Lies and Manipulation - Columbus City Schools 5 23 2024

"I am writing directly to our community today to express a sincere apology of what has transpired. I understand the gravity of the document that has been distributed publicly. I maintain that this document was a collaborative document that was discussed in multiple meetings," Simmons continued in his statement provided to ABC6 News.

THIS IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO ADEQUATE! 

He refuses to TRULY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILTY, instead citing "collaboraation". The citizens, the children, the taxpayers deserve better! 

Brandon Simmons. RESIGN! 

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
The Power Hour with Chuck Douglas.Welcome to the Chuck Douglas Podcast from six
to ten WTV and I am thehost of The Power Hour HERD Monday through
Thursday at six pm. I encourageyou to join me live on the air
or through the iHeartMedia app. Alsoon Facebook, of course, Chuck Douglas.
On Twitter, it is Chuck dTalker. On Instagram Chuck Douglas Talker.

(00:22):
And just google me. It feelsso good when you do, and
you'll find me out there. Makesure you follow and subscribe and all that
kind of stuff. Now, onthe twenty second of May, I took
issue with the situation at Columbus CitySchools. These secret memos, the secret
arrangements, the secret plans to shutdown people, to divide people, to

(00:43):
malign people who disagreed with the districtplan, to start shutting down what they
consider to be underutilized school buildings.I cannot believe that, in this age
of transparency, this kind of crapwas happening once again. But I am
very glad that it's been exposed ColumbusCity Schools over and over and over and

(01:10):
over and over a couple of times. If you get my meeting, has
made promises, has made promises basedon the results of various threats. This
will get cut, that will getcut. These people will lose their job.
We won't be able to do thisanymore. Constantly we are told that
it's necessity. It's necessity that bringsus to you again. We must get

(01:34):
you to say yes to a leveyso that the children will have the education
they deserve, and yet the childrendon't so that we can have the appropriate
facilities and build on our STEM educationplatform. And we're talking about closing schools.
The city of Columbus is growing,a vibrant city. Andy Ganther last
night, You know Andy, don'tyou? Everybody knows Andy in his State

(01:57):
of the Union last night, youtalk about, Hey, by twenty thirty,
we're gonna have more people than wegot houses. Columbus is growing by
leaps and bountains and hills and mountainsand all kinds of stuff that would probably
rhymes. And yet we're closing schools. We're talking about not utilizing schools.
We've got school but who owns.I see a lot of abandoned school properties

(02:17):
already auction them off, sell themoff. I wonder if seeing Zach.
Maybe you can google or google orsome There's a school building right at three
fifteen down in Franklinton, right acrossfrom Mount Carmel Hospital. I don't know
if the school system still owns thatbuilding or not, but it's boarded up.
It's been boarded up for years.There was another one right at seventy

(02:40):
and uh and three fifteen that gotpurchased and looked like it was being rehabbed.
It's doing nothing now. But ifthey still own that one, sell
it off. That's prime Franklinton realestate. Sell it off. I've said
it before, I'll say it again. I'll say it right now. Stop
the busing. Desegregation is oh,there's nothing in Columbus, Ohio that is

(03:01):
segregated. White people are everywhere,Black people everybody. We got Somali's,
we got Latinos, we got everybody'severywhere. We don't need bussing. There
is no more segregation. Stop thebussing. Sell the buses. The bus
drivers, Sorry, your job hascome to an end. We're not spending
money on buses, maintenance, fuel, oil, changes, tires, driver

(03:24):
salaries, driver benefits. That'll savea bunch of money. And as always,
sell the damn radio station. Yougot no business owning a radio station.
You're not doing anything with it inthe name of education. Well,
we do, we play NPR programming, so does WOSU. You don't need
a radio station there. I justsaved you millions of dollars. I suggested

(03:47):
about a week ago that maybe youcould use some of these, especially on
my beloved west side. A coupleof these buildings you're talking about shutting down
to go with other educational ventures outthere, like the head Star program.
The Catholic Diocese for some reason isnot renewing their lease. They've been over
at Saint Agnes for years in theHilltop community, and I had a couple

(04:10):
of parents tell me about this.They got noticed at the beginning of May
that hey, May twenty fourth,we're done, We're finished, we're through,
we're closing. We no longer havea lease here. Well, you
know you're talking about Value View notbeing utilized enough, and you may have
to shut that down, or Lindberghnot being utilized nothing. You might hit
to shut down. Now they're oneither side of this daycare, a daycare
that is head start based and educationaldaycare. God knows that community needs the

(04:38):
education their children are being watched andtaught at the same time. This is
a valuable benefit to a needy community. You, Columbus City Schools, could
do something about it. Instead,you have meetings and talk about closing down
buildings, and now it comes tolight that you wanted to manipulate those meetings.

