Do the Right Thing

A Message From The Publisher

By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.

Since I’m writing about doing the right thing, it was pointed out to me that I stated incorrectly in one of my articles, The Plot Thickens  about Raymond Adderly’s conversations with Donna Korn. It wasn’t Donna Korn; it was someone one from her campaign and the conversation centered around supporting Donna. He did not meet with Anna Fusco; he talked with her over the phone about needing his help.

Spike Lee wrote, directed, and acted in the movie, Do the Right Thing, some 30 years ago. He was trying to demonstrate that doing the right thing is not always doing what’s right. Sometimes we have the right to do something, but it is not necessarily the right thing.

Take this for an example. You get to a four way stop sign driving smart. You are there first and come to a complete stop. But as you look up, a Ford F-150 is barreling toward you. Everything tells you that he is not going to stop. You have two choices here. You know you have the legal right to move forward and possibly suffer a devastating auto accident. Or you can do the right thing and pretend that stop sign is a “yield to oncoming fools in traffic” sign and allow him to barrel through without stopping. This example of a life situation illustrates clearly that you have the right to move forward; however, it is not the right, safest or best thing to do. What you have the right to do is not always the right thing to execute.

This takes me to February 18, 2018. 14 students and three members of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas staff lost their lives to unimaginable tragedy. No one is to blame but the one person who entered that school campus with the intent to kill. The community of MSD and the surrounding cities have been in immense pain for the past almost 4 1/2 years. As evidence, innuendos, accusations, and just downright lies were told; it became evident that to begin to heal, the entire District needed a restart. The principal, assistant principals and many of the teachers and staff needed to leave Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. It was not about blame; it was about healing. The superintendent, Robert Runcie,  also needed to leave the district. It was not about blame; it was about a restart. In fact, one could conclude that the then School Board member who represented MSD understood that. She did not run for re-election. Abby Friedman stepped aside and Lori Alhadeff, the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed at MSD, became a Broward School Board member, as a result.

So much of what Broward schools is experiencing now… removing board members and the escorting out and not like prom night either, of district staff, might well have been avoided had Runcie done the right thing himself and left. Runcie said so himself, two minutes past the deadline. He looked Lori Alhadeff in the eyes and told her if his resignation would bring her peace or relieve her pain, he would step down. But this was when the writing was clearly on the wall. It was after his embarrassing and public arrest and the arrest of the Board Attorney, Barbara Myrick, whose reputation and career as an attorney were once held in stellar regard.

If you look across the nation at other school districts that have experienced a similar loss, the superintendent and Board Attorney were never arrested and charged with crimes. It is because they and others around them listened to wise counsel and understood that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The MSD community could not heal with the constant reminder of those who were in position remaining in their position. Understanding that does not mean any one person other than Cruz was to blame. Understanding that is simply understanding when your mere presence is standing in the way of healing, you do the right thing and depart.

“Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.” Proverbs 19:20 should be adhered to by many and right now Super Cartwright could serve herself well by doing so.

This same scenario should serve as counsel to Cartwright. Just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do. I read an article written in February 2022 by Jonathan Krause called Failing Upward, whby.com. It detailed the travesty of a superintendency of Cartwright in Osh Kosh, Michigan where she was accused of “belittling the work of principals, making most decisions unilaterally, ignoring the input of her principals and administrators, creating a culture where speaking up was discouraged, and endlessly comparing programs here to how things were done in her previous position in belittling the work of principals, making most decisions unilaterally, ignoring the input of her principals and administrators, creating a culture where speaking up was discouraged, and endlessly comparing programs here to how things were done in her previous position: Administrator of Orange County Schools.” The article, Failing Upwards, describes how she got another opportunity in a much larger district and instead of learning from her mistakes in Osh Kosh and leveling up, she continues to make the same mistakes in a bigger position, thus failing upwards. Nothing has changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse.

The new Board wants to give her air and room for opportunity, but Cartwright needs to do some souls searching and choose to go. It is the right thing to do. The job is too big for her. She has lost the public’s trust by standing up and professing she is not a racist, dismantling the only department in the district that was NOT mentioned in the Grand Jury Report and leaving those who were mentioned unscathed, refusing to follow Board policy, cow-tailing to Anna Fusco and the Broward Teachers Union, hiring less than competent people inside and outside the district among other things.

The new Board is saying they are committed to sweeping changes. But you can’t pour new wine into old skins and expect quality. She, too, must go. Her lies and incompetence will derail the best efforts of a well-intentioned new Board.

The bigger person is the one who knows their own short comings and will address them before they have an opportunity to cause harm and duress to others, especially children.

In the poetic words of rapper/actor Ice Cube, “Check yo self before you wreck yo self!” This means, from the Urban Dictionary: Take a step back and examine your actions, because you are in a potentially dangerous or sticky situation that could get bad very easily. Often in a harmful manner.

Super Cartwright, “If you don’t know, now you know.”

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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