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Uity Region
Schools increasingly defined by race
From page one
tly white schools received
ater funding before the
972 desegregation order.
e emphasis has changed so
t now it should not matter
if a school is predominately
or white as long as you
ut the same resources in
ose schools.”
The attorney representing
e plaintiff’s side of the feder
lawsuit, Ben Allen, mirrors
’s assessment.
“Should you spend limited
sources trying to achieve
ial balance using arbitrary
umbers or are you going to
dpend it on quality educa
on?” questions Allen. “I
ink we have gotten off track
looking at raw numbers as
pposed to looking at the
hole purpose of school deseg
Joseph Jennings and Chanticleer
Augustan amasses three Grammys
Shun Norris
GUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Winning a Grammy award
ohce is a feat in itself, but to win
0 more just three years later
uld only be described as
markable. But musical direc
r Joseph Jennings and the
sical group Chanticleer
ve done just that.
Jennings, born and raised in
Augusta, has always been
involved in music, thanks to his
father Warren Jennings.
“My father is a great lover of
music, especially jazz, and he
always bought me records,”
said Jennings. “I always heard
music playing. I was always
exposed to music.”
Being surrounded by music
most of his life obviously paid
off. Chanticleer, which consists
of 12 male voices, nabbed a
Grammy award in the category
of Classical Best Small Ensem
ble Performance (with or with
out a conductor) for Sir John
Tavener’s “Lamentations and
Praises,” the second award for
the group in this category.
Chanticleer also received an
award for Best Classical Con
temporary Composition.
Considered to be the Acade
my Awards of the music indus
try, the Grammy awards recog
regation and that was to pro
vide a quality education.”
However, the Civil Rights
Project contradicts both
Allen’s and Reed’s belief that
quality education is achievable
in a segregated setting.
“Resegregation is contribut
ing to a growing gap in quality
between the schools attended
by white students and those
serving a large proportion of
minority students,” according
to the survey. “The evidence
exist that desegregated schools
both improve test scores and
positively change the lives of
students ...”
Neither Allen nor Reed
believe desegregation, as
spelled out in the court order,
can be achieved short of revis
iting the politically volatile
remedies of busing and school
pairings. And even those
measures had limited success
recalls Blythe Elementary
nize the best of the best and for
Jennings it was a surprise.
“It’s quite exciting of course,”
he said. “There were so many
wonderful contenders in both
categories and I had no idea
that we would be the winner.
We feel quite honored to be cho
sen because all of the con
tenders in these categories
were very, very strong.”
Jennings’ love for music was
always evident. He was
involved in his church choir,
arranging and directing and he
also contributed his skills to
musical theatre. Jennings then
spread his wings, leaving
Augusta to attend college and
become a music major at Case
Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Ohio. He earned a
‘master’s degree in conducting
from Colorado State University.
The young musician was a
teacher in Weed, California at
the College of Siskiyous when
the school invited Chanticleer
to perform. After the show, Jen
nings learned that Chanticleer
was holding auditions that
weekend.
“So I came down to San
Francisco and they asked me to
join,” he said. “I was just going
to do it for a year.”
Jennings then took a leave of
absence from teaching and
became a countertenor with
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THERES STRENGTH IN OUR NUMBERS.
School principal,” Donald
Williams.
“I'm not blaming anybody
but the school system got lax.
It was just too much trouble to
have kids go where they were
supposed to go. There was
never supposed to be a 100
percent black school but it just
kept turning out that way.
They (administrators)” didn’t
want to go through the trouble
of forcing white children to go
to black schools and the other
way around,” says Williams.
Williams has been in the
Richmond County school sys
tem for 26 of the 30 years it
has been under court ordered
desegregation. His school is
nearly 72 percent white.
Another factor in the appar
ent resegregation is the make
up of the student population.
In 1972, 44 percent of students
were black. In 2003 that num
ber has reached 69 percent.
|
L
Joseph Jennings
Chanticleer. It wasn’t full time
work but Jennings fully
enjoyed the experience.
