Latest / Chuck Douglas / More With Candidate Bernadine Kennedy Kent in Studio
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chuck Douglas, The Power Hour, 610 WTVN. Got a note
- 0:02Speaker 1: from Fifi on Facebook. Thank you very much. I responded
- 0:05Speaker 1: to that. I've got a guest in the studio, Bernadine Kennedy-Kent,
- 0:09Speaker 1: who is running for the legislature, District 3 this time around.
- 0:13Speaker 1: They've changed numbers since she was there last time. She
- 0:16Speaker 1: was kicked out. She was locked out. She was physically
- 0:20Speaker 1: blocked from going into a room for a discussion about
- 0:23Speaker 1: a bill they would be voting on because she ticked
- 0:26Speaker 1: off the Democrats. She was a Democrat. was is the
- 0:30Speaker 1: operative word she's come over now and welcome by the
- 0:33Speaker 1: way to the franklin county republican party it's it is
- 0:36Speaker 1: uh it is it's different now than it was a
- 0:39Speaker 1: couple years ago there's a lot of positive momentum and
- 0:42Speaker 1: uh i i'm seeing a lot of good things and
- 0:44Speaker 1: i'm i you came along at right the right time
- 0:47Speaker 1: so um we we talked about the first issue that
- 0:51Speaker 1: you would want to handle tell me I got a
- 0:55Speaker 1: couple of them. Well, okay. I was going to say,
- 0:58Speaker 1: can you tell me something else that might be in, say,
- 1:00Speaker 1: your top five things that really are priorities for you? Oh, okay.
- 1:06Speaker 2: The one I was down there and, you know, I
- 1:09Speaker 2: was formerly a teacher, assistant principal, and I love the kids.
- 1:16Speaker 2: And I absolutely hated that they could go through 12
- 1:22Speaker 2: years of school take a test and not graduate. I absolutely,
- 1:30Speaker 2: to me, you disenfranchise the teachers.
- 1:33Speaker 1: We didn't mean anything if we.
- 1:35Speaker 2: Could teach a child for 12 years and then they
- 1:38Speaker 2: take a test and fail.
- 1:39Speaker 1: The proficiency test is a joke anyway. My son, my
- 1:42Speaker 1: youngest son in 10th grade, that's when they start giving
- 1:46Speaker 1: them to you. In 10th grade, he passed all the
- 1:48Speaker 1: parts of the proficiency test. He said, why do I
- 1:51Speaker 1: need to go to two more years of high school then?
- 1:53Speaker 1: If I passed the Ohio graduation test at this point,
- 1:56Speaker 1: I'm showing I have what I need to graduate. Why
- 1:59Speaker 1: do I have to go to school for two more years?
- 2:00Speaker 1: That is a completely logical question. And I couldn't answer it.
- 2:05Speaker 2: Well, you'll love this. When I was at Mary Franklin,
- 2:08Speaker 2: they had a young man and he was considered to
- 2:12Speaker 2: be in a special education class. And this is when
- 2:15Speaker 2: they gave that first test for seniors. This young man
- 2:21Speaker 2: in the special education class was the only one that
- 2:25Speaker 2: passed all five parts.
- 2:27Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Was he brilliant or
- 2:32Speaker 1: was the rest of the school in that much trouble?
- 2:34Speaker 2: Well, I think it was because smaller classes. He got
- 2:39Speaker 2: a chance to study many of the things that he
- 2:42Speaker 2: was interested in. And I think that that was why.
- 2:47Speaker 2: And when you think about it, you're talking about maybe
- 2:49Speaker 2: he had five people in the class. That's one of
- 2:52Speaker 2: the things that is a very big problem. These classes
- 2:55Speaker 2: you just stuff students in, you're supposed to be giving
- 2:58Speaker 2: them really all individual. No one learns the same, but
- 3:02Speaker 2: we're doing the same. Just just do this ditto, you know, so.
