Latest news with #MelissaRobinson
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Nothing happened': No green light given on Troost name change
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Discussion took place again Monday on changing Troost Avenue to Truth Avenue, but not much took place during the Special Committee for Legal Review meeting. Monday, this item was the only for review within City Hall in KCMO, during that specific session. KCK man convicted for high-speed chase in Leavenworth County 'This was a day of denial, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to fight,' Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said. 'I think about the descendants of slaves, and I think about young people who live along Troost, and I think about them writing that name everyday as their address and I have a problem with that.' During the public testimony of the session, many shared their thoughts and feelings on the matter. Some described their opposition to it, in its entirety, the process so far, and/or offered up their own name suggestions for the avenue. 'I am 100% against the renaming of Troost to Truth. Renaming Troost is a superficial way to addressing racial inequality,' one man shared during public comment Monday. Out of the dozen-plus members of the public that spoke Monday, most were in favor of the name change. Chris Goode, a business owner of a Ruby Jean's, a juicery on Troost Avenue, is one of them. 'My granddaddy couldn't have purchased the real estate that I own. My body would have not have been my own. My ancestors were whipped and spit on and forced to pick fruit trees on that land,' Goode shared. His shop on Troost Avenue reads '3000 Truth' already. 'I've already moved on, and that was a very nominal cost for me,' he said. 'It's exhausting. What will it take? What will it take for us to be seen as equal? What will it take?' Mayor Quinton Lucas shared some thoughts with FOX4 Monday on this ordinance as well. 'I think my focus is going to be what the people of Kansas City sent me here to do. What they sent me here to do was make sure the busses are better on Troost, are businesses are safer on Troost. That we are building more economic development on Troost and East of Troost. My priority is always going to be how do I build a better quality of life,' Lucas said. The Committee, Monday, voted this ordinance to be 'held off docket' and wasn't given any green light to progress. Conversation surrounding it could come back up in the future. According to the Legislation Text of Ordinance No. 250202, the name change of Troost to Truth would have been effective within six months after the ordinance passed, and $50,000 would have come from the General Fund to change street markers along the avenue. Groundbreaking held for Cultural Heritage Trail at Brush Creek The text also reads, Troost Avenue was named after Benoist Troost, a Kansas City physician, and known slave owner. Robinson said, signage from Troost Avenue would live in museums, and not be erased completely, if this ordinance were to pass. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
School officials investigating complaints about Fitch cheerleading coaches
Groton — A group of students and families have criticized the Robert E. Fitch High School cheerleading coaches, saying they body-shamed their athletes, showed favoritism and pushed them too hard. A petition, with 474 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon, calls for a change of leadership in the program that last month won top honors at the Eastern Connecticut Conference cheerleading tournament. Our focus is on the toxic and mentally damaging environment cultivated under the head coach's tenure," the petition states. "The favoritism, inconsistencies in the way certain athletes are treated and the physical and mental demand that is put on these student athletes isn't what cheer is supposed to be about. We are asking for systemic change that prioritizes the mental wellbeing and safety of our children over anything else." Superintendent of Schools Susan Austin said school officials are carefully and thoroughly investigating the complaints against cheerleading head coach Melissa Robinson, who was recently named ECC coach of the year, and assistant coach Amara Robinson. Austin said it's a personnel matter, and the investigation will include the district's Title IX coordinator after students raised concerns about comments that made them conscious of their body image. Austin also said Snapchats of cheerleaders allegedly bullying each other had been under investigation and there were consequences from that. The mother and daughter coaching team responded to the accusations by phone Tuesday. "In my very long, tenured career at Fitch I have always put my student athletes' best interest first, and I am very disappointed in these outrageous accusations," said Melissa Robinson. Students said Amara Robinson does not have a coaching certification, according to an online state database. Austin, however, said she does have certification. The Day has filed a Freedom of Information request for the coaches' credentials, complaints against them and any