Janet Kendall
Vallejo
The Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council thanks Mayor Osby Davis and our sister Askari Sowande for the Educational Summit, held on May 17 in Vallejo. Our gratitude goes to actor, comedian and activist Dr. Bill Cosby for his concern and advice for Vallejo students in the public school system. Vallejo children should know that many great people are working to make their school experiences productive.
Dr. Cosby offered a message to the Native community and to all those who believe that our public school system must provide equal opportunity and quality education to all students. Dr. Cosby and most attendees at the summit were disheartened to learn that the administration of the Vallejo City Unified School District has intentionally eliminated Native-American students from the statistical data that measures student performance. These wonderful children are not counted because the administration believes that Native children universally do poorly in school. This poor performance then skews the data for non-Native children. This conclusion was presented to those at the summit by the administration of VCUSD.