John Foley

I didn't take (waste) time to listen to the interview (didn't want to be annoying to others in the room) - but I honestly am disapointed in the Toledo View overall. The Humor View (or whatever it's called) alerts me up front that I will bust a gut (because it's so damned funny) - which only raises my expectations to expect something clever or funny - only to find sub-par comics (with mis-spelled words) - so not funny at all.

Several other "Views" were so outrageously biased & racist, and made gross generalizations about white people & presumptions of how white people are trying to eliminate or hurt black people - they more angered me than anything. It is stuff like this, that keeps the racial walls high & wide. My God, how long ago was Katrina? And yet, the writer could come up with 34 ways that whites (I assume this is what was meant) were trying to eliminate black people (Katrina type examples) - so many generalizations, & just flat out false accusations - it pissed me off even more. (and where is it said that the govt. is to be expected to fix everybody's problems? That was not the intention of our forefathers at all.) One of the author's assumptions was that only white rich people vacationed in Cape Cod - and yet, Oaks Bluff in Martha's Vineyard was originally the "Ink Well" - the black sector of Martha's Vineyard & still is to some degree. Most people who live & vacation in Cape Cod are not wealthy at all.

The polls are seriously lacking in choises - like they were thrown together as a last minute resort to fill a page.

This entire 'paper' appears to be nothing more than an anti-white black publication that just rants on about how society & govt are trying to keep black people down. I doubt I'll bother reading it again.

What a Love Fest! The man who has significantly diminished the futures of thousands of students in TPS with his actions and lack of actions was given a pass by the interviewer.

John Foley’s statement that “our staff reflects the diversity of our community,” is a misrepresentation of the facts, in other words a lie. I don’t know what world Mr. Foley lives in but the one I live in recognizes the link between academically underperforming schools and discipline occurrences. The world I live in sees the disparities that exist in TPS between hiring practices, discipline practices, academic delivery, the teacher expectations of different students and low versus high standards in inner city schools.

Mr. Foley lives in the Scott community where his children never attended Glenwood, Fulton, Cherry, Scott or Old West End Junior High school. He sent his children to schools that promised a future for them, something that is sadly missing in Toledo’s inner city schools, such as Pickett where the expectation is if you wash clothes in the school, have affluent visitors donate books and clothing that somehow these actions will turn this school and others around academically,
without doing the hard work of setting a doable action plan (and doing it) to address “Why Tameaka and Tyrone can’t read.”

He is the head of a district where he has made decisions that do not award achievement but maintains the status quo that has been a deterrent to any type of progress in hiring practices and student achievement. Mr. Foley had a once in a lifetime chance to turn the district around by hiring new blood, with a new culture of ideas and a more diverse staff, when becoming superintendent, by default. But what does Mr. Foley choose to do? He chose to hire retirees, people who have the same culture of ideas that have held this district back for at least 15 years that I know about. An unforgiving culture that denies students the chance to achieve and refuses to put into place even modest remedies and interventions that will keep our children who are plugged into the chain of hopeless and helplessness, hopeless and helpless for years to come.

The parking lot of the Thurgood Marshall Building is filled with cars of employees on any given day who in no way “reflect the diversity of our community,” as stated by Mr Foley during the interview.

Thurgood Marshall was the champion of the masses of people who demanded change in America during the Civil Rights Movement with his bold remedies of social empowerment to black children in education and others in housing, transportation and voting rights. Thurgood Marshall was a revolutionary who changed the face of America with his boldness in advancing the educational opportunities of black children with his winning of the most important legal case of the 20th century. This case, titled Brown V Board of Education ended the legal separation of black and white children in public schools. How appalled he would be today to see the return of segregation in Toledo, Ohio in the school system and the return of the disenfranchisement of segments of the Toledo community in hiring practices being nurtured in a building named for him.

In August 2006, shortly after Mr. Foley became the superintendent, AAPA met with him to let him know what we expected of him when it came to black students and achievement. We told him that he had an opportunity to make significant changes in the landscape of TPS. He chose to ignore our entreaties and proceeded to staff his cabinet and schools with retirees, status quo employees devoid of qualities needed to turn the TPS ship around. and very, very few people of color, when the TPS population is 47% black.

A case in point is Woodward High School. Black female acting principal, knows the climate of the school, off the hook resume, has been at the school for nearly 10 years in authority positions, able to command the respect of the students and the parents, interviews for the job of Principal. Principalship given to a male with no connection to the school, no experience, poor student and parent skills and in one school year has practically bankrupted the school of students, academics, cleanliness of the building, student morale, all because Mr. Foley refuses to listen to a segment of the community who is instrumental in getting the bills paid. In other words if 47% of the students are black and each student is worth $11, 202 sitting in a seat, that amounts to over $152 million dollars, surely some of that money should flow back into the black community. And not for incarceration but education.

The next time Toledo View interviews someone with their hands on hearts of our children, ask the hard questions, not just the questions that can be answered with platitudes.

Children of all races need to see people who look like them, in positions of power. The tablet of a child’s heart should be inscribed with attainable images that will sustain them and their children for years to come. Mr. Foley has not allowed that to even be a dream.