I was sadden to read and see on the news the on-going deteriorating conditions of public school education in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia aka DMV.

In Prince Georges County, the board of education has been a comedy act of Albert and Costello for decades. It has been “Who’s On First!?” Black children have yet to be on FIRST in America’s education system.

In June 2023, the County Executive Angela Alsobrooks was hear saying, this about the new Superintendent, “Millard House, has experience success in leading diverse school districts, like PGCPS, which led me to chose him to lead PGCPS.” My man ain’t seen DIVERSE until he has seen PG County!

Famous “Last words!” Remember, Juanita Miller, she was appointed to the School Board by County Executive Alsobrooks? That appointment became a power struggle between the board and Ms. Miller.

When they tried to fire Ms. Miller and kick her to the curb, the lady from the Benning Road corridor in NE DC said, “No way Hosea, I ain’t going quietly!”

County Executive Alsobrooks, suddenly distanced herself from her appointment, she saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil as it related to her friend.

If the naysayers and player-haters had done their homework (research) they would have discovered Ms. Miller grew up on the Benning Road corridor in NE D C. She is a graduate of Spingarn High School adjacent to Langston Terrace, the first public housing project in the nation and a tough neighborhood.

Juanita with sister Barbra and brother Maurice Culbreath, walked softly but carried a “Big Stick!”

The Culbreaths learned to stand up for themselves early in The Game Called Life. If they were pushed they pushed back-it was the rules of survival in NE DC.

It was no surprised to me she pushed back from the charade with the board of education. She took a vacation, and went to the Carribean Islands or some other exotic paradise for some RR.

On her return, the dust had cleared, a Maryland administrated judge sent her back to her job on the school board-case closed.

Judge Richard O’Connor recommended that the Prince George’s County school board member should remain on the 14-member board. He wrote, Ms. Miller, did not violate any stature, policy, or bylaw and performed her duties, competently in a distinctly hostile environment.”

Juanita Miller was not giving up her “Night Out With The Girls” with the County Executive easyly!

The outgoing Superintendent, Dr. Monica Goldson spent 32 years in the system as a teacher, principal and Superintendent. She left the job and the children worst than she found them.

The system’s final FY24 budget review submitted to the county council on March 10, 2023 reported a teacher shortage of 1,573. Since then, another 601 educators have left the system. Whichever report you accept means the system needs to fill well over 2,000+ vacancies.

Dr. House has not been on the job a full 90 days and he has already found lies and deceit as it relates to teacher shortage.

He was led to believe the school system was short of 500 teachers, only to discover they are short 2,000+, that has to be a setback for a man going into his first year on the job. The only thing comparable would be a fire truck racing to a 4 alarm fire with no water!

Dr. House, this is a sad welcome to your new job, but be sure to bring your bullet-proof vest and your favorite phychiatrist, you will need both!

By the way, it has gotten more complicated, there has been a cyber attack on 45,000 accounts in your system and I have yet to see a transparent book bags to stifle guns in the schools as advertised.

It is no secret, “The teachers are scare of the principals, the principals are scare of the Superintendent, the Superintendent is scare of the parents, the parents are scare of children and the children ain’t scare of no dam body!”

In Washington, DC 65% of the teachers surveyed said, they are scare of the children and don’t feel protected, 42% said they have been attacked by students, 45% said, they are seriously thinking about leaving the profession all together!

These same stats found in DC, I will bet, similar stats are found in PG County. Birds of a feather flock together.

Homegrown DC cop, Robert Contee (Langston Terrace) took over as chief after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s choice of Peter Newsome went AWOL. Contee didn’t stay around much longer than Newsome, he left, quick and in a hurry for a new job with the FBI. He was rewarded with a higher salary for leaving the DC Police Department like he found it, in the same crime wave. Nobody cares except on payday!

When Contee jumped ship, Mayor Bowser tried to hire acting chief Ashan Benedict, he took a long lunch break and turned the job down.

Bowser then hired the first black female chief in the history of the department when she hired, Pamela A. Smith. Ms. Smith was named the first black woman in the history of the Park Police in 2021.

Ms. Smith retired as chief in 2022 after 25 years with the department. She came out of retirement and joined the DC Police Department as a Deputy Chief for a year. She left that position and join Homeland Security for a year. She then circled back to DC as the chief, that is quiet a Merry-Go-Round! One year and counting?

There are bets in the Bowser administration and among the DC Council, Chief Smith won’t make it to Christmas. Her one-year job cycles leave much to be desired.

According to Washington Post columnist, Courtland Milloy, she is having problems sleeping at nights–that is not a good sign for longivity.

The new chief has yet to be confirmed by the DC City Council and that may be a problem.

A problem only because if you are aware of the strain relationship between the City Council and Mayor Bowser in the past few years–this confirmation is not a slam dunk!

Ms. Smith, it looks like she is in over her head. This would be a difficult job for Superman and Superwoman together. Chief Smith has found herself after each violent crime committed singing the same song as her predesessors, “Could we please get more snitches to help us to help you”

During one press conference, Mayor Bowser decided she wanted to become comedian. She was asked about the rising crime rate among our youth, her response shown exactly what she thought of DC residents during this crime spree, she said, “This ain’t the town of Mayberry!” If it was she would be Barney Fife and that ain’t funny.

