City school board will lack black presence

By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News

This month’s election highlighted the ineffectiveness of New Castle’s black vote and the frustration felt within the city’s black community.

“The blacks can’t really put a candidate in,” said Evelyn Ward, a member of the city’s NAACP chapter. “They can help sway a vote.

“The blacks feel they just don’t have a chance.”

This month’s primary election featured two blacks — Charlotte Sheffield and the Rev. Samuel G. Holmes Jr. — on the Democratic ticket for a city school board seat. Holmes captured sixth place with 1,159 votes. Sheffield finished two votes behind Holmes.

“African-Americans have historically struggled to gain and maintain the right to vote,” said Dr. Jacqueline M. Respress, a district administrator. “This right is not taken lightly in the African-American community, nor should it be in any community.”

The top five candidates on the Democratic and Republican slates advance to the November general election. Sheffield placed sixth on the GOP side. Holmes declined to cross-file as a Republican.

“For whatever reason I didn’t get the necessary votes,” Sheffield said. “To me, the candidates that were running, they campaigned strongly.

“I’m not looking to put the blame on anybody.”

NO BLACKS

When the new school board is sworn in, it will lack black representation. Sheffield’s term started in 2003. Prior to Sheffield, the board’s previous black representative was Ramona Jordan, who served from 1991 to 1995.

“A school board is bound to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to education and equal opportunity to success,” Respress said. “Issues of color should not enter into the decision-making process when it concerns the education of our children.”

If the board reflected its student population, then two to three blacks would be among its nine members. For the 2006-07 school year, the district reported an enrollment of 3,642 students including 990 (27 percent) blacks.

“I hated to see her lose because at least we had someone in there,” Ward said. “But now we have no one.”

In reviewing the city’s voting patterns, Holmes beat Sheffield in 19 of 41 districts. Sheffield topped Holmes in 18. They tied in four districts.

A number of explanations have been offered for Sheffield’s ouster. Her vote on the hiring of Terence P. Meehan as assistant to the superintendent leads the list. Respress was one of four finalists for the post, which was created after the retirement of former Assistant Superintendent Nicholas DeRosa.

In a 9-0 vote on May, 30, 2006, the board chose Meehan.

OUTRAGE

The “Charlotte vote” stirred outrage in the black community. During the board’s June 2006 regular session, a standing-room-only audience voiced its displeasure with Meehan’s hiring and Sheffield’s decision to support it.

“I believe that individuals vote their conscience,” Respress said. “It would be inappropriate for me to second guess that vote."

Respress, who was New Castle’s junior high principal at the time, received a promotion this month as principal of the junior-senior high school. She is the district’s highest-ranking black official. Respress is also the lone black among the district’s 12 administrators and principals.

“I think that had a lot to do with it,” Ward said of the “Charlotte vote.”

Sheffield’s opponent agreed.

“I’ve tried not to harp too much on what’s happened prior,” Holmes said. “I think the people can draw their own opinions.

“If I would have been involved, my main objective would have been to place the most qualified person in that position.”

AN ISSUE?

Sheffield questioned if her vote was truly an issue.

“I would give New Castle residents more credit than that,” she said. “There’s a lot of feelings that happen out in the community that everybody else hears.

“So I’m not aware of what everyone else is thinking.”

Aggressive campaigning against Sheffield may have played a role in the election outcome.

“My brother was No. 1 — the biggest campaigner against her,” Ward said. “I told him he was bitter because he went with her for 12 years. I think it was unfair the way he talked about her.”

Donald “Bubba” Taylor, a Beech Street resident, acknowledged that he worked hard to oust Sheffield.

“Most of the people I talked to, they were very upset at Charlotte and what she did ... to Jackie Respress,” he said.

Taylor then cited Sheffield’s vote that prevented the New Castle Thunder, a semi-pro football team, from playing its home games at Taggart Stadium. He was also critical of her performance as a member of the district’s athletic committee.

Taylor challenged the assertion that Sheffield represented the black community’s best interests.

“We had (no black representation) before when we had Sheffield. She puts on a good front.”

Personal issues also appeared to have spurred Taylor. He said that he and Sheffield had been previously engaged.

Sheffield would not comment on their relationship, except to say, “It is a fact we were engaged at one time.”

Ultimately, the black vote had little impact on the race. In the city’s 6th Ward, where a majority of the black population lives, Holmes outpolled Sheffield, 146-108.

TURNOUT

The ward’s three districts experienced a poor voter turnout, with 254 out of 639 registered Democrats voting.

In the May 2003 primary, Sheffield collected 1,511 votes running as a Democrat. Had she retained that number in this month’s election, she would have been the third highest vote-getter. That would have allowed her to advance to the general election and knock current board President Fred Mozzocio to sixth.

“I was the one who talked Charlotte into running the first time,” Ward said. “I was disappointed that she lost. “When she came in the first time, the blacks didn’t put her in.”

Ward said Sheffield’s loss didn’t come as a surprise.

“It’s really not a shock to me. I’ve been in elections since back to the ’50s, and New Castle is one of the most prejudiced places in Pennsylvania.

“I see it getting worse. To me this is the worst right now.”

Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.