Board opts not to support NAACP

No, thank you, to banquet tickets

Lorain City Schools board members opted not to become table sponsors for Lorain’s 58th annual NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet.

Board of education member Yvonne Johnson found no support Sept. 10 when she proposed the board buy tickets and sponsor a table. The event is Sept. 15. The board has supported other community endeavors, Johnson said.

The keynote speaker is Ohio state education board member and former teacher Meryl Johnson.

It would be wonderful for Lorain School Board members to be there to greet her, Yvonne Johnson said.

Board member Tim Williams said he could not attend due to a previous commitment with his family.

But the Lorain School Board and Lorain NAACP President E. Jean Wrice apparently have not cleared the air of past tension.

Williams said the situation was challenging because Wrice wanted school board support, but in the past, called board President Tony Dimacchia a racist and called for the board members to resign.

“Everybody’s heard the statements that she’s made publicly about this body, and personally,” Williams said.

“And I say that sometimes you need to let that stuff go and stop looking behind you and look ahead of you and know that you’re not supporting Jean Wrice, that you’re supporting the NAACP,” Johnson said. “Because if I did that, there would be a lot of people that I would not support. But I don’t look at people and judge them through their personality.”

“I’m listening to the statements from her mouth,” Williams said.

“And she has said some harsh things, but that’s Jean Wrice, but that is not the NAACP,” Johnson said. “So, I let that go and I put that behind me and ... and I still say I’m still proud of the NAACP and will continue to be so.”

Johnson said she is a lifetime member of the organization.

In Lorain, many people disagree about issues, but are united in their love of the city, Johnson said.

Even when people disagree, they can be friends when they see each other, she said.

“And what I’m stating is, I’ve supported the NAACP,” Williams said.

But speaking to the school board, Wrice identified herself by her position

with the organization, not as a private citizen, Williams said.

Wrice has attended recent school board meetings, but missed Sept. 10 because the day was between the NAACP state conference over the weekend, and preparing for the upcoming banquet.

She denied calling Dimacchia a racist, but said the board does not like it when she says they are not doing their jobs to improve education.

“You need to tell them, be careful what they say,” she said afterward. “If they want to start a big fight and cause a division and put down the NAACP, then they’re going to have a problem.

“This is not the time to play games or try to divide. We’ve got enough division as it is.”

The school board members need to remember they have sat on the board, some for years, and things have gotten worse in Lorain Schools, Wrice said.

“And they’re angry because we tell the truth about them,” she said.

Wrice noted Lorain Schools CEO David Hardy Jr. has joined the organization, but school board members Williams, Dimacchia, Mark Ballard and Bill Sturgill have not joined.

The school board members discussed other issues and returned to the question of the NAACP banquet.

Johnson made a formal motion for the board to consider the sponsorship, but Williams, Dimacchia, Ballard and Sturgill were silent.

Because the banquet is Sept. 15, the event will be over by the time the board could put the sponsorship on the agenda for its next regular meeting Sept. 17, so the issue was timely, Johnson said.

“I just wanted to make that perfectly clear,” she said.