- 3:06Speaker 2: One of the things when these kids were not, I mean,
- 3:10Speaker 2: we were truly traumatizing kids with that test. And so
- 3:14Speaker 2: when they could not graduate, could not walk across the
- 3:17Speaker 2: stage with their friends and are still struggling today. Yes,
- 3:20Speaker 2: they get a GED. But one of the ladies, one
- 3:26Speaker 2: of the young ladies says, when anyone asks me what
- 3:30Speaker 2: school I graduated from, I have to lie. I cannot
- 3:34Speaker 2: bring myself to tell someone that I have a GED.
- 3:39Speaker 2: So one of the bills that I really want to
- 3:42Speaker 2: get passed or really want people to look at is, okay,
- 3:46Speaker 2: they didn't pass the test, but you need to give
- 3:49Speaker 2: them some hope in getting a diploma. So my thing
- 3:52Speaker 2: is they don't pass the test. Let them work for
- 3:56Speaker 2: a year. Let them prove that they can work for
- 3:58Speaker 2: a year. They're paying taxes and then give them their
- 4:02Speaker 2: daggone diploma. Why let them go the rest of their lives.
- 4:07Speaker 1: Feeling like a GED? I mean, it's a general equivalency diploma.
- 4:10Speaker 1: So it's saying that you've mastered or at least passed
- 4:14Speaker 1: the curriculum required by the school system. Would it be
- 4:18Speaker 1: of any great harm to put the home school's name
- 4:21Speaker 1: on that and say you graduated from East High School
- 4:24Speaker 1: or whatever, if that's your home school?
- 4:25Speaker 2: I want them to give them a diploma. I want
- 4:27Speaker 2: them to give them the diploma. Chuck, they went through
- 4:31Speaker 2: 12 years of schooling. There is no reason to do
- 4:36Speaker 2: this to children over a test. You're talking one thing.
- 4:40Speaker 2: And so now I think you have to give them
- 4:43Speaker 2: some type of hope so that they are not embarrassed
- 4:46Speaker 2: the rest of their lives and have to lie.
- 4:49Speaker 1: Well, I'm agreeing with you. I'm saying if they are
- 4:51Speaker 1: a student at this school and they don't graduate normally
- 4:56Speaker 1: but get the GED passed from whatever that home school is,
- 4:59Speaker 1: I don't see where it would be a big deal
- 5:01Speaker 1: to give them hope.
- 5:02Speaker 2: They don't want to do it because they don't want
- 5:04Speaker 2: to do it. So you have to give them you
- 5:07Speaker 2: have to give educators a reason. You have to give,
- 5:11Speaker 2: I think, lawmakers a reason. OK, because they are big
- 5:15Speaker 2: on these tests.
- 5:15Speaker 1: But we're in a world where everybody gets a trophy
- 5:18Speaker 1: when somebody has actually worked and achieved what they need
- 5:20Speaker 1: to achieve. Shouldn't they get a real trophy? I just
- 5:24Speaker 1: I I would agree with you on this one. This
- 5:27Speaker 1: is right. If they put in the work, they redeem themselves.
- 5:31Speaker 1: And face it, you don't have to be stupid. Maybe
- 5:33Speaker 1: you were lazy. Maybe you were taking care of the
- 5:37Speaker 1: kids because mom was sick and dad was gone. You
- 5:41Speaker 1: don't know why a student doesn't complete work.
- 5:43Speaker 2: And you're totally, totally correct. That is where you are totally, totally.
- 5:47Speaker 2: I remember having a kid in my class. And, no,
- 5:51Speaker 2: he was acting up in someone's class. And teacher had
- 5:54Speaker 2: him come down to the office. And I was supposed
- 5:57Speaker 2: to deal with him. I called his mom and I
- 6:00Speaker 2: found out that his best friend was run over by
- 6:03Speaker 2: a truck and he was going to have to be
- 6:05Speaker 2: appalled at her funeral. And so that's why he was
- 6:08Speaker 2: acting up. There are reasons. There are traumas. But if
- 6:12Speaker 2: we don't know what they are, how can we even
- 6:16Speaker 2: address it? But kids love to come to school because
- 6:19Speaker 2: their friends are there. But you have to look at it.
