And How Are the Children? The title of a famous Maasai Tribe story that has been used over and over in educational settings to try to connect educators to students, particularly black students…but for some reason the message is not seen, heard, or understood.

And How Are the Children in South Bend Schools? Well, ALL the CHILDREN are not well. Especially the BLACK, under-resourced children. And best believe, ALL the children, Indigenous, Students of Color, and their White Allies are not well either. ​

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The 2024-2025 School Year in SBCSC began on Thursday, August 15th, and in the 1st 13 days of school, the following has occurred and/or been revealed;

Low academic achievement on ILearn and SAT for a majority of the student in SBCSC
Toxic Educational Environments; i.e., school fights, not enough seats, chronic minor discipline issues, lack of certified teaching staff, violence against staff, violence against students, lack of schedules, housing students in large spaces without instruction, and the list could go on and on
Principal and Teacher Turnover Rate Remains High- Teachers quitting within days of the start of school
Transportation Changes With Lack of Effective Communication to Customers and failure to follow state expectations of communication 3 years prior to parents/families
Lack of Overall Communication and Transparency to the Village from Central Office
Lack of Curriculum Materials and supplies for students
Lack of Financial Transparency and Sustainability - Alleged $20+ Million DEFICIT!

In addition, the SBCSC’s poor schooling is contributing to these overall negative impacts, chronically:

First and foremost, intergenerational poverty. 

Intergenerational poverty, also known as the Cycle of Poverty is impacting our students in SBCSC under the current administration. 

Intergenerational poverty, According to the Issue Brief from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine is when children who grow up in poverty continue to experience poverty as adults. 

Isn’t the purpose of education to support children to get out of poverty and experience their fullest potential? Educational attainment and occupational skills have large impacts on lifetime earnings.

Why is the current administration upholding policies and procedures that support intergenerational poverty, i.e., for example, suspending BLACK students disproportionately. There’s zero evidence that reports black students behave any differently than their white counterparts. As a matter of fact, studies show black students are excluded a majority of the time for subjective reasons. 

Based on research, exclusionary school discipline increases students’ chances of dropping out of high school and their contact with the criminal justice system in young adulthood and reduces their college enrollment…increasing their chances for living in poverty or even intergenerational poverty. . 

While educational attainment and skills have dramatically improved over time among Black children, disparities in access to educational opportunities are still deep and enduring characteristics of the American educational system; which is always excluding black students and now more and more Indigenous, People of Color and their poor White Allies. 

Black children are more likely than White children to live in high-poverty areas. 

Black students entering kindergarten are about half a year behind their White counterparts in early math achievement and experience gaps in kindergarten-entry literacy, differences that continue throughout school completion.

The disparities between children in low-income families and their peers are profound—academic proficiency rates are 50% lower for low-income and minority students, and even worse for Black students specifically. 

Black students are less likely to have a black teacher, which increases the chances of high school graduation and college enrollment of Black students.

Black children are more likely to go to public schools that are burdened with high levels of violence and are staffed with less experienced, lower-quality teachers.

More than one-third (37%) of Black children who grew up in low-income families have low incomes in adulthood.

Blacks were set on a course of socioeconomic disadvantage largely by chattel slavery and labor exploitation; and forced assimilation and legalized racial discrimination.

The SBCSC is contributing to the overall negative impacts of poor schooling. 

When children don’t have access to a quality education, this creates barriers to employment in adulthood, they will become more vulnerable to poor nutrition, unstable housing, and unmet medical needs. 

Children are more likely to have mental health issues if lacking education. And knowledge gaps will persist into adulthood. (Pause) 

The corporation’s board and central office leadership’s lack of attention to these details…is damaging and impacting children, with the most vulnerable, the black child. 

The last item to bring to your attention that poses grave concern is what the Michiana Observer reported 3 days ago:

“SBCSC Financials in Question- SBCSC”

An independent audit cited: “A deficiency in internal control exists.” “Important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance.” 

