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VOLUME 16 No. 808
RICHMOND COUNTY BOARD “CLEANS HOUSE”
Westside principal
swept from top spot
B Gayle McGee, embattled Westside High
administrator, is at the center of legal dispute
between the Board and a veteran teacher whose
firing she recommended. After having been
suspended for two days in April, she was
reassigned to a position of less responsibility on
Tuesday. Board members, however, are loathe
to call Ms. McGee’s transfer a demotion
because she will retain her principal’s salary.
By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
According to Richmond County
Superintendent of Schools Dr.
Charles Larke, it was the largest
personnel shift in the system’s
history. In one fell swoop, the Rich
mond County Board of Education
approved 25 transfers, retirements
and duty reassignments. The most
visible, however, concerned
Westside principal Gayle McGee.
As reported in Augusta Focus
over the past several weeks, Ms.
McGee has been embroiled in two
highly visible disputes — one which
led to her being placed on admin
istrative leave, and the other which
ultimately led to a lawsuit against
Senate panel hears of “state
sanctioned discrimination”
By Darlene Superville
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
WASHINGTON
Patrick Loen seemed to make
the grade, but it wasn’t enough
to get the Chinese-American
teen into a San Francisco high
school thatis one of the country’s
best, his mother tearfully told a
Senate panel.
In South Carolina last year, a
gang of men screamed sexual
insults at Ron Daugherty and a
friend, then beat them outside a
bar. Daugherty is gay, and his
state has no laws targeting
against hate crimes.
The pair were among witnesses
Monday as the Senate Judiciary
Committee opened hearings into
race-based policies in the states,
or what the panel described as
“state-sanctioned discrimina
tion.” g
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the
chairman, said he scheduled the
hearing in the “spirit of the hon
est dialogue” President Clinton
called for this past weekend as
he urged a national discussion
about racial differences.
But “should one American’s
racial suffering be valued above
another’s?” Hatch asked. “That
is a question the nation must
answer.”
Witnesses asked for federal
folicies that would open the door
'or minorities — without favor:
ing or holding back a particular
race.
A racial quota system estab
lished by a 1983 federal court
agreement limits the number of
pupils from each racial and eth
nic group who can attend San
Francisco schools, Charlene
i ei ok
test scores for each group. In
1994, her son, Patrick, scored 58
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Augusta Focus
Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
the Richmond County Board of
Education. Both disputes had ra
cial overtones and both are await
ing final resolution.
Ms. McGee will assume the posi
tion of assistant principal at Rich
mond Academy in the fall. Of the
23 reassignments, only three in
volved principals being reassigned
to positions of less responsibility.
Othersincluded Wilson Rice, prin
cipal at Houghton Elementary, and
Sylvester Brown, principal at
Meadowbrook Elementary. Mr.
Rice will become an assistant prin
cipal at Glenn Hills High School,
and Mr. Brown will become assis
tant principal at Langford Middle
School.
Despite being assigned to posi
tions with less responsibility, the
i :
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Audrey Rice Oliver of San Ramon, Calif., right, testifies on Capitol
Hill Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on
state-sanctioned discrimination and the effects of California’s
Proposition 209. Randy Pech of Monument, Colo., left, and Charlene
Loen of San Francisco look on. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
out of 69, but the minimum for
Chinese-American students that
year was 62. The minimum for
whites and other Asians was 58,
and it was lower for blacks and
Hispanics.
“Patrick would have gotten
into Lowell if he were white,
Japanese or black. He was re
jected because he is Chinese-
American,” Mrs. Loen said, her
voice breaking. She said the de
cision depressed and angered her
son, and that the system had
pitted school chums against one
another.
Afederaljudge recently declined
to end the consent decree.
“There’s got to be some way of
shortof preferring one racial group
of possible suspects a day after the
beating when he was on pain medi-
JUNE 19 - 25, 1997
Board is not calling their transfers
demotions. That’s because they
will not be receiving any less pay.
In April 1995, the state legisla
ture amended the law to permit
tenured administratorsreassigned
to lesser positions to retain their
tenured salaries. For example,
even if a principal was reassigned
to classroom duty, the pay reten
tion would still be in affect. All of
the reassigned principals fall
within the provisions of that stat
ute.
In all, 14 Richmond County
schools will get new principals.