- 6:22Speaker 2: You know, I don't know about you, but when I
- 6:24Speaker 2: was in school, there was I had a violin.
- 6:28Speaker 1: I had music. I had sewing.
- 6:30Speaker 2: I had I mean, there was all types of activity
- 6:33Speaker 2: and it was during the day. I didn't have to
- 6:35Speaker 2: come after school to do it. So I don't know
- 6:37Speaker 2: what's going on.
- 6:39Speaker 1: I am a West High School graduate. Proudly so. I
- 6:42Speaker 1: am always going to be a cowboy. I might have
- 6:44Speaker 1: a cowboy on my casket one day. I don't know.
- 6:46Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what I had. I was in
- 6:48Speaker 1: choir and ensemble. And I was on stage all the
- 6:50Speaker 1: time hosting the variety show or doing the Music Man
- 6:53Speaker 1: or whatever. That school, those years, as many people go,
- 6:57Speaker 1: I hated school. I don't get them. Because that was
- 7:03Speaker 1: heaven to me. That was my utopia. That was where
- 7:07Speaker 1: everything was right. It made sense. And then you go
- 7:10Speaker 1: out here into the real world and you find out
- 7:13Speaker 1: it's not the same as in school. But I'll tell
- 7:14Speaker 1: you what, the teachers honestly were different too. We were
- 7:16Speaker 1: talking off the air about this dispute right now in
- 7:18Speaker 1: Columbus with the The teachers and teachers union grappling over
- 7:21Speaker 1: the expected increase in health care costs and the mismanagement
- 7:25Speaker 1: of money by the Board of Education and all that
- 7:27Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And I don't– teachers were different in
- 7:33Speaker 1: my day. And I wish– I wish that their traditions
- 7:37Speaker 1: would have continued, which I don't see much– Bob Howard,
- 7:42Speaker 1: an algebra teacher who was like the nicest human being
- 7:44Speaker 1: on the planet. He's so nice he was scary. And
- 7:47Speaker 1: he's still just as nice today. Um, but I, I
- 7:51Speaker 1: could not grasp quadratic equations. And this man would sit
- 7:55Speaker 1: in his office at West high school with me for
- 7:57Speaker 1: an hour after school, just me showing me, helping me,
- 8:03Speaker 1: teaching me. He was wonderful. Wow. Um, uh, Rollin Lane
- 8:09Speaker 1: opened my political mind when he formed the political affairs
- 8:12Speaker 1: club at West high school. There hadn't been one before.
- 8:15Speaker 1: He's the one that got me started in that direction thinking. Um,
- 8:22Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe that's why I get kind of
- 8:24Speaker 1: upset when I see so much graving out. We don't
- 8:27Speaker 1: make enough money anyway, and we deserve and we should have. Like,
- 8:31Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure those have always been issues, but
- 8:34Speaker 1: my gosh, they just weren't as outwardly self-serving sounding to me.
- 8:40Speaker 1: You know, everybody wants to make a good living. Everybody
- 8:43Speaker 1: wants to have decent insurance. But I just I hate
- 8:48Speaker 1: seeing all this this. back and forth that we're seeing
- 8:51Speaker 1: right now with this argument. It almost sounds like that's
- 8:53Speaker 1: the most important thing in the world.
- 8:55Speaker 2: The one thing I can say on that is that.
- 9:00Speaker 2: With no disrespect, you're saying teachers and you don't know
- 9:05Speaker 2: all the teachers.
- 9:06Speaker 1: No, just as a generalization. But that's that's the problem.
- 9:10Speaker 1: Trust me, I know that.
- 9:11Speaker 2: But that is it's almost how, you know, people say
- 9:14Speaker 2: these kids are so bad today. It's this general or
- 9:19Speaker 2: Democrats are just out of this. They're just crazy. Anybody
- 9:23Speaker 2: that's a Democrat and where, again, young people are amazing.
