Trails in the Sand by Peter Traceit, the Street Detective
All is quiet but all is not well in Broward Schools. Ol Pete is learning that the district’s Safety Department is trying to clean up the mess that is being played out publicly with the arrest of school Volunteer of the Year, Debbie Espinosa. Pete was told months ago that the Safety Department was like the Blind leading the Blind, and if you recall, Peter Traceit blew the whistle on some pretty foul plays over the years with the Safety Department. But there’s nothing like putting a White woman in handcuffs to get the attention of the public. These same officers have been putting Black and Brown children in handcuffs, carting them off to the juvenile detention center and creating a record that will follow them the rest of their lives. Marcia Ellison of the Fort Lauderdale Chapter of the NAACP has been blowing the whistle on that for almost a decade and her justifiable rage has mostly fallen on deaf ears. She, along with others, created the PROMISE program to address these disparities; however, the program ended a couple weeks ago, but only after it had been butchered to a point that it was unrecognizable.
The Detective believes that Espinosa should get the sweet justice she deserves, but when investigating what happened with her, the parallel to what Black and Brown children similarly face must be swept up into the equation. Traceit will continue pushing this issue until there is traction in the sand.
The Street Detective is always looking forward to attending the Soul Bowl between the Blanche Ely Tigers and the Dillard Panthers. If you recall last year the game ended abruptly when firecrackers exploded outside the field and Pete and Pete’s Peeps had to take cover. The fact that the game was oversold by probably more than double didn’t help the situation, either.
This year, the Soul Bowl is not happening on a Saturday, but was changed to Friday night. Both the Dillard and Ely communities are collectively digging a hole in the sand because of the dirty way they believe it was handled through secrecy and communicated at the 11th hour. Peter Traceit is told that, as usual, there’s a lot of fingers pointing, and no one is taking responsibility or blame for one of the most anticipated games between two rival teams being held on a Friday night instead of the traditional Saturday. The Dillard-Fort Lauderdale Community tells Ol Pete that if you want it done right, let them host it every year. The Ely-Pompano Community is incensed because they say school leadership doesn’t value the community and works hard at not collaborating with them. They claim they were not warned of the change and school administration did not solicit their input or support in having it changed back to the traditional Saturday.
This is surprising to Ol Pete because the newest principal is a Blanche Ely and FAMU Alum.
Members of Pompano Strong tell The Street Detective that there is a Battle of the Ages raging between them and the school administration. Ol Pete is told there is a lack of respect for the community’s elders and advocates. The community further tells Pete that the school doesn’t want nor solicit their voice. They also claim that when the community expresses concern to the district, their voice has been largely ignored.
Ol Pete is learning that there is also dissent among the Blanche Ely community and the school administration about something as simple as uniform colors. Blanche Ely’s colors are orange and green, yet the color black has been added to some uniforms. The community wants to keep with the traditional colors for band and official sports uniforms, and the school administration won’t concede to their request. Ol Pete is told they have been battling each other about colors for months, and neither the cadre director nor region superintendent will intercede.
Traceit is taking no sides in this ugly dispute. The Detective is just disappointed that with all the battles with schools in predominately Black communities, there should be a strong partnership between the school and community to fight for students. If some have their way with right sizing, colors won’t matter because there may be no Blanche Ely High School.
Ol Pete recalls when community members like Ernestine Price‘s voice commanded both fear and respect from district officials. Price would use her voice to demand equity for students and teachers. Pete remembers Art Kennedy representing as a strong voice that ensured school administrators were not in the middle of school politics. While Price and Kennedy are still among us, they are elderly and tired. Pete has been meeting with a new set of community advocates who are willing to stand in the gap, but it appears to Pete that the system may have bred new administrators to not trust the people from their own communities to advocate for them.
In the case of Blanche Ely, the elder community and school administration are at odds with no end in sight. Yet, Pete will remain on the trail until there’s an amicable resolution because there has to be one for our children.
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