Another voter explained the harm when:
“Teachers are forced to deal with negative teaching methods by the Governor and then they
can’t says anything and parents can’t say anything, it is like being on a plantation. The
teacher’s job is a lot more harder and teachers are being harmed along with the parents and
kids…. If we wanted a horrible community we could create that for ourselves. We didn’t
need the Governor to come in and demolish everywhere and make people run.”138
The fear of retaliation and lack of having a voice meld together into a general sense of unhappiness and
hopelessness which a college student, who is filing a complaint to express his perception of civil, human &
voting rights talks about:
“…disabled students receive no assistance in the classroom and in the neighborhood people
are talking about the lack of services at the school the Governor created. Since Governor
Snyder, neighborhoods, even good ones live in constant fear. In University District, a
Federal Judge was attacked at his house. That never happened before Snyder. Not enough
voters to turn him out, because he closed (all of the) schools and voters….can’t (find) the
polls, (which were located at the schools).”142
DISPARITY OF NOT HAVING A VOICE OR METHOD OF REDRESS
The Governor allows white school districts a method of redress through a School Board which can take
parent and community concerns without retaliation. Minority communities feel they are limited in their
opportunity to address their concerns.
Regardless of the political power and activity of the parents, the disabled students benefited from having
their parents advocate for their unique circumstances and volunteer to assist the school to provide for their
special needs.
Having special needs parents active in the school also has the potential to save money. Pushing parents
away and giving them limited ways to address concerns has hurt students and the community and caused
stress, failure to follow the IEP, failure to use parental volunteers as resources and perceptions of inferiority.
Currently, and theoretically, the Board can appeal a decision of the Emergency Manager to the Emergency
Loan Board. However, 1) Joyce Zarrieff, the secretary the Emergency Manager appointed to serve the
Board has (had trouble) forwarding Board communications to the Emergency Loan Board in the appropriate
formats. 2) The Emergency Manager has refused to provide the Board any money to hire consultants
needed to review those decisions (about contracts) the Emergency Manager allows them to discuss. The
result is that the Emergency Manager is not allowing any communication which he doesn’t want to hear
from special needs parents, cultural heroes like Tuskegee Airmen, community leaders, teachers, or even
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