying to figure out where I'm going to work.
43:02
SPEAKER_0: And now you want them to be, you know, extremely educated on the education system.
43:09
SPEAKER_0: And that's not going to happen.
43:11
SPEAKER_0: We're handcuffing families.
43:14
SPEAKER_0: And it shouldn't be where you have to be...
43:20
SPEAKER_0: It should not be you got to be a Harvard scholar on your local school district
43:28
SPEAKER_0: to know where to send little Johnny,
43:31
SPEAKER_0: where little Johnny can get the best education based on your Harvard education
43:38
SPEAKER_0: of what education should be.
43:41
SPEAKER_0: All of our students should have equal opportunity to To have a great education,
43:48
SPEAKER_0: to have a well-rounded experience,
43:51
SPEAKER_0: to have the social experiences that go with it,
43:55
SPEAKER_0: to have all the educational experiences that go with it.
44:00
SPEAKER_0: And if anything else,
44:02
SPEAKER_0: as a young student,
44:05
SPEAKER_0: young students really,
44:07
SPEAKER_0: here's my experience,
44:08
SPEAKER_0: young students really will go back to their homes and say, here's what I learned.
44:14
SPEAKER_0: And they'll be teaching some of their elders.
44:18
SPEAKER_0: They'll be showing their elders here what I learned from our history.
44:23
SPEAKER_0: And they're showing, OK, here's what I've learned.
44:27
SPEAKER_0: And they are bringing a bridge, if you will, to.
44:33
SPEAKER_0: Better education and better opportunity, better experience.
44:40
SPEAKER_0: That in a lot of cases, those that were older than them did not get.
44:46
SPEAKER_1: But Reverend Alexander, I agree with you 100%, but what changed was the politics.
44:54
SPEAKER_1: The people in place were not,
44:57
SPEAKER_1: you used to be,
44:57
SPEAKER_1: if you were on the school board, you were committed to education in schools.
45:01
SPEAKER_1: It wasn't about money.
45:02
SPEAKER_1: It wasn't about,
45:04
SPEAKER_1: you needed money to run the school,
45:06
SPEAKER_1: but you weren't trying to manipulate children and sell them off.
45:10
SPEAKER_1: As a pawn to make some other money or to be exploited.
45:13
SPEAKER_1: And so when you begin to get people in positions,
45:18
SPEAKER_1: gatekeepers is a term that keeps coming up,
45:21
SPEAKER_1: that they're no longer interested in what's best for children and education
45:28
SPEAKER_1: and helping a community.
45:30
SPEAKER_1: And they begin to gatekeep and what's best for self and other things that are,
45:35
SPEAKER_1: because all this feeds gentrification,
45:38
SPEAKER_1: et cetera, then There's a group that want to lead to the demise of it.
45:44
SPEAKER_1: We don't want the neighborhood to be healthy.
45:46
SPEAKER_1: We need the neighborhood to go down,
45:48
SPEAKER_1: the school to go down,
45:49
SPEAKER_1: so property values can go down so we can come in and gentrify that neighborhood.
45:55
SPEAKER_1: And that stuff takes a decade to pull off,
45:58
SPEAKER_1: but people went along with it and did it and exploited it.
46:04
SPEAKER_1: And I agree wholeheartedly.
46:06
SPEAKER_1: The parent can't figure all that out.
46:09
SPEAKER_1: Because all this goes together.
46:10
SPEAKER_1: If I'm, you know,
46:11
SPEAKER_1: rents are rising and dealing with eviction and trying to keep a roof over my head,
46:15
SPEAKER_1: I don't have time to be vetting all these candidates and what the heck's going on.
46:23
SPEAKER_1: Or school.
46:24
SPEAKER_1: You have an expectation.
46:26
SPEAKER_1: Because the expectation is.
46:28
SPEAKER_1: Because when I grew up,
46:30
SPEAKER_1: you grew up, the expectation is you're going to have quality teachers there.
46:34
SPEAKER_1: Everybody's going to be putting their best foot forward.
46:36
SPEAKER_1: It's going to be about business.
46:38
SPEAKER_1: Things are going to get handled.
46:40
SPEAKER_1: And then they will let, as a parent, they'll let me know if something goes astray.
46:46
SPEAKER_1: And so now we're not in that mode.
46:50
SPEAKER_1: Now you, the parent, you got to do all this research and do all this stuff.
46:57
SPEAKER_1: In addition to how you just live a life,
46:59
SPEAKER_1: you still got to do all of that for every one of your children,
47:02
SPEAKER_1: for every one of the schools.
