Sandusky NAACP Unit 3199

10/03/2026

There is absolutely NOTHING like the HBCU experience, especially the halftime performances! 💪🏾 Shout out to my HBCU alums and all students currently attending these institutions!

09/29/2026

Parents of children enrolled or soon-to-be enrolled in the Sandusky Early Learning Academy should attend the Community Forum at 5 pm on Thursday, Oct. 1, to hear what the school has to offer and how SCS can partner with them to help expand academic and enrichment opportunities for their babies!

09/28/2026

Gone but Never Forgotten: Families walk in memory of Sandusky homicide victims

Families and friends gathered at the corner of Neil and Hancock streets before Sunday’s memorial walk. They carried photographs, roses and a banner bearing 31 names.
“Right here,” Brinaldo Buford said, indicating the corner of Neil and Hancock streets where Sunday’s walk began.
“Six years earlier, on Sept. 27, 2020, his son, Deon “Darkk” Hardin, was shot while sitting in a car at that intersection, Buford said.
On the anniversary of his son’s death, Buford organized the Forever Our Children Memorial Walk, bringing other grieving families to the place where his own loss began. Contemporary reports confirm that a man was shot in a car at Neil and Hancock that morning and later died.
More than 60 relatives, friends and neighbors gathered at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, to remember 31 people whose names appeared on a memorial banner. Carrying portraits and flowers, they walked from Neil Street to Columbus Avenue and north to Columbus Park. A police cruiser stopped traffic at intersections so the group could cross.
For Buford, the walk was also a chance to speak about the life his son was building. Hardin rapped and produced music, worked with a local producer and spent time in the studio toward completing a rap album, his father said. Buford recalled one of his son’s album release parties, which began downtown and continued at Cheap Seats.
The names on the most prominent banner reached across generations of Sandusky families. Among them were Vivian Johnson, killed in 1994; Trinidy Jones, a young mother killed in 2022 with her children nearby; and Markier Castile, 24, killed this summer. The photographs carried Sunday showed the people behind those names as sons, daughters, parents, cousins and friends.
The son of Bill Hill and Jeannine Cobbs, De’Yon Jordan Hill, was only 21 years old when his life was taken by gun violence in Sandusky on December 14, 2019.
Bill Hill said the pain of honoring his son’s memory by participating in the memorial march was almost too much to bear. However, he said, “I had to be here. This had to be done.”
Lisa Jones, Trinidy’s mother, spoke to the gathered families about grief. Trinidy was found dead in her home on Jan. 5, 2022, with her two young children still inside the home.
“There’s not a right way to grieve. There’s only your way,” Lisa Jones told the crowd. “What you are feeling right now in this very moment is valid. It’s real, and it’s okay.”
She urged others not to feel they had to conceal their pain for the sake of those around them. “You don’t have to be strong for everyone else,” she said. “You don’t have to pretend you’re fine when you’re not.”
Jamie Knueve, 30, a 2014 Sandusky High School graduate who knew many of those being remembered, said too many young men turn to violence to resolve conflicts. He believes some lack guidance and take their cues about manhood from negative or violent behavior among some parents, relatives or friends, while other emulate portrayals in media and music. “They push their own agenda,” he said of the media. “And we follow suit.”
Knueve has two children of his own. He wants to offer them a brighter path.
The walk gave families with losses decades apart a place to stand together. On the banner they carried were four words: “Remember. Honor. Heal. Unite.” Its closing message spoke for the gathering: “Gone from our arms. Never from our hearts.”
To conclude the event, Courtney Reyna read scripture and offered prayer, words of hope for grieving families, and she encouraged those in attendance to offer their loved ones and others experiencing anguish and pain to lean on God and each other for strength.

09/22/2026

📊As the Sandusky NAACP Education Chair and a mathematics teacher, I like numbers. More importantly, I believe numbers should lead us to the right questions.

There has been a lot of discussion about the newly released 2025–2026 Sandusky City Schools Report Card. The district received an overall rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars, which means the district “needs support to meet state standards.”

