The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
National Council of Negro Women hears from CEO
Education starts in the family when parents and grandparents teach young people to do right, said the leader of Lorain City Schools.
Lorain school Chief Executive Officer David Hardy Jr. was the keynote speaker when the Lorain County Section of the National Council of Negro Women Inc. gathered Sept. 30 to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The organization was founded in New York in December 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune. It has not wavered in its commitment to provide a forum and resources for African-American women to address the issues facing them and their families, according to the Council’s history compiled from various sources.
To mark 30 years in Lorain County, the women paid tribute to African-American male educators at local schools.
Hardy is one of the county’s newest leaders in education. He was appointed CEO on July 24 and was tasked with lifting Lorain schools from academic distress.
Due to a schedule conflict, Hardy could not attend, so he spoke to the group by a prerecorded
video message. He received a standing ovation in absentia.
Hardy discussed his experience learning from his own grandfather, who had eight daughters, and became one of the first teachers of his grandson. Hardy described waiting for his grandfather to finish his shift in the steel mill to provide for his family.
Even when he was beset by health problems, his grandfather showed the family how to stretch a dollar, duct tape and Thanksgiving leftovers, Hardy said.
“But I also learned about what it meant to be a man and the responsibility it carries,
and the unfortunate reality that my skin color shapes, for most men who are similar to me, and the challenges we face every single day,” Hardy said.
“He made sure that his saying, be good at what you do when you’re doing what you do good, became not only the words that I never forget, but a driving force for me as a leader who will not rest until the statistics that separate people of color from those of privilege, are eradicated, and the potential of our young people is not funneled to our jail cells, but to our college campuses,” Hardy said.
Hardy emphasized three points to the group.
There is a young person looking to the women and men, he said.
“Make sure they look no further,” Hardy said. “The greatest that we have is the ability to help others.”
The members also should live for their families and love for their future, Hardy said.
Criticizing social media, Hardy said people carry the world in their pockets.
“What if just for one hour a day, we just put the world out of our hands and sat around the table, turned off the phone and turned to each other?” Hardy said. “All the news you need is right there in those you call family.”
The community leaders should do good when people look for them to do otherwise, and the next time, do better, Hardy said.
The Council members praised the efforts of the educators attending, many of who took turns at the podium to express thanks to their earliest teachers. The honorees included: • Harold Donovan Belizaire, counselor at Lorain’s Southview Middle School
• Jerome M. Davis, superintendent of Clearview Local Schools
• Glenn L. Faircloth Jr., superintendent of the Lorain County Joint Vocational School District
• Michael R. Scott, principal for Oberlin’s Langston Middle School
• David Hall, superintendent of Oberlin schools
• Edmund Anthony Hall, teacher and coach for Lorain High School
• Renus Henry, dean of students and home liaison for Elyria schools
• Kelvin Jackson, English teacher at Lorain High School
• Samuel Newsome Jr., business education teacher and secondary school administrator for Lorain schools
• Jay Nimene, director of student and family outreach at Lorain schools
• Kurt Russell, history teacher in Oberlin schools
• Larry Thomas, assistant principal of Oberlin High School
• Clovis White, associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Oberlin College
• Paul M. Williams, principal of New Beginnings Academy in Lorain schools
• Kwaku Obusu-Mensah, professor of sociology who works with international students at Lorain County Community College
• William Baylis, principal of Oberlin High School
• Marty Eggleston, basketball coach, instructor and manager of LCCC’s Positive Re-entry for Ohio Prisoners, or PROP, program