- 9:28Speaker 2: Where I learned to look at things differently because I
- 9:30Speaker 2: was just like that. I just blankly put everyone in
- 9:34Speaker 2: the same category if they fit that category, all black people,
- 9:37Speaker 2: all white people, whatever. So there was a fight at
- 9:41Speaker 2: Mifflin High School's basketball game. And it was only two
- 9:45Speaker 2: kids that started the fight. But, I mean, they turned
- 9:48Speaker 2: it into— I mean, they just went up and down the bleachers.
- 9:51Speaker 2: So the principal the next day decided, OK, because, you know,
- 9:55Speaker 2: those two people acted up, that we can't have the
- 9:59Speaker 2: game in the evening anymore. we're going to have it
- 10:00Speaker 2: in the afternoon and we're only going to have your
- 10:02Speaker 2: parents and the kids were in the class and they
- 10:05Speaker 2: said you know miss kent there were 300 of us
- 10:09Speaker 2: at that game but only two people acted up why
- 10:14Speaker 2: are we being punished And that's what's happening with teachers.
- 10:18Speaker 2: That's what's happening with students. There's like you're talking about
- 10:22Speaker 2: the union. I can guarantee you that it's the people
- 10:26Speaker 2: at the top of the union that are making the decision.
- 10:29Speaker 2: And then it's a top down. They may not feel
- 10:32Speaker 2: that way at all. Some of them may say, hey,
- 10:35Speaker 2: I will take less, but we don't hear their voices.
- 10:39Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm not– again, I'm saying as a generalization,
- 10:42Speaker 1: I told you I'm part of the Alumni Association at West,
- 10:45Speaker 1: and I'm in the school a lot. I am very,
- 10:48Speaker 1: very proud of Dr. Roberts, the principal over there. He's
- 10:52Speaker 1: doing– Children's Hospital's got a wing in West High School
- 10:55Speaker 1: where the students who are considering medical careers are actually
- 10:58Speaker 1: working with patients with Children's Hospital's supervision. And if you've
- 11:04Speaker 1: got a child with an issue, you can actually take
- 11:06Speaker 1: them to West High School. They are doing phenomenal things,
- 11:09Speaker 1: the teachers, the students, the whole ball of wax. So
- 11:11Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of good people and hardworking
- 11:13Speaker 1: people still out there.
- 11:14Speaker 2: But think about what I'm saying is think about what–
- 11:18Speaker 2: when you talk– when you say like teachers– I think
- 11:22Speaker 2: the teachers that feel like they are doing a good
- 11:24Speaker 2: job and then they hear you, they want to say,
- 11:27Speaker 2: I wish he knew that I wasn't one of those.
- 11:30Speaker 2: I wish he knew that I was like those teachers
- 11:33Speaker 2: that he had back in the day. I wish he
- 11:35Speaker 2: knew that I love my students. So when they hear
- 11:39Speaker 2: when you say, well, I wish I had a teacher.
- 11:42Speaker 2: My teacher did this, this. Some teachers are listening to
- 11:45Speaker 2: you and say, oh, I wish Chuck knew.
- 11:47Speaker 1: That I was that. The beauty of me is that
- 11:49Speaker 1: they can always call me, hit me on Facebook. Seriously,
- 11:53Speaker 1: I am.
- 11:53Speaker 2: I am.
- 11:54Speaker 1: I told you I'm a very fair minded person. I
- 11:57Speaker 1: even people that I blatantly disagree with. I let you speak.
- 12:01Speaker 1: Make your point. You know, I'll walk away thinking you're
- 12:03Speaker 1: completely wrong, but I'll let you speak because I don't.
- 12:09Speaker 1: When I hearken back like that. It's not as much
- 12:13Speaker 1: to criticize what is as to try to figure out
- 12:16Speaker 1: a route back to some of the things that were–
- 12:19Speaker 1: that worked so very well for us.