But I want to dig deeper than the headline.

One number immediately jumped out at me:

🚨 33.6% CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM

Sandusky City Schools reported enrollment of 2,969 students. A 33.6% chronic absenteeism rate represents roughly 998 students—about 1 out of every 3 students.

Ohio defines chronic absenteeism as missing At LEAST 10% of required instructional time, and the state's 2025–26 chronic-absence goal was 14.5%.

And the numbers become even more important when we look at individual student groups:

Black students: 37.0%

Students with disabilities: 40.1%

Multiracial students: 34.6%

Economically disadvantaged students: 33.6%

White students: 29.3%

How much of Sandusky's academic performance is associated with the fact that approximately one-third of its students are chronically absent?

I’m going to dig into the available data and see what we can responsibly determine about the academic performance of students with stronger attendance compared with students experiencing chronic absenteeism.

One important caveat: we cannot simply remove chronically absent students from the existing report card and recalculate an official Ohio star rating. Ohio's rating incorporates multiple components and accountability rules. But we can analyze available attendance and achievement data to better understand the relationship.

And I want to pose a hypothetical question to the Sandusky community:

WHO ARE THESE ~1,000 STUDENTS?

Are they our children?

Our siblings?

Our nieces and nephews?

Our cousins?

Our neighbors?

Our friends' children?

What is keeping them from school?

Transportation? Health? School climate? Family circumstances? Disengagement? Discipline? Mental-health challenges? Lack of accountability? Something happening inside the schools? Something happening outside of them?

Those are questions worth asking—not to shame families or students, but because we cannot solve a problem until we understand its root causes.

If anyone wants to respectfully share their family's experience with chronic absenteeism in the comments, I genuinely want to hear it.

📊 Give me a little time to crunch the numbers. I'll be back with the data.

Let's follow the evidence wherever it leads.

— Jason Prophet

Sandusky NAACP Education Chair

Mathematics Educator

Explore the Ohio School Report Cards

Ohio School Report Cards https://share.google/YEaECWHYBQuDEHmAd

09/21/2026

Remember this man and his transformation. The Story of Maurice Clarett.

Maurice Clarett won a national championship at 19 years old.

He could barely read.

He said it out loud this week, on The Pivot.

"I couldn't read real well, comprehend, do anything prior to playing football."

Start with what he did on the field, because it is easy to forget how good he was.

In 2002, as a true freshman at Ohio State, Clarett ran for 1,237 yards, which was a school record at the time, and scored 18 touchdowns.

The Buckeyes went 14-0.

And in the Fiesta Bowl against Miami, in double overtime, for the national championship, Maurice Clarett scored the winning touchdown on a five yard run.

He was the first freshman to lead a national championship team in rushing since Ahman Green in 1995.

Nineteen years old. On top of the entire sport.

And he has said he was already fighting depression and alcoholism by then.

What happened next is one of the fastest collapses in the history of college football.

He was suspended in 2003. He sued the NFL over the rule that kept players out of the draft for three years after high school, won at the district level, and lost on appeal to a panel that included a judge named Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court declined to hear it.

He could not play in the NFL. And because he had already signed with an agent, the NCAA would not let him back into college either.

He was 21 and there was nowhere to play football.

Denver drafted him 101st overall in 2005 anyway, then cut him in August before he played a single down.

Then it got much worse.

In January 2006 he was accused of armed robbery over a cell phone worth $150.

In August 2006 police chased him down in Columbus and found a loaded AK-47 variant, two loaded handguns, swords and an open bottle of vodka in his car. He was wearing a Kevlar vest that stopped a Taser from working.

On September 18, 2006, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven and a half years.

Here is how he described sitting with that number.

"I'm never going to be able to play football again. I'm thinking, I got seven and a half years. I'm 22. I'll be 30."

So he did the thing he had never done.

He learned to read.

