TIMES
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 28, No 9
3
MARCH 2 - 8, 2016
Adderley
returns to
the Ritz
Page 25
3
ONE DOLLAR
State
qualifier
Page 40
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
Fiery sermon
Black History Month service gets political at Ebenezer Baptist Church
Temple Hill
no longer a
‘struggling
school’
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Shantal Riley
Newburgh Ebenezer Baptist Church members worship at an African American Heritage Month service Sunday.
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
A service held at Ebenezer Baptist
Church on Sunday featured music and
dance in honor of Black History Month
and a message that black people are still
suffering discrimination, specifically in
the workplace.
“For hundreds of years, since the
days of slavery, blacks have had to
fight an uphill battle to obtain their
basic human rights,” said Rev. Deborah
Chandler, addressing the congregation.
“Many brave men and women struggled and fought for the rights of blacks.
They fought for equal education and job
opportunities.”
On this subject, senior Pastor Bruce
Davis Sr. delivered a sermon accusing
city officials of discriminating against
former City of Newburgh tax collector and congregation member Helen
Murphy, who was terminated by the city
in January.
“She was terminated and not given a
chance to plead her case,” said Davis.
“Whenever someone is accused, legally
they have a right to face their accuser.”
Continued on page 2
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Temple Hill Academy has shed its
“struggling school” status. The news
was announced by school officials seven
months after the school received the designation by the New York State Education
Department.
“I’d like to officially announce that
we’ve received word from the state that
Temple Hill has gotten off the list of
receivership,”
Newburgh
Schools
Superintendent Roberto Padilla said at
a press conference at the school Friday.
“This is a very proud day in our district.”
Temple Hill was designated a struggling school by NYSED in July. The
school was subsequently placed under
superintendent receivership, requiring
the school to show improved test scores
and attendance, among other progress,
under Padilla’s guidance.
The intervention was part of an education reform package adopted by the state
legislature last year. Had the school failed
to show improvement within two years, it
would have come under an outside receivership with potential for closure.
“Today isn’t about who we were, but
about who we are and our future,” Temple
Hill Principal Ventura Lopez said.
The principal praised students who
managed to improve their scores on state
tests. “At the end of the day, they perContinued on page 27