- 12:21Speaker 2: But you know it worked for us because look at
- 12:23Speaker 2: all the things that we had. Look at all the
- 12:26Speaker 2: activities we had. You just said that you could do
- 12:30Speaker 2: your whole– Right.
- 12:31Speaker 1: The interaction was a big deal, which they don't have.
- 12:34Speaker 1: But again, that's all of life now. How many kids–
- 12:38Speaker 1: Mark and I have talked about this before. I pumped
- 12:41Speaker 1: more quarters into more machines at Funway Freeway and Aladdin's
- 12:45Speaker 1: Castle and putt-putt always in Europe. And you got the
- 12:48Speaker 1: high score. And there's a bunch of strangers gathered around
- 12:51Speaker 1: you cheering you on. And you're going to put your
- 12:53Speaker 1: initials on there when you're done, man. Now you're sitting
- 12:56Speaker 1: in your mother's basement until you're 36 years old playing
- 12:59Speaker 1: against some guy in Taipei on the Internet. The socialization
- 13:03Speaker 1: issue is completely gone. And we wonder why people don't
- 13:06Speaker 1: know how to get along with each other. It's because
- 13:09Speaker 1: we're finding new and more creative ways to separate from
- 13:11Speaker 1: one another every day. That's not helpful.
- 13:14Speaker 2: Well, we don't have instruments in the schools anymore.
- 13:16Speaker 1: No, we don't.
- 13:17Speaker 2: I think West High School doesn't have a band. I mean, no,
- 13:20Speaker 2: it doesn't have a– does it have an orchestra? Do
- 13:24Speaker 2: they do plays?
- 13:27Speaker 1: They do still have the orchestra and the marching band.
- 13:30Speaker 1: It is smaller but growing again, which is very nice.
- 13:33Speaker 2: But you see what I'm saying? There was activities. We
- 13:36Speaker 2: did home ec. We made our own clothes and then
- 13:39Speaker 2: had a fashion show. I just never hear. We had newspapers.
- 13:44Speaker 1: The accident.
- 13:45Speaker 2: There you go.
- 13:46Speaker 1: There you go. We've got a couple of minutes left here,
- 13:48Speaker 1: and I want to– I'm going to clear out of
- 13:50Speaker 1: your way. I want to give you the airwaves. There's
- 13:53Speaker 1: plenty of people out there to go, who is this woman?
- 13:55Speaker 1: I ain't never heard of her. Tell us who you
- 13:59Speaker 1: are and why you need support and how to reach
- 14:01Speaker 1: out to you and find out about you and all that.
- 14:03Speaker 2: Okay. My website is Kennedy Camp for Ohio, and I
- 14:06Speaker 2: certainly need support, and I definitely need volunteers right now.
- 14:09Speaker 2: So you can definitely reach out to me. And my
- 14:12Speaker 2: number is 614-641-8313, Bernadine Kennedy Camp. And I do need volunteers.
- 14:19Speaker 2: We want to be out there and give it all
- 14:21Speaker 2: we got. But we do need people to help us.
- 14:24Speaker 2: And I just want you to know that I am
- 14:27Speaker 2: a doer and I can point to what I do.
- 14:30Speaker 2: Like there are things that I do, like Deonna Clark
- 14:33Speaker 2: not having getting gotten justice for 12 years. That's what
- 14:37Speaker 2: I do. I do things for individuals. I do things
- 14:41Speaker 2: from my experiences. like No Child Left Behind fraud. I
- 14:46Speaker 2: uncovered No Child Left Behind fraud because I realized kids
- 14:49Speaker 2: I was advocating for weren't getting the tutoring. I'm like,
- 14:52Speaker 2: where's all that money, that federal money that came down?
- 14:55Speaker 1: What happens?
- 14:56Speaker 2: It just became a money grab. The kids were just
- 15:00Speaker 2: dollar signs. And so when I found that out, I
- 15:03Speaker 2: had to find out, well, where is the money going?