Really read. Comprehension, vocabulary, the whole thing, at 22 years old, in a cell at Toledo Correctional Institution. He worked through books on psychology and finance and started a distance learning program through Ohio University.

He started a blog from prison. The line he used on it was this:

"Understand my struggle so you can respect my hustle."

He was granted early release on April 7, 2010, after about three and a half years.

Now look at what he built with it.

In 2016 he founded The Red Zone, a behavioral health agency in Youngstown, Ohio. Mental health services, addiction recovery, social work inside schools. He did not start a foundation with his name on a check. He started an agency that employs people and treats people.

A 2018 report found that of 283 students served by The Red Zone, the average GPA went up 16.5%.

In 2019 UConn brought him in as a consultant for their men's basketball program, and he mentored those players through back to back national championships.

And in the 2024-25 season, Ohio State brought him back as a part-time mentor. They won the national championship.

So Maurice Clarett has now been inside the building for national titles at two different schools, twenty years apart, in two different sports, as the man they bring in to talk to the players.

Ryan Day on why he is there: his players benefit from "his honesty, leadership and care."

Jim Tressel, who coached him in 2002, said his journey "exemplifies resilience, growth and serving others."

This month, before Ohio State's season opener, the program had Maurice Clarett ring the Victory Bell at Ohio Stadium.

The same building. Twenty-four years later.

He is not a cautionary tale and he does not present himself as one. He talks about the depression and the drinking openly, because he runs an agency that treats both and he knows the work never actually ends.

But understand what the man actually did.

He won the biggest game in college football at 19 without being able to read the playbook properly.

And then at 22, with seven and a half years in front of him, he sat down and taught himself.

For more stories like this, follow us on any platform The Sports on Tap

09/19/2026

Yet another powerful summit, the third in a four-part series on voter registration, education, and community mobilization, sponsored by the NAACP Sandusky Unit 3199-B.
Members of our executive committee pictured here with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of the 9th Congressional District of the U.S. House of Representatives. She accepted our invitation, which also went to opponent Derek Merrin.
We’d like to personally thank Congresswoman Kaptur, as well as all three candidates for the 89th District for the Ohio House of Representatives, which include Easton Retzke, Caleb Stidham and Steve Kraus. Thanks to all of them as well.
And last, but certainly not least on our list to receive kudos, is Daija Kidd, a 2017 graduate of Sandusky High School and a 2022 graduate of the Ohio State University. Ms. Kidd accepted our invitation and joined us to help educate our audience about how to follow legislation, how it passes, and holding your legislators accountable for their votes.
Stay tuned for the fourth and final Super Summit coming next month to a location near you, and brought to you once again by the NAACP Sandusky Unit 3199-B, in partnership with the United Way of Erie County and the Coalition of Allies.