The reassignments are in keeping
with Dr. Larke’s promise to so
lidify his personnel realignment
by July 1.
Thereassignments will improve
the system, according to some
trustees.
“At every school, you have to
start at the top,” said Trustee An
drew Jefferson. “This is the first
major transition of duties I’ve seen
since I’ve been on the Board,” Mr.
Jefferson said. .
Dr. Larke recently received an
unprecedented contract extension
which essentially added a year to
his prior three-year contract. De
spite having already served 14
See REASSIGNMENTS, page 3A
cation and still traumatized by the
attack.
He said police refused to let him
see them again three months later
when his memory returned. They
alsoclosed theinvestigation, with
out his consent, after his friend
dropped his case. His assailants
have not been punished.
Hatch encouraged Daugherty to
take the case to the local district
attorney, saying “there’s no ex
cuse for what happened to you.”
Daugherty, who lost the hearing
in his right ear and some vision in
his right eye as a result, urged the
committee to expand federal civil
rights laws to cover crimes moti
vated by the victim’s sexual orien
tation.
Noanwal:!i'll:,‘ Rep. Charles
» ReFla., to reintro
and other programs. A similar bil
died in the last Congress.
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Venus Williams, one of the brightest tennis
prodigies to emerge in American pro tennis
circles, is nothing if not colorful. After raising
eyebrows at the French Open three weeks ago
(Bhoto above), the 17-year-old is sefting her
sights on her debut at Wimbledon next week.
[Vemu celebrated her 17th birthday on Tues
day by defeating Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-4 at a
lebhdon warm-up in Eastbourne, England.
Lawmaker: Apologize for slavery
By Katherine Rizzo
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
WASHINGYON
House Speaker Newt Gingrich today derided a pro
posal for Congress to apologize tc black Americans
whose ancestors were slaves, calling the idea “emo
tional symbolism.”
“Any American, I hope, feels badly about slavery. I
NAACP releases
consumer guide
on hotel industry
NEW YORK
The NAACP released a
ground-breaking report
and Consumer Choice
Guide on the hotel indus
try at a press conference
in New York, June 13.
The Consumer Guide is
being made available to
assist consumers and
groups in making in
formed choices about
where tospend their lodg
ing industry dollars. This
guide and Hotel Industry
Report Card is the result
of a year-long survey that
reviewed the economicre
lationship between major
hotel chains and the Afri
cgnéAmerican commu
nity.
“Protecting our eco
nomic future is extremely
important in an environ
ment where there is :fn
aggressive assault on af
nomic opportunity,”
s
Cweisi Mfume sad. “Eco
of the civil rights move
ment.”
“I have said all along
that as consumers who
add significantly to the
bottom line of corporate
America, we should le
verage our clout to re
ward our friends and
punish our enemies,”
Mfume said. “We are go
ing to apply that prin
ciple here.”
The economic Reci
procity Initiative was
launched by the NAACP
in February of this year
with the cooperation and
backing of more than 35
national African-Ameri
can organizations. The
hotel and lodging indus
try was the first target of
theinitiative and the top
15 chains were graded
and ranked on. their
records in five key areas:
employment, equity and
franchise ownership,
vendor relationships/
procurement, advertis-
See NAACP, page 4A
She is as apt to spend as much time deciding
her outfit for her nexi match as she does
mentally preparing for her next opponent.
Her favorite silver outfit won't be permitted
because of the All English Tennis Club’s strictly
enforced “predominantly white” dress code.
Williams threatened to wear a white bodysuit,
similar to the leotard worn by Anne White in
1985. (AP photo/Laurent Rebours)
also feel badly about genocide in Rwanda,” Gingrich
told reporters. “We can go back and have all sorts of
apologies. But will one more child read because of it?
The emotional symbolism as an avoidance of problem
solving strikes me as a dead end.”
Gingrich did say, however, he had not yet seen the
resolution and would “have to look at it.”
See APOLOGY, page 5A
INSIDE
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Love, Peace and Nappiness
M Local/Regional News .............c.ccouruenn.n. 3A
B Editorial/Opinion ..................c.. BAGA
G A P
M Church News..............ccoeecvvveennniin. 12A-13A
M Classifieds/Employment ;..................13-38
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AUGUSTA, GA