47:05
SPEAKER_1: And you've got to do it consistently.
47:08
SPEAKER_1: Because one year going might be different from the last year
47:12
SPEAKER_1: where you're tracking all this stuff.
47:14
SPEAKER_1: Is this school even going to be here in two years?
47:17
SPEAKER_0: It's like a restaurant or a gas station.
47:20
SPEAKER_1: Exactly.
47:21
SPEAKER_1: You don't know.
47:22
SPEAKER_1: And you're there having to critique it.
47:25
SPEAKER_1: And who wants to do that all the time?
47:28
SPEAKER_1: And so they look for, quote unquote, a quick solution.
47:32
SPEAKER_1: And then that leads to a problem because now I'm looking for a quick solution
47:36
SPEAKER_1: because I don't want to do this.
47:37
SPEAKER_1: And so if somebody tells me life will be easier,
47:41
SPEAKER_1: I'm enrolling in D,
47:42
SPEAKER_1: and life will be easier if you just send your child to da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
47:48
SPEAKER_1: And so now,
47:49
SPEAKER_1: and enrolling in D is trying to,
47:51
SPEAKER_1: quote unquote,
47:51
SPEAKER_1: build up some charter school,
47:53
SPEAKER_1: then that's the next thing and that's where you're going.
47:55
SPEAKER_1: You don't know.
47:57
SPEAKER_1: And so then we end up in bad places and then in like,
48:02
SPEAKER_1: Life, one bad decision can lead to the next bad decision.
48:05
SPEAKER_0: Let's be real, Mr. President.
48:07
SPEAKER_0: Parents,
48:09
SPEAKER_0: they don't really have the opportunity to really say,
48:13
SPEAKER_0: I'm going to choose the best school for my child.
48:17
SPEAKER_0: Let's be real.
48:18
SPEAKER_0: They have to look at their own living conditions.
48:22
SPEAKER_0: Where do I live?
48:23
SPEAKER_0: Am I renting?
48:24
SPEAKER_0: Am I owning?
48:26
SPEAKER_0: Where do I work?
48:28
SPEAKER_0: What's between my place of employment to where I live?
48:35
SPEAKER_0: That's the things they're weighing.
48:38
SPEAKER_0: If I got to leave at eight o'clock, I got to be at work at nine o'clock.
48:43
SPEAKER_0: What's the closest point A to point B?
48:49
SPEAKER_0: If I have some place in between, how can I pay for that?
48:53
SPEAKER_0: Do I get vouchers?
48:56
SPEAKER_0: There's a whole lot of things.
48:59
SPEAKER_0: None of it really comes to the quality of education when you really get down to it.
49:06
SPEAKER_1: None of it does.
49:06
SPEAKER_0: It's all about convenience.
49:10
SPEAKER_0: What's the best for my situation, where I reside, where I work, how old my children are.
49:20
SPEAKER_0: Because if I got a five-year-old child and I got a nine-year-old child,
49:27
SPEAKER_0: And I've got a 12-year-old child.
49:30
SPEAKER_0: That's three different cases.
49:32
SPEAKER_0: Could be three different school districts.
49:36
SPEAKER_0: It could be three different dynamics.
49:39
SPEAKER_0: And even where they go.
49:40
SPEAKER_0: And I got to weigh that as a parent.
49:44
SPEAKER_0: We're missing it all.
49:45
SPEAKER_0: We're making it difficult.
49:47
SPEAKER_0: We need to make it easier for our parents.
49:50
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President, I'm just frustrated.
49:53
SPEAKER_1: Well, and you're assuming the parent's child know the children have special needs,
49:58
SPEAKER_1: which then adds another layer of complexity.
50:01
SPEAKER_0: Exactly.
50:03
SPEAKER_1: I mean, because it's not, you know, it was far better back in the day.
50:09
SPEAKER_1: We fixed the community school.
50:11
SPEAKER_1: You go there.
50:12
SPEAKER_1: It feeds the middle school and the high school, and we're all together.
50:17
SPEAKER_1: Once you blow that model up,
50:20
SPEAKER_1: it really comes down to How much money do you have to be able to get to wherever
50:26
SPEAKER_1: the best schools are going to be?
50:27
SPEAKER_1: Because we ain't going to make them all great.
50:30
SPEAKER_1: If we were, we wouldn't have to have all this mess.
50:33
SPEAKER_1: We'd just say, let's fix the schools.
50:35
SPEAKER_0: And that's intentional.