“Things started to happen
for the group and opportunities
came and they were really kind
of encouraging me to stay and
they wanted me to become the
music director.”
The year was 1983 and Jen
nings has been with the group
ever since. The musical genius
brings varying genres of music
to the group, including spiritu
als, gospels and jazz standards.
Chanticleer has a full year
ahead with performances in
San Francisco, recordings and a
European tour. The ensemble
will be singing in Paris, Lon
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
“The numbers just aren’t
there to have racial balance in
every school,” said Allen.
What is sure to impact the
balance even more is Presi
dent Bush’s No Child Left
Behind Act, which requires
school districts to allow stu
dents from low performing
schools to transfer to other
schools. There are 16 schools
in Richmond County that fall
under the category of low per
forming. School officials have
been working with Allen and
others over the past several
months trying to measure
what the impact of students
moving out of district would be
on desegregation.
In spite of the significant
obstacles, each agreed that in
concept, racial diversity in
each school is one worth pur
suing. However, no one is
holding out much hope for the
immediate future.
don, Germany and the Nether
lands next month. Upon
returning to California, Jen
nings says the group will focus
more on the sound and the
healing properties of music.
Many requests have been made
for Chanticleer to record more
spirituals and the group is plan
ning to oblige, with music most
ly arranged by Jennings.
Chanticleer stays busy, per
forming almost a hundred con
certs a year. Tla‘.‘s year marks
the group’s 25'? anniversary
and a San Francisco concert
will commemorate the occasion
in June. There have been over
70 members in Chanticleer and
all of the alumni will be in
attendance.
“Expect that to be a big birth
day bash,” says Jennings. -
Are there more Grammy
awards in the future for Chan
ticleer?
“Well, that’s a hard question
to answer,” he replied. “But it’s
anybody’s guess about these
sorts of things. Of course it’s an
honor for your constituents and
your contemporaries to
acknowledge your work, that’s
just a great thing. We’ll contin
ue to make recordings, there
are lots of things that we want
to record. Whether or not they
make it to the Grammy’s is just
another story.”
City government
From page one
“l don’t know anything
about it.”
Hankerson has become
infamous for his.votes on
hotly debated and race sensi
tive issues. Insiders report
that Hankerson has been
swayed by a group of com
missioners to lean in their
favor or abstain when it
comes to voting on important
issues such as that of the dis
trict attorney investigation.
Hankerson has denied those
accusations.
Meanwhile, opposition is
coming from the same com
missioners that fought tooth
and nail against changing
the government during the
last legislative session. They
are ready to protect the cur
rent structure again if need
be.
“There is nothing wrong
with our current govern
ment,” said Richard Col
clough. “For the five years I
have been up there, I think
it’s been working pretty well.
I will not vote to change the
government.”
“Changing the govern
ment wouldn’t be fair and it
wouldn’t be right. I would
never vote for or support
that,” said commissioner
Marion Williams.
The bill, which is expected
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FEBRUARY 27, 2003
to be introduced in the house
on Friday, would dramatical
ly impact the balance of
power. Under the current
law, commissioners must
have six out of 10 votes to
approve or reject a proposal.
If six votes aren’t garnered,
the measure dies. Burmeis
ter’s bill will eliminate the
six vote rule and replace it
with a simple majority. What
this means is that a proposal
would be approved with less
than six votes as long as it is
a majority.
Burmeister is positive that
the bill, thbugh met with
concern from some, will pass
this session.
“I think the entire commu
nity wants some kind of
change,” said Burmeister.
“With the simple majority,
the commission can do busi
ness and this does not affect
a particular race one way or
the other. I think this would
go a long way to make sure
business is taken care of
when it needs to be taken
care of and not prolonged
month after month because
people are not in attendance
to take a vote.”
At least one commissioner
who is in favor of the change
admits that the commission
should all agree as one and
among themselves before a
bill is introduced and rushed
through the session.
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