Deficit totaling over $26 million dollars! Found no documentation of public hearings about the budget. Financial statements are missing. Lacks of Checks and Balances due to conflict of roles played by one person, and the list goes on and on. 

Why is there a lack of oversight by the board and superintendent of the budget and its appropriations? 

This lack of effective management is costing the taxpayers more money and has placed us in a $26 million debt that we were unaware of. In addition, this lack of effective management is causing physical, mental, and psychological harm to many stakeholders, while a select few are reaping the financial benefits from “programs” they are implementing in our school with limited data to prove their effectiveness. 

Perfect example, current Assistant Principal Jesse Pedraza, should not have to experience any mental or psychological harm from the damage SBCSC Supt. is causing by having him on an paid administrative leave to investigate a conversation between him and a colleague. Why isn’t the colleague on paid leave as well?  We are aware of the many tactics school officials use to silence the educators that are making a difference for our children. Everyone is aware of the qualitative and quantitative data that has been collected over the years on Pedraza’s leadership and know he and the program he launched and sustained is effective. 

Placing him on paid leave was in retaliation from Pedraza speaking up for the Dual Language Immersion program that supports so many BIPOC students and their white counterparts. 

And would the program even needed to be combined with Edison had we had effective stewardship over our finances.

This is one example of many where the current central administration and board members are enabling a toxic work environment. Which is bleeding down to the children, and eventually the community. 

South Bend Community School Corporation has the potential to be more successful than what it is today. Our students and staff are creative by nature. We have the ability to create value. There were periods of times in this district where there was a sense of pride and community. There were many students that were achieving at higher academic levels and many principals and teachers leading the work. It is the essence of humanness to be creative, to create value, and humans will express this creativity in their behavior UNLESS that creative potential is stifled or destroyed. 

We are demanding that Christopher Todd Cummings be removed from the superintendency of South Bend Community School Corporation. HE IS STIFLING AND DESTROYING THE VALUE OF THE CORPORATION AND THE PEOPLE IN IT.

His track record has created a toxic work environment where many, too many stakeholders are put in harm’s way daily (whether that harm is direct or indirect, seen or unseen). The staff (paras, teachers, admin, etcetera) turnover rate is extremely high and the children are persistent at achieving low academic rates across all grade levels, K-12th.

Did we forget that Christopher Todd Cummings had discrepancies on his resume when he was hired into South Bend Schools? He did not have any building level administrative experience prior to being a central office administrator.

Christopher Todd Cummings has allowed the start of the school year to start in such disarray; Toxic Educational Environments; i.e., school fights, not enough seats for students, chronic minor classroom discipline issues, lack of certified teaching staff, violence against staff, violence against students, and the list continues, lack of schedules, housing students in large spaces without instruction. Transportation issues. Lack of effective communication to the customers (parents and children). Creation of a potential $26 million dollar deficit.

Is the school board paying attention to the performance of their only employee? It is clear from the previous school board meetings that at least 2 members have concerns about the Superintendent’s management, however, the remaining board members do not.

We are calling on all citizens to pay close attention to the school board campaigns for SBCSC over the next two months and help the entire village by voting any board members out of their seats that support Christopher Todd Cummings and his cabinet.

Supporting the current superintendent is proving detrimental to our community and children, especially the black children, his “BABIES!” 

We are demanding the immediate removal of Christopher Todd Cummings for being an unfit superintendent. We are calling on board members to make a motion this evening to begin a new superintendent search and terminate Christopher Todd Cummings upon securing a new leader. 

If it is necessary, because of the fear many board members seem to have in getting rid of Todd, then we are encouraging all citizens to vote in School Board members that do not support the current superintendent and his cabinet.

We need a new leader of SBCSC….. Or more and more in our communities will suffer and deteriorate like so many others under his leadership. 

You can support and learn more about the campaign by visiting our website, www.jaxaspirefoundation.org