YOUNG CRIMINALS’ STORIES CALLED PEER PRESSURE ON STEROIDS’

Posted by Admin on Jul 4th, 2009 | no comments

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Community leaders gathered Tuesday on the spot where a 13-year-old boy was shot walking home from a high school football game last month. They met to unveil a new book aimed at stopping such violence. “If These Chains Could Talk” is written by young people in trouble with the law, collected and published by Duval County school board member Betty Burney.”As I’m writing to you this letter, I am looking out the window and I see freedom,” Jimmy C. wrote in the book. “I am on the 6th floor of the Duval County Jail. I am 17 years old, charged as an adult for first-degree murder.” The editor said the book is unique in that the authors are all young and all admitted to committing serious crimes — many involving guns and violence.

“They have what I call peer pressure on steroids,” Burney said. Joseph Wise, Duval County superintendent of schools, and other school leaders believe so much in the power of these words, they want to put a copy in the hands of thousands of middle-school students.” (It’s) powerful because it’s a Jacksonville school board member, Jacksonville students — many who are still in the juvenile justice system — and Jacksonville students learning from those who’ve chosen some things with very bad consequences,” Wise said.

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GILBERT ALUMNI HONORED AT GRAND REUNION

Posted by Admin on Jul 3rd, 2009 | no comments

Article written by the Florida Star

This year’s Matthew W. Gilbert Grand Reunion was again an outstandingly fabulous affair. Held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the Grand Reunion is more like a family reunion than a school reunion. This was the 11th Annual Event. Chairpersons Curtis Roberts and Mrs. Patricia Butler Dobson did a tremendous job! The OLE GILBERT SPIRIT was resounding!!

Presiding at the 11th Grand Reunion was The Honorable Larry B. Seabrook. The Honorable Seabrook, along with being the brother of Duval County School Board immediate past chairperson Mrs. Betty Seabrook Burney, was the 1st black to represent the Bronx 82nd District and is the only black to have served in three areas of government as New York State Assemblyman, New York State Senate and currently New York City Councilman. Councilman Seabrook organized the recent Jacket/Ring and Recognition Luncheon, honoring the accomplishments of the 1958 Matthew W. Gilbert Statewide Championship Football Team and Coaches.

Each year, the first weekend of the New Year, the Matthew W. Gilbert Grand Reunion brings together its principals, teachers, staff, and students who were there from 1952-1970. It is a marvelous event. The members of the class of 1959, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of their high school graduation, each wore corded tassels in their school’s colors. The 2009 Legend Honorees were: Mesdames Deborah Mosley orman and Eddie Lois Farmer Pugh. The 2009 Humanitarian Award Honorees were Mrs. Almetya Johnson Lodi and Coach athaniel Washington!

We await the12th Grand Reunion that begins on the first Saturday January 2010. We will see you then!

STRAIGHT-TALK BOOK HAVING AN IMPACT

Posted by Admin on Jul 2nd, 2009 | no comments

Originally published Wednesday, December 20, 2006 in the Florida Times Union Newspaper – Jacksonville.com by Tonya Weathersbee, tonya.weathersbee@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4251

Before Betty Burney (far left in pic below) became a politician, she was an activist.  And it’s refreshing to see that her two years on the Duval County School Board haven’t changed that.  ”I think that if you have a passion, and if you can articulate that passion to the rest of the board, you can get things done,” Burney told me. ”All you have to do is keep kids in the front of your mind.”

No doubt Burney has been doing that. Much of Jacksonville – and even some of the country -  got news of the extent of her activism recently, after Outback Steakhouse on Jacksonville Beach hosted a reception for her to raise money so she can publish more copies of her book, If These Chains Could Talk. Burney wrote the soft-cover book about a year ago, which chronicles how juvenile inmates at the Duval County jail began their descent into crime. Burney’s book is a far cry from being a glamorization of the thug life, because the juveniles tarnish the allure of crime by talking about the bleakness of life behind bars. They also tell other juveniles what they should do to avoid a life of incarceration. ”What the kids [in the book] are saying to other kids is stay in school, listen to your teachers and avoid the things that they did,” Burney said. ”Many times, when they hear it [advice] from another kid, they listen more.”

More kids may get to check out Burney’s book. Duval School’s Superintendent Joseph Wise wants to make it a part of the curriculum for eighth- and ninth-graders. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office recently donated $25,000 confiscated from drug arrests to provide books for the schools. ”The response has been tremendous,” Burney said. ”Teachers, parents, a lot of folks have been calling.  I even got a call from a dean at a middle school in New York City who wants to purchase books for her entire school. She said: ‘I saw myself in a lot of what the kids were saying. … I’ve been a good teacher and I’ve been a bad one. This book is a reminder for me.’

To read the complete article on this outstanding book, please visit Straight Talk >