disciplinary actions. Amara Robinson said by phone Tuesday she has been volunteer coaching the group of cheerleaders since she was about 14 years old, and no one has ever brought anything to her attention until now. She said parents now making allegations have privately told her how proud they were and how grateful they were to her for being a part of their child's life and choosing to volunteer her time for so long. Lylah Mathews, a Fitch High School sophomore who resigned from the team, said that when the team was working out intensely during a day with temperatures in the 80s, a cheerleader vomited and said she felt like she was going to pass out, but she said Melissa Robinson made her continue running the mile. Mathews said that when she returned after dislocating her elbow, the coaches made her do all the conditioning with her teammates. Mathews said that when she was doing exercises that put her body weight onto her elbow, she was slower than everybody else. Mathews said Melissa Robinson said in front of the team that it was disappointing how her progress had declined after winning the coach's award the year before and said a freshman had taken her place. Some students said they felt confused by the fallout from a private group chat among junior varsity cheer teammates, and later two varsity members. They said the tone of the chat changed when two seniors joined, and the chat later came to the coach's attention. Three teammates were banned from a game after the group chat incident, and Matthews said she had been encouraged to turn against her teammates. Mathews said a greater emphasis is placed on winning and earning trophies than on girls' mental health, and she has seen teammates leave the team. Elizabeth Gomez, a sophomore who has been cheerleading since she was 4 years old, has since left the team. Her mother, Kristen Rossi-Gomez, who served as an assistant coach, said she was fired in December by Melissa Robinson after being told the program was going in a different direction. Elizabeth Gomez said she was told not to go to a game and later learned the group chat had been shared but she was confused about what she did. Gomez said she was "always broken down and compared to the faster girls on the team." One day when the team was conditioning, Gomez said, she was told the program might not be the best fit for her if she couldn't keep up because of her weight. She said she went home and cried, but didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to lose the sport she loved. "I stand fully with the kids in whatever they need, said Rossi-Gomez. After complaints were made to school officials in December, Rossi-Gomez said she felt Monday's Board of Education meeting, where members listened to the cheerleaders, was the first time they were heard. Maliyah Kievits Centeno, a sophomore who was on the junior varsity team and whose mother started the petition, said she noticed favoritism on the team and didn't feel her concerns about bullying were being heard, because Melissa Robinson said she didn't have proof. She said when the group chat turned into people venting, she expressed her feelings about another cheerleader being favored. Kievits Centeno said Melissa Robinson told her to not attend a basketball game, but Kievits Centeno wasn't sure why. Kievits Centeno later was told it was because of the group chat, but Kievits Centeno said she asked for screenshots. She said she didn't understand why she was being disciplined so much when she had previously raised concerns about bullying and was only expressing her feelings in a private chat. She was then told she was removed from the team and broke down crying. She said other girls are afraid to speak out of fear of repercussions. She said she's passionate about telling her story not only so her own voice is heard but so everyone else's voice is heard too. She added not only did the sport get ripped away from her, but it's also been ripped away from so many other girls. She said it's heartbreaking that all these girls with all this talent can't do the sport they love anymore. Alani Farris, a former Fitch High School cheerleader, said she had to relearn how to use her right arm after an injury that left a big scar on her elbow, which she will never be able to straighten the way it used to. But she said her biggest problem was believing she was good enough, as she always felt she was being torn down by the coaches and not encouraged or even respected as a person. Farris, who graduated from Fitch High School last year, said she had to relearn how to love herself mentally and is now an all-star cheerleader. The Board of Education has asked for an interim report from Austin by the end of the week.
CBC
27-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
'It's a heavy day,' says Morgan Harris's cousin after possible human remains found at landfill
Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, recalled Thursday the fight to get police and politicians to move forward with a search for the remains of her cousin and another First Nations woman. 'To hell with all you guys, 'cause it got done,' she said, adding that families will keep pushing forward.