09/10/2026

SCS Hosts Community Forum to Reiterate the Importance of Levy

A Special Report by the NAACP Sandusky Unit 3199-B

Thursday, September 10, 2026

SANDUSKY — Sandusky City Schools leaders, past and present, told residents Thursday that the district needs new local money to avoid deeper cuts to staff and student programs.
The district is asking voters to approve a 4.9-mill operating levy on Nov. 3. It would raise about $3.4 million a year. The district estimates the cost at about $14.06 a month for the owner of a $100,000 home. Some homeowners may pay less because of tax credits or exemptions.
Superintendent and CEO Dr. Luther E. Johnson Jr. said the district has stretched its money for years and has not asked voters for new operating funds in 14 years. But he also said current revenue is no longer enough to maintain the same services.
“It’s not about us; it’s about our students and the future of Sandusky,” Johnson said.
Costs are now higher than income, said Yvonne Anderson, treasurer of Sandusky City Schools. The district also is spending more than it receives and is using its savings to cover the difference.
Anderson compared the problem to a family whose bills are larger than its paycheck. “That’s where we are at right now,” she added.
SCS reports indicate the district reduced staffing costs by about $1.9 million during fiscal year 2026 through job cuts, restructuring and leaving some open positions unfilled. Earlier news coverage described 27 eliminated positions as part of a $1.6 million reduction plan. The later $1.9 million figure includes a broader group of staffing changes.
One of the most debated cuts was the K-6 Athletics, Activities and Success Coordinator position. Parents and former students said the employee helped organize activities and build relationships with children and families. The board eliminated the job on a 4-1 vote, with Board Vice President Ebony Sizemore dissenting.
District leaders said student activities and other major services would continue. Taxpayers, however, still deserve clear answers.
The district has made real cuts, but voters also deserve a simple account of other spending. School budgets can include consultants, the temporary hiring of outside companies, extra-duty jobs, commonly referred to as “supplementals,” and the hiring of temporary administrators, who often are retirees.
Some of these costs may be needed or paid with money that can be used only for a certain purpose. Others may be optional. For every job or program cut, the board should explain how much was saved, why that item was chosen and whether similar work will later be given to an outside company or another paid position. That does not mean later spending is improper. It simply means taxpayers should be able to see whether a new arrangement truly saves money.
The public board records reviewed for this report did not provide enough clear information to prove claims that an outside company replaced the elementary activities coordinator or that a new strength-training job canceled out earlier savings.
Those questions should be answered with the contract amount, job duties and source of funding before firm conclusions are drawn.
Board Vice President Ebony Sizemore, a Sandusky graduate and the parent of a current student, said families feel the same higher costs the district faces. She said students still need teachers, activities and help at school.
“They still need teachers. They need activities, and they need the support of school,” Sizemore said.
Former superintendent Dr. Eugene T.W. Sanders, who led the effort that resulted in three new elementary schools, including the Sandusky Early Learning Academy, Sandusky Primary School and Sandusky Intermediate School, also urged residents to consider what students could lose if the levy is voted down.
“It’s important to support our children and to support the faculty and staff of this district,” Sanders said.
Sandusky currently offers programs that many districts cannot.
Sandusky students can choose from career-technical programs, college classes, visual and performing arts, athletics and many clubs.
The welding program gives students access to modern equipment, college credit and possible apprenticeship opportunities.
A district-record 14 graduating seniors of the Class of 2026 earned associate degrees while completing high school. District information indicates that was more than any other school system in Erie County and nearby Huron, Ottawa and Sandusky counties. A full regional list was not available in the public records reviewed, so that comparison should continue to be credited to the district.
These programs make Sandusky different. They also cost money to staff, operate and maintain. Levy money would help keep current programs, but passage would not end the need for careful spending and public reporting.
Academic results also cannot be overlooked. The district faces a serious academic challenge.
Sandusky has remained below Ohio’s three-star standard for overall performance. On the 2023-24 state report card, it earned 2.5 stars. Recent testing data also show that far too many students are not reading or doing math at grade level, although the district’s graduation rate and career and college pathways are stronger areas.
Some lists place Sandusky near the bottom of Ohio districts, including a widely repeated ranking of 598th out of 611. That is not an official ranking issued by the state. Ohio publishes star ratings and performance data, while outside groups turn selected numbers into rankings.
The state also changed the report-card formula during the past four years, making a simple year-to-year ranking less reliable. The basic point remains: Sandusky must improve student learning. If the levy passes, the board should tell the public what academic gains it expects, when those gains should occur, and how progress will be reported.
The decision before voters:
A “yes” vote would provide about $3.4 million in new yearly operating money to help maintain staff, transportation, technology, arts, athletics, career-tech and other student services. A “no” vote would reject the new tax and likely force the board to consider more cuts, although the district has not released a final list of what would be reduced.
Voters are being asked to weigh two facts at once. Many families are struggling with higher bills and may not welcome another property tax. At the same time, the district has a growing gap between what it receives and what it spends.
Sandusky has valuable programs worth protecting, serious academic weaknesses that require improvement and a duty to show taxpayers exactly how new money would be used.

09/05/2026