50:36
SPEAKER_1: And that's intentional.
50:37
SPEAKER_1: And that was by choice.
50:40
SPEAKER_1: And people of means agreed to do that and have done that.
50:46
SPEAKER_1: They have set that up and they don't want you to say that.
50:50
SPEAKER_1: They don't want you to say that out loud.
50:51
SPEAKER_1: They don't want you to call their names.
50:52
SPEAKER_1: They don't want you to do that.
50:54
SPEAKER_1: When in reality,
50:55
SPEAKER_1: they are the ones who set this system up knowing good and well what was going
51:01
SPEAKER_1: to happen.
51:03
SPEAKER_1: They know that that single mom who's struggling is making $14 an hour.
51:09
SPEAKER_1: She ain't going to be able to keep up.
51:12
SPEAKER_1: She can have the willingness, but she can't keep up.
51:16
SPEAKER_1: It ain't going to happen.
51:18
SPEAKER_1: And her children are going to fall.
51:20
SPEAKER_1: By the wayside,
51:21
SPEAKER_1: barring some exceptions,
51:23
SPEAKER_1: maybe they're a great athlete,
51:24
SPEAKER_1: maybe they can keep them afloat because then there's an interest in them.
51:30
SPEAKER_1: So the coach is passing them from one coach to the next in a system.
51:36
SPEAKER_1: So that can happen.
51:37
SPEAKER_1: But if you don't have that type of skill, you get ready to fall through the cracks.
51:42
SPEAKER_1: That's less
51:42
SPEAKER_0: than 1%.
51:44
SPEAKER_1: And that's less than 1% that's going to have that type of skill.
51:47
SPEAKER_1: And that kid could very well end up in the buff or cathedral or wherever.
51:51
SPEAKER_1: But if you're not one of those individuals, then you're in a system that is hard to get out of.
51:59
SPEAKER_1: It's hard to get out of.
52:00
SPEAKER_1: And it's, you know, because they designed it that way.
52:06
SPEAKER_1: They know what they're doing.
52:07
SPEAKER_1: This has been intentional work.
52:09
SPEAKER_1: They just don't want you trying to spotlight on that intentionality and how we got there.
52:14
SPEAKER_1: They want you to look other places.
52:16
SPEAKER_1: But at the core of this,
52:19
SPEAKER_1: if the people of means,
52:20
SPEAKER_1: the people of influence in our city and said we don't want that,
52:23
SPEAKER_1: we wouldn't have it.
52:24
SPEAKER_1: We have it because they said we will do that here in this city and we will do that
52:30
SPEAKER_1: to these people.
52:33
SPEAKER_0: And we don't care.
52:35
SPEAKER_1: And we don't care.
52:35
SPEAKER_1: We're going to benefit financially and we're going to roll on.
52:40
SPEAKER_0: Alright, so that's where we're at on tonight.
52:43
SPEAKER_0: We had a good conversation, even though we were not on our FM radio stations on tonight.
52:50
SPEAKER_0: We still had a great conversation.
52:54
SPEAKER_0: This just gives you an opportunity to know,
52:57
SPEAKER_0: okay, here's what we can do when we're on Facebook Live, also on YouTube.
53:02
SPEAKER_0: We also have other options in which we can communicate with you.
53:06
SPEAKER_0: So we thank everybody for joining us on tonight.
53:09
SPEAKER_0: But this is a it's a critical conversation.
53:13
SPEAKER_0: I really believe that it's something which we have to.
53:19
SPEAKER_0: We really have to speak up because we have too many of our young people,
53:26
SPEAKER_0: you know,
53:26
SPEAKER_0: too many,
53:28
SPEAKER_0: you know,
53:30
SPEAKER_0: students,
53:31
SPEAKER_0: parents,
53:31
SPEAKER_0: families that are struggling and just trying to find How can we navigate through all
53:38
SPEAKER_0: of this, you know, confusion?
53:41
SPEAKER_0: You know,
53:41
SPEAKER_0: whether it's referendums,
53:44
SPEAKER_0: whether it's who I vote for,
53:45
SPEAKER_0: a school board, you know, or, you know, teachers' unions.
53:49
SPEAKER_0: I mean, there's so much going on.
53:52
SPEAKER_0: Parents just don't have the capacity to be able to figure all that out.
53:56
SPEAKER_1: Well, a parent is not going to be figuring out that this movement over here is
54:01
SPEAKER_1: to eliminate the teachers' unions.
54:05
SPEAKER_1: I mean, they're not going to see that.