- 15:06Speaker 2: What did I find out? It was going to run
- 15:08Speaker 2: down stores, UPS boxes, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hundreds
- 15:13Speaker 2: of thousands of dollars because the most disenfranchised group, who
- 15:20Speaker 2: are they going to complain to? So that's the group
- 15:23Speaker 2: to use for money. And that's what was happening with
- 15:26Speaker 2: No Child Left Behind. And I just was not— it took
- 15:28Speaker 2: me seven years to close that down. But I'm a
- 15:31Speaker 2: dog with a bone. So remember that, Ishmael Muhammad. I'm
- 15:34Speaker 2: a dog with a bone.
- 15:37Speaker 1: So appearances during the course of this week or this weekend,
- 15:39Speaker 1: anywhere people can come out and see you? Are you
- 15:41Speaker 1: going to be door knocking or parades or anything?
- 15:43Speaker 2: Well, actually, I'm going to be at 1776ers tomorrow.
- 15:46Speaker 1: Oh, my. So sorry.
- 15:47Speaker 2: I don't know the address, but it's in Gahanna. Gosh.
- 15:51Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. That's going to be at the Golf Course Clubhouse.
- 15:54Speaker 2: Yes.
- 15:54Speaker 1: Yes. I will be there.
- 15:56Speaker 2: It would be lovely for anyone that wants to come
- 15:58Speaker 2: out to come out. I would love to meet anyone.
- 16:00Speaker 1: I'll be here doing this. Otherwise, I know they got food, too,
- 16:04Speaker 1: which means, of course, I can't be there. That's how
- 16:06Speaker 1: it goes all the time. I was hoping I would
- 16:08Speaker 1: have seen you this past weekend. We had a great
- 16:09Speaker 1: gathering in Upper Arlington. Man, it was, I'd say, 200,
- 16:15Speaker 1: 225 people that had showed up just just and then
- 16:18Speaker 1: all the candidates showed up as well.
- 16:20Speaker 2: Wonderful.
- 16:20Speaker 1: That was very nice. And I'm just I'm I'm happy
- 16:23Speaker 1: to see the enthusiasm that is out there to participate.
- 16:27Speaker 1: And honestly, I mean that from both sides. I just
- 16:31Speaker 1: I get sick of those people who complain constantly.
- 16:35Speaker 2: There you go.
- 16:36Speaker 1: And do not bother to involve themselves.
- 16:39Speaker 2: There you go.
- 16:40Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean you had to cough up money
- 16:42Speaker 1: to a candidate or anything like that. You know, make
- 16:46Speaker 1: a phone call. You've got social media. If you find
- 16:49Speaker 1: somebody you truly believe in, put it on your social
- 16:52Speaker 1: media pages. I met this person. I think they'd be good.
- 16:55Speaker 1: That's that's being part of the process and hopefully being
- 16:58Speaker 1: part of some solutions. Instead of just hunkering down and looking,
- 17:02Speaker 1: you know, oh, look, season premiere survivor. That doesn't help us.
- 17:06Speaker 1: That doesn't help us. So get involved. Educate yourself. Vote.
- 17:11Speaker 1: Early voting started today at the Board of Elections. From
- 17:15Speaker 1: what I understand, they had a good turnout and everybody
- 17:17Speaker 1: was in and out of there in five to seven minutes. Right.
- 17:20Speaker 1: Which is I was down there. I talked about it yesterday.
- 17:23Speaker 1: I had to go up an early vote. I think
- 17:25Speaker 1: it was two years ago. I was impressed with the
- 17:27Speaker 1: number of people and the fact that they got us
- 17:29Speaker 1: in and out of there so fast. Very good at it. Bernine,
- 17:33Speaker 1: thank you very much. I'm going to put your links
- 17:36Speaker 1: up on the social media.
- 17:37Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 17:38Speaker 1: And I'm sure we will see each other again here
- 17:40Speaker 1: in the very near future.