(05:01):
The document discovered detailed ways to quotedominate the board room. It was
entitled taking control of the task forcenarrative narrative, narrative narrative. Not taking
control of our schools, not takingcontrol of our budget, not taking control
of education, not taking control ofthe children's future, discipline, graduation rates,

(05:23):
but the narrative, how we letpeople hear about it. It's not
what it is. It's not whatyou see, it's not what you know.
It's what we tell you. Itis the narrative. I am sad
to say that this Brandon Simmons,he upon which responsibility seems to hang for

(05:47):
this document, is also a residentof my beloved West Side. I read
his bio on the Board of Educationwebsite. Seems a bit pompous to me,
But everybody's titled to their their grandioseview of themselves. Yeah, they
write them, they themselves. I'venever been very good at that, but

(06:08):
you're entitled, so I can letthat part pass. However, what I
can't pass is this this immediate arrogancethat I'm seeing. First of all,
he Brandon Simmons, who yes,should resign. Now, Brandon Simmons decided
before the meeting Tuesday night, beforethe board meeting Tuesday night, he is

(06:30):
gonna hold his own press conference.He's just that Dak got important people.
He came out there and held hisown press conference and he explained to the
people. You know, there wereseveral different versions of this document, and
it's just a shame that this isthe version people are seeing. This is
early, this isn't the final.It's a shame that people are seeing it.

(06:53):
Why is it a shame? Iwould be happy to read the first
draft of the Gettysburg Address. Atits core, it's still going to be
the same document. So whether thisis the first draft or the fiftieth draft
doesn't matter. You were talking aboutfinding ways to divide and conquer the oldest
battle strategy known to man, usingrace, young black man, using race

(07:20):
as a tool to divide people.The document out line driving a wedge between
the Columbus Education Association. Yes,I'm actually on the side of a union,
Oh my gosh, between the ColumbusEducation Association and the Columbus School Employees
Association. According to the ten TVwebsite, as well as putting off sharing
bad news with the public to latermeetings if there is other good news to

(07:44):
share, it also detailed rewarding goodmedia outlets with priority interviews and priority seating.
And to that end, let metell you there is. They're doing
a town hall unless they decided tocancel that too. But the Board of
Education I saw on Facebook or Twitteror something the other day they're doing a
town hall meeting, a radio townhall meeting on three radio stations, which

(08:05):
are They're not iHeart stations. Theyare owned by another company, and they
serve they serve an ethnic audience,all three of them high white people.
No, we got nothing to sayto you. We're gonna go for here
and you and you're not gonna listenit. We're gonna talk. That's offensive.

(08:26):
It's your kids, it's your schools, it's your neighborhoods, it's your
tax dollars. To rewarding good mediaoutlets with priority interviews and priority seating.
Now it seems there's a divide betweenthe school district and Simmons. Ten TV
continues. After he held his ownpress conference ahead of the board meeting on

(08:48):
Tuesday night, the district stated thatSimmons is not permitted to speak on the
board's behalf nice way of saying,sit down over there and be quiet.
Parents, faculty, and staff withinthe district express their concern over the league
documents. Institutional instructional assistance or yeah, instructional assistant. Leslie, I think

(09:11):
it's maltute or martut from Cranbrook Elementarysaid, I don't think my reaction is
television approved. Liz Chapman, Apparentand Secretary of the Board for All in
for Ohio Kids, said I wasshocked and I just kept thinking it all
felt really toxic. Him resigning woulddefinitely be the call right now. Jason

