Brandon Towns and D.I.E. in Mentor Public Schools

By Contributing Writer on October 16, 2022

October 16, 2022

By Brian Massie, citizen journalist

How committed are the Mentor Public Schools to the Diversity, Inclusion and Equity agenda?

A citizen’s public records request provides us with the answer to that question.

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Here are the DEI Committee Members for the larger group from the 2021-22 School Year:

Tricia Zeedrich – Parent Mentor & Family Engagement Coordinator

Barb Bonnes – Director of Curriculum

Jason Crowe – MHS Principal

Bill Porter – Superintendent

Tim Hamman – Assistant Superintendent

Larry Luciano – Curriculum Supervisor

Sianez Johnson – Unit 10 principal / MHS

Aaron Humphries – Teacher at Shore MS

Eric Lengacher – Math teacher

Mike Nwankwo – (Pastor Mike) and wife Toni Nwankwo

Brandon Towns – Parent and Asst. Principal / Cleveland Heights HS

Robert Pruitt and his wife – Parents==They live in Univ Hts, friends of BT

Jacqueline Sturm – now at Euclid

Jasmine Venson – now at Shaker Heights / Asst. Elem. principal

We have not scheduled a meeting for this school year with this larger group yet. We scheduled another internal DEI committee meeting for October 28th to discuss a mission and vision for the group and to develop action steps for this school year based on the data that we have started to gather. We will have those discussions with the Board here soon.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Thanks,

Craig

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Here are copies of emails between Brandon Towns, Craig Heath (Mentor’s new Superintendent), and William Porter (Mentor’s former Superintendent) regarding Mentor’s Diversity, Inclusion and Equity program. It is safe to say that Mentor Public Schools are “all in” with the D.I.E. program.

Mentor DIE emails Download

The following emails deal with a little known student group entitled “Beauty of Diversity” or “Black Student Union”. We will continue to ask for information on this group so that everyone will better understand what is transpiring in the Mentor Schools.

Beauty of Diversity Download

And finally, here is a recap of Mr. Brandon Towns speaking to the Mentor School Board on several occasion in 2022.

Mr. Brandon Towns speaks to the Mentor School Board.