Systemic Bias: Part & Parcel of Fresno Unified School District?

Retired Principal (He started his career as a Juvenile Hall Supervisor) Jack Jarvis ran for school board on the platform of bring back old style discipline to the district.

Jack also tweeted some interesting facts about Fresno Unified.

Jack felt Hispanics were underrepresented in District statistics.

The “Suspended” statistics.

Jack felt not enough Hispanic students were being suspended.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/816383347651817472

In a thread about a student being slammed by police Jack responded with the following tweets.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/816720070093090817

Jack fears a crime wave is coming.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/870091398187368448

The Atlantic says of the Fresno Justice System,

“So, just like that. No real reason whatsoever,” Baines said. “The justice system is not set up to treat people equally. That’s true across the country.”

In Fresno’s justice system, from its police department, to its schools, to its jail, unequal treatment is the norm. Data obtained from the city’s police department shows that routine interactions with the police take a much heavier toll on black Fresnans than white.”

Jack ran on a platform designed to reverse the prior 5 years of work designed to reverse that built in bias.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/868888293441585153

Jack thought a closer look at “Calwa” crime was needed.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/874669749564616705

Calwa is a US Census designated place that is 90.1 percent Hispanic.

It is located in South central Fresno.

Reis Thebault, reporting for The Atlantic notes of Fresno,

Fresno’s Mason-Dixon Line

More than 50 years after redlining was outlawed, the legacy of discrimination can still be seen in California’s poorest large city.

But in the majority-minority city of half a million, those riches are not equally divided. Eighty years after Helming published his report, the gulf between white, black, and brown residents remains embedded in the city’s geography.

Mr. Jarvis had this to say about his opponent, Claudia Cazares on Twitter.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/1028342966715215872

The Fresno Bee quoted Claudia Cazares in a 10/9/2016 story,

“I’m my own independent person. I was raised as a strong Latina. I went to Berkeley. I’ve been taught to think. I don’t need other people to think for me,” she said. “When I told my boss I was running, he was supportive. But I’m not controlled by one person or another.”

In a Voter Guide for District (Northeast Fresno) 6 by the Fresno Bee the following biographical information was presented for Claudia Cazares,

Age 39

Residence Fresno

Family Married, with one daughter and two sons

Education Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley

Occupation Project manager

Public service experience Board Member of San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative, Member League of Mexican American Women, UC Berkeley Alumni Club of Fresno, San Joaquin Valley Cal Chicano Latino Alumni Association Chapter, Edison High School Band Booster/Parent, Previous: Member Fresno Housing Alliance, Member Fresno Madera Continuum of Care, Staff Representative Fresno Housing and Community Development Commission, Staff Representative Fresno County Community Development Citizen’s Committee, Staff Representative Mayor Alan Autry’s 10x10 Affordability Housing Committee, Volunteer Fresno/Madera Homelessness Point in Time Survey, Volunteer HOPE, Del Rio Community Clean Up

The Fresno Bee endorsed Claudia Cazares over Jack Jarvis,

Of the two candidates seeking the Area 6 seat representing the Hoover High neighborhood, we recommend Claudia Cázares, a project manager for Granville Homes, to succeed Janet Ryan, who is retiring after three terms.

Cázares is the daughter of immigrant farmworkers who graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average from Hanford High School and then graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s in business administration.

Her children attend Fresno Unified schools, so she is well-versed in the district’s strengths and challenges. She also brings knowledge of the building industry, which is important in light of the federal investigation into Fresno Unified’s use of no-bid construction contracts. Prior to joining Granville, she was an administrator of federal community and affordable housing grants for 12 years.

Her stated priorities are making sure that sufficient funding is directed to giving all children the tools to succeed, campus safety — including students’ travel to and from school — and career technical education.

Fresno Unified overlaid with Fresno Metropolitan Area Tract Census Data

Jack Jarvis is a gentleman and a scholar. The pride of Fresno.

https://tweetsave.com/jxjarvix/status/973386430025121792

Additional Reading:

The Atlantic Series:

  1. In “Fresno’s Mason Dixon Line,” Reis Thebault chronicles the history of redlining in Fresno, and the troubling ways that the city continues to segregate residents of color.
  2. In “The Thousands of Children Who Go to Immigration Court Alone,” Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou takes a look at the unique challenges facing unaccompanied minors who settle in areas far away from immigration courts and abundant, low-cost legal services.
  3. In “Growing Up Undocumented When Your Siblings Are Citizens,” Briana Flin tells the story of Andy Magdaleno, who struggled with his status as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S., and the vast discrepancies it created between the opportunities he and his siblings had access to.
  4. In “A Mother’s Zip Code Could Signal Whether Her Baby Will Be Born Too Early,” Margaret Katcher illuminates how race, location, and bias create a system that puts the health of mothers and babies in jeopardy.
  5. In “Pregnant and Addicted to Heroin,” Rachel Cassandra chronicles the life of Amanda, a woman she met at a needle exchange who was five months pregnant and scared she wouldn’t be able to get clean before she gave birth.
  6. The Bias in Fresno’s Justice System,” Reis Thebault and Alexandria Fuller investigated Fresno’s police department, justice system, and schools, and found a pattern of dangerous racial discrimination.
  7. In her documentary “Meth-Addicted Mothers and Child Abuse” Mary Newman follows mothers who are addicted to meth and the officers and treatment professionals who are confronting the epidemic every day.
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