Speaking of Deputy Barney Fife in Mayberry, Bowser is in her 3rd campaign of trying to find a chief of police. She will be working on her 4th police chief if Smith does not survive this present crime spree.

In Virginia, the schools are under attack by Governor Glenn Youngkin as he tries to whitewash Black History with his implementation of Critical Race Theory. He wants to make America great again.

In the meantime, a 6 year-old first grader shoots his teacher in Hampton Virginia. The teacher discovered the child has a gun, she alerts the Principal. His advice, “lets wait until after school to search him.”

The teacher, Abigail Zwerner was shot minutes later. She is recovering and suing the school district and counting her blessings she is still alive.

The 6 year-old is with his grandmother and his mother who gave him the gun while on drugs is hopefully on her way to jail. In the meantime, an Assistant Principal and the Superintendent have been fired.

Governor Youngkin, has a proposal on the table suggesting transgender sex bathrooms in our schools. He is getting a lot of push back from parents, teachers, students and politicians.

Teachers are our most important community members, but we don’t want to pay or protect them!

These attacks on teachers and the education system brought to mind a Washington, DC legend and landmark, jazz vocalist Jimmy McPhail.

A recent documentary was shown at the Martin Luther King Library in downtown DC about the life and times of an extradinary school teacher and jazz vocalist, Jimmy McPhail.

The documentary was the brainchild of Executive Producer Larry Law. He is a native Washingtonian and a talented videophotographer.

I knew Mr. McPhail up close and personal. I was trying to go to hell in a hurry at Brown Jr. High School in NE DC. The head man was Principal William B. Stinson. Mr. McPhail was a substitute teacher.

He also presided over “Room 104” a holding pen for all badasses and non-comformers during school hours. If you were late, or a teacher had sent you to the office for disruptive behavior, you were assigned to “Room 104” from 3 pm until 4 pm and Mr. McPhail would lay down the rule of law for Brown Jr. High.

You had two choices, either do your home work or sit quiety for one hour. Mr. McPhail did not play. He was built like an NFL linebacker and we sensed he would blindside us if warranted. It was rumored he had throwed one knucklehead out of the window one evening. We never could confirm it, but the rumor was enough to keep us in our seats.

I hung out with a group of knuckleheads that included Rhoma Battle, Mickey Freeman, Teddy Acherson, Hobo and Jimmy Reid. They were the Langston Terrace crew. I was an outsider from Parkside a housing project on he other side of the river. All of them were so-called tough guys, I was just a wannabe.

They allowed me to hangout with them because I was an athlete. I ran track, played basketball and baseball. I played 12 and under baseball against them for the DC Recreation Department.

Brown was located at the far end of 24th & Benning Road. It was a two block walk from the bus stop every morning, Monday thru Friday to get to the school.

Once I got off the bus, I had to walk past the historical Langston Golf Course, newly built Spingarn High School, Charles Young Elementary, Phelps Vocation High School was hidden behind Charles Young. Brown Junior High was at the end of the road.

I loved that walk pass some of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen, thinking and dreaming one day I would be attending Spingarn for all the wrong reasons, sports and pretty girls.

Not many people realized that “The Hill”was the most unique educational plot of land in America.

I remembered, one cop was assigned to police everything that moved in those two blocks. He had neither, horse, motorcyle, bicycle or car. His two flat feet could outrun any knucklehead who dared to challedge him in a foot race. His name was officer Ray Dixon, he was the first “Officer Friendly” ever assigned to the DC Public Schools. He never fired a shot his entire career on “The Hill”, he was feared. All you had to do was mention his name and the brothers start looking for which direction to run.

Coach William Rountree-Officer Ray Dixon-HBell-Dave Bing-pay tribute to Spingarn Principal Dr. Purvis Williams and his staff. Narrator Marie Primus looks on.  This was a long overdue thank you.

In Appreciation: Tribute to my savior, Spingarn Coach Dave Brown and his family on his retirement.

Mr. McPhail, William B. Stinson, and a Assistant Principal, who I can only remember as “Smiling Jack” and officer Dixon help run a tight ship on “The Hill.”

I had no clue that Mr. McPhail was a legendary jazz singer until it was too late–it was my best moment!

It was during a lunch break, Hobo, Rhoma, Jimmy, Mickey and me were shooting craps in the back of the school lunch room in the alley with a lookout inside. A Wonder Bread truck drove up to the door in the alley. We paid no attention to the truck until Officer Dixon jumped out. It was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide-busted!

All of us were sent home and told not to comeback unless we had our parents with us. My mother had just taken off from work a couple of weeks earlier for me being late two days in a row. I was hanging out in front of Spingarn trying to be a part of the “In-Crowd.”

Every morning just before the 9 am warning bell for class, Officer Dixon would make a clean sweep of the front of the building. It looked like a Ghost Town after he walked through never raising his voice.

There I was looking like a deer caught in headlights runing trying to keep from being late at Brown.