(09:31):
Marshall said, Apparent and President ofthe Board for All Kids Ohio. I
don't know where our local NAACP ison this. I haven't seen anything from
them yet. They have had noproblem challenging the audacity of the Columbus City
Schools, and there are many manyfaux pause over the last year. I
hope that because this is a youngblack man, they don't sit back and

(09:52):
say, well, we'll just letthis one go. They have been they've
been a source of pride. NanaWatson's leadership has been something impressive compared two
years past, and she has stoodup and said things that are not expected
of that organization against things, peopleand institutions that are traditionally not targets of

(10:18):
the NAACP. So I hope theywill jump onto this too. Simmons,
defending himself, said there are multipleversions of that document and the one people
are seeing today it wasn't the finalversion, and it really we're sorry it
really it's really regrettable that that's theversion people are looking at. He also
claimed he wasn't the only one responsiblefor it, so it ain't me.
It was the other people too.You want to be a man, you

(10:41):
want to hold off a stand upand take responsibility. It was them too.
They were involved. No, yourname's on it, you sent it
out, take responsibility. He saidthere were other important stakeholders when the document
was discussed. It was a collaboration. He said there was input for many,

(11:01):
many different people and ideas for manymany different folks who are They call
them out, name them. Let'ssee how they take that accusation. On
top of everything else, this youngman, Brandon Simmons, who should resign,
had a problem with board members sharingthe document. When he wrapped up

(11:22):
his press conference, he made anadditional statement several minutes later, calling out
these other board members who he saidwere responsible for leaking the document. You
cannot leak a document. It's yourpublic board, accountable to the public,
running the public schools. There shouldbe nothing to leak. By the way,
your biography on the website for theclub's Board of Education says something about

(11:43):
your firm belief in transparency. Youshould resign, Simmons, said. Board
member Jennifer Adare. Chose to sharethat document with board member Sarah Ingele,
who chose to share that document withother folks. Oh, he said,
folks, mister Simmons needs to resignyour tax dollars at work. You just
gave him one hundred million tax dollarsin this last levee. Columbus is growing,

(12:07):
population is growing, need for schoolsgrowing, and they're managing things so
well with that one hundred million dollarsthat they're finding ways to shut down schools.
If you're not offended, consider addingmore caffeine to your diet. Columbus
City Schools, I I don't knowwhat to say. I seriously don't.

(12:31):
There was a time when I wasa big supporter. I was a major
supporter. I was allowed supporter ofColumbus City Schools. When the Proficiency Test,
the high school Proficiency Test started,superintendent was Jene Harris back then.
When the Proficiency said, they neededa big, big rally. Big they
had to get the kids fired upbecause they had to pass this state proficiency
test in order to graduate. Andso that first year they held a big

(12:54):
rally down at the Palace Theater andDave Thomas was there, Chris Davis from
our sisters station NCI down the hallmyself. I was doing a morning show
back then, and I had Ihad turned. I did a parody song,
the Proficiency Rap. I think Iused rump shaika if I'm not mistaken
as my backing track for that.Yeah, I know the irony, but

(13:16):
so I'm playing the Proficiency rap.Because I was a very kid friendly morning
show. I knew that I hadfamilies in the car in the morning,
and I didn't talk dirty. Ididn't talk nasty. I tried to be
a family friendly morning show. Andso I did this proficiency rap. Well,
Columbus City School has heard about it, and they asked me if I
would come down and do this proficiencyrap at this big event at the Palace.

(13:37):
And you know, we had thatplace rock in all these high school
tenth eleven of the twelfth grade studentswho are going to be taking that test
that first year. And we're upthere on the stage and even old Dave
Thomas was kind of dancing. Yeah, Dave had a little rhythm to it,
and the kids. I know thatI can do it. I can
pass the test because I'm the best, because I'm the best. Yet that
was me. I believed in you. I was with you, I supported

(14:01):
you, I came from you,and you today are an embarrassment to me.
Columbus City Schools, do something aboutthis. Do the right thing.
You can't force him out, butperhaps, mister Simmons, maybe even at

(14:24):
your young age, you can findthe integrity and the character to do the
right thing. You need to goresign. Make sure you subscribe to the
Chuck Douglas podcast on iHeartMedia or whereveryou get your podcast. I'm a little
nuts, but you don't want tomiss a minute of it.