54:06
SPEAKER_1: They're not going to be thinking about that.
54:09
SPEAKER_1: And so those things are going to happen as a result of this.
54:14
SPEAKER_1: But the parent ain't going to see it.
54:15
SPEAKER_1: You can't necessarily blame the parent for that.
54:18
SPEAKER_1: Some of the rest of the people,
54:19
SPEAKER_1: the gatekeepers,
54:20
SPEAKER_1: et cetera, know,
54:21
SPEAKER_1: now, hey, if you keep on doing this, you're going to delete the teacher's unit.
54:24
SPEAKER_1: Well, that's part of their plan, too.
54:26
SPEAKER_1: That's all still part of the plan.
54:28
SPEAKER_1: But that feeds why you got teachers,
54:31
SPEAKER_1: why you don't have teachers, why there's a decline in teachers.
54:34
SPEAKER_1: Because of those type of activities that they look and see where we're headed and
54:39
SPEAKER_1: where we're going.
54:41
SPEAKER_1: You know, you got to look at me like, OK, I can see this freight train on the track.
54:46
SPEAKER_1: You know, so do I stay and keep teaching or I go do something else?
54:50
SPEAKER_1: You know, because most of the good teachers want to educate and empower their students.
54:57
SPEAKER_1: That's what they want to do.
54:58
SPEAKER_1: That political yin-yang, they're really not interested.
55:01
SPEAKER_1: Most teachers want to go into that second classroom tomorrow,
55:05
SPEAKER_1: second grade classroom, and do well with their children.
55:09
SPEAKER_1: They're not interested in all these other things that are part of the system now,
55:15
SPEAKER_1: are impacting the system.
55:20
SPEAKER_1: They wouldn't have voted to say, you better pass our third grade, you're going to be retained.
55:24
SPEAKER_1: Teachers wouldn't have done that.
55:26
SPEAKER_1: That was left with me and that ain't something they would have done.
55:30
SPEAKER_1: Mr. President.
55:31
SPEAKER_1: A strict line.
55:34
SPEAKER_0: As we close our program, let me remind us where we started our program.
55:40
SPEAKER_0: We started talking about we don't even have enough bus drivers to get our students to schools.
55:50
SPEAKER_0: Here we are talking about teachers.
55:53
SPEAKER_0: If we can't get people just to get our kids to schools,
56:00
SPEAKER_0: how are we even going to get the kids in front of the teachers that we want
56:06
SPEAKER_0: to teach them?
56:09
SPEAKER_0: We have so much that we need to fix.
56:12
SPEAKER_0: But think about that.
56:14
SPEAKER_0: We started our conversation with the fact we can't even get bus drivers.
56:21
SPEAKER_0: To get our kids, our students to the classroom.
56:27
SPEAKER_0: If they can't get there,
56:30
SPEAKER_0: Mr. President, he already mentioned, we can't even get teachers in the classrooms.
56:36
SPEAKER_0: We're struggling and we need to fix that.
56:41
SPEAKER_0: And that's a fact, Jack.
56:44
SPEAKER_0: All right.
56:46
SPEAKER_0: So that's the end of our program on tonight.
56:48
SPEAKER_0: We did a little bit different on tonight.
56:52
SPEAKER_0: But we're going to continue to speak up because this is it's extremely important,
56:58
SPEAKER_0: regardless of, you know, whether you're an IPS or a township school.
57:04
SPEAKER_0: There's too many challenges that are coming,
57:06
SPEAKER_0: you know,
57:06
SPEAKER_0: across the board,
57:07
SPEAKER_0: whether it be transportation, whether it be unions, whether it be charter schools.
57:13
SPEAKER_0: There's too many challenges that are now affecting,
57:16
SPEAKER_0: you know, our students and their ability to learn.
57:21
SPEAKER_0: To grow and then,
57:23
SPEAKER_0: you know,
57:24
SPEAKER_0: to be able to really be the ones that are going to carry,
57:30
SPEAKER_0: I'll say, our communities forward in the future.
57:34
SPEAKER_0: So we got to fight for them.
57:36
SPEAKER_0: So we thank everybody that joined us on tonight on Facebook and those that called in on tonight.
57:44
SPEAKER_0: Hopefully,
57:44
SPEAKER_0: you know,
57:44
SPEAKER_0: we'll be back with the radio station next week and you'll be with us as well.
57:49
SPEAKER_0: Until then.
57:51
SPEAKER_0: Everyone have a blessed week and we'll see you next week.
57:55
SPEAKER_0: Be blessed.