After being sent home by Mr. Stinson I tried to hide out for a couple days at home, but someone snitched on me to my mother and all hell broke loose. It was hard playing hooky from school back in the day.

There was a for real Truant Officer and the nosey ass neighbors–were “The First Neighborhood Watch.”

The next day I had to go to work with my mother to pick up her check. We took the bus back to Brown, the ride seem to last forever and the long walk from Benning Road to the school–did not make my mother a happy camper. This was no where near a win-win situation for me.

While sitting in the Principal’s office waiting for him to get through a meeting with Hobo and his father, guess who pops into the office–Mr. McPhail. He sees my mother and blurts out, “Mattie, what are you doing here and in the same breath says, is that knucklehead Harold Bell your son?”

Talking about a small world. It was his night club, The Gold Room on Bladensburg Road NE, my mother, aunts, and uncles were all hanging out on the weekends. I would no longer be a problem at Brown Jr. High. Mr. McPhail had my number!

photo enhancement by Don Baker

Party Animals Back in the Day: My mother standing in the back row in the center of the picture with pearls around her neck. My aunts, uncles, cousins and neighborhood friendS pose for a photo before heading downtown to Black Broadway/Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room. Watch out DC!

Jimmy McPhail, was not only a teacher he was a legendary blues singer who toured and recorded with jazz greats like Duke Ellington. He also appeared with icon singers like Pearl Bailey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker. In 1965, he performed in the San Francisco premiere of Duke Ellington’s first “sacred concert,” a program of original religious music. He recorded with Ellington for RCA Victor.

THE DUKE & HIS GREAT BAND

He came into his own as a singer while attending Armstrong High School, where Ellington also had studied. The quartet Mr. McPhail formed there in the 1940s performed at the Cotton Club at 16th Street and Benning Road NE.

In 1950, Mr. McPhail won a talent contest sponsored by radio station WWDC, beating out another singer who was to make a name for herself, the great Shirley Horn. First prize was a week’s engagement at the Howard Theater with Ellington, who asked McPhail to come to New York to perform. He toured and recorded with Duke Ellington.

In 1959, Mr. McPhail bought the Melody Inn, a nightclub on Bladensburg Road NE where he had been performing regularly. He then brought the club and changed the name to, Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room, featuring many of the best-known names in blues and comedy.

Mr. McPhail was a substitute at Brown and McFarland in the early years. He was big on education, while still a student, he was determined to have a separate career as an educator. He went on to graduate from Shaw University in North Carolina, received a master’s degree in education from George Washington University and he did additional graduate work in education at Miner Teachers College.

Mr. McPhail, taught music for 25 years at Elliot Junior High School while making Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room a hot spot for jazz lovers in DC.

He died a young man in 1998 at the age of 72. He played an important role in my life and thousands of young men and women not only in DC but around the World.

It is often said, “It takes a Village”, I am thankful that Jimmy McPhail was a member of my Village.

photo by photographer Fred Shepard

KIT BACK TO SCHOOL MEETING WITH ALEXANDRIA YOUTH IN FRONT OF EARL LLOYD STATURE

Alexandria City School Board recently appointed Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt as ACPS Superintendent. In a nation wide search the board appointed a familiar face with just a couple years experience in the Alexandria School system. Ms. Wyatt will face similar problems as Dr. House in Prince Georges County.

I spend several decades working with the late, Dr. George Logan-El, Lawrence Brown and Michael Johnson of The Untouchables in out of the schools in Alexandria.

I have worked closely with legendary boxer Tony Suggs at the Charles Houston Rec Center for the past couple of decades. He was among the toughest brawlers in boxing in the 1980s. He possessed a right hook so devastating, he knocked out 16 of his final 18 opponents. Tony now works closely with seniors with Parkinson desease teaching a class called Boxercise.

The youth still seek him out for spiriture advice, they know he has been there and done what they are going through.

He thinks the new Superintendent’s top priority will be trying to bring peace to the schools between the Latino Gangs and the differnt Crews of black youth.

There have been some serious after school confrotations between the groups. “Her success will depend on having people around her with good street sense and common sense.”

In closing, I sometimes wonder where and how did we lose all of our great character traits, honesty, integrity, keeping your word and being black and proud, black lives matter, without someone reminding us in a song.

I am missing the “Good Old Days” and I find it hard to imagine that today’s youth will remember, these days as their “Good Old Days”, but they will!

KUDOS: TO COUNTY EXECUTIVE ANGELA ALSOBROOKS NAMING ANTHONY BENNETT AS THE NEW INSPECTOR GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CLEANING OUT BAD COPS IN THE PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT. HOPEFULLY, HE IS IN TIME TO SAVE OFFICER MICHAEL BROWN FROM BEING AMBUSHED ON THE JOB!

NO SURPRISE: BLACK MARYLAND STATE TROOPERS FILED A 40 PAGE LAWSUIT IN U. S. DISTRICT COURT. THE LAWSUIT ALLEGES THE STATE’S LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY HAS A HISTORY OF ENGAGING IN SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ITS OFFICERS OF COLOR. THE BEAT GOES ON.