There was a good turnout of citizens last night, with lots of comments during our precious public participation time. Lee Beaton, the new superintendent was there and the Board members were on their best behavior. A wide range of community concerns were discussed (well, citizens spoke but the Board didn't discuss, following their "the less said the better" rule...!)
One parent spoke passionately about the dangerous situation on middle school buses, and described how a high schooler had smashed her son's head into a bus window, shattering the glass. The penalty for misbehavior should be increased, the speaker said, with more cameras and bus monitors added. In Sept. there were 54 incidents on middle school buses, but the parent wondered how many incidents were not reported. Remember, students become the school's responsibility the minute they enter the bus. The transportation director agreed to look into the situation.
Parent Deborah Wells spoke, asking the Board to create a Citizens' Advisory Committee to be part of the district's decision making process. We'll see...A Har-Mer parent asked about renovations and a MS parent questioned the District's plan to begin the conversion to Core Knowledge. A senior citizen on a fixed income spoke out against taxes and against foreign languages in schools, saying that we need to stick to the 3 rs, since students today can't even fill out a job application (now where have I heard that before?? Something about Adams manufacturing and a presentation complete with overheads...)
One well prepared citizen spoke quite knowledgeably about the private contract negotiations. First he took a swing at the teacher's association. And no wonder Board members were talking about resigning, he continued, given the lack of community support they got in the recent public meetings. Then, filled with dates, facts and figures, he told us exactly how many issues had been settled and exactly how much money had offered. Quite interesting, since this isn't public information. Now who would be talking?
The wise men don't know how it feels to be as thick as a brick......
This speaker also had something to say about me and my homepage. He took issue with me correcting the record at the HarMer meeting concerning how Board members can be removed from office. The energy I spent raising how to impeach the Board would have been better spent helping the Board, he said. Help the Board? Seems to me that any attorney hired by the the Board should have recognized that there is a process for removing ANY elected official from office. A democracy, you know. But then again, maybe having an attorney who didn't speak directly to this issue is a good thing for a school board beseiged by angry cries for their removal. I appreciate the constructive criticism, though. Let's see. What could someone like me do to help this Board?!!.
Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth...
In the why don't you ever report the good news category...The issue was raised by the same knowledgeable speaker regarding my seemingly biased coverage of the board. Not enough good news. Take for example, he continued, "the algebra textbook presented by the past curriculum director.Upon research by one or more Board members"...(it was ranked poorly by the) "American Association for the Advancement of Science. Therefore, the Board opposed their order and reverted to the old books at a savings of $100,000." (Gee, who ya been talking to? Bill Adams?)
Flashback to Board meeting on September 18. Moraine Elementary School. Board member Christmann demurely brushes aside Mr. Adams' heartfelt congratulations. Seems that Christmann had "ironically" found a report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science that ranked one of the proposed algebra textbooks as "having little potential for helping students learn algebra". And as luck would have it, the Board didn't approve purchasing those texts (now wasn't that decision made the day school began? Nevertheless...) And even though Christmann admitted "the study actually came out after we voted", ( they voted on not ordering the textbooks on Aug. 28 and Christmann told the Board about the report on Sept. 18.) Adams couldn't contain his jubilation. At least we can "trust Edwin's intuition", he said. I like that - let's select all of our textbooks based on intuition. Funny. I'd have thought that was too mystical for Adams.....
I hate to disagree with the speaker, but the Board did not base its decision to reject the textbook on the AAAS report - or if they did, it was based purely on intuition. And we were saved $100,000? I guess everyone's forgotten all of the time and effort the teachers put into developing curriculum and selecting and evaluating textbooks just to have it all rejected by the Board. I guess all those sub days were free.
Biased though my reporting is (and in no way represents the ideas or opinions of the officials of the SRASD), the facts are the facts. When will people realize that they need to get off the phone with Board members and attend every board meeting to know the "whole" truth! This guy was obviously being "played like a fiddle". It's funny the difference between going to a Board meeting and hearing about it second hand. It was good to see a full house at this meeting. And next week's meeting should be crowded...I wonder how long it will take until it's just the Board playing to an empty house????
The Moral Melee
In other business (here's the good news)...swimming was approved as a varsity sport. A part time learning support teacher will be hired at SRAE (so the District will be in compliance with state and federal laws), a pep band was formed, etc.. Duryea thanked Dr. Ahlum for being a good acting superintendent and gave dates when Ahlum or Beaton would be here. Near as I can tell, there's a week in November when we'll have no superintendent (so the Nov. 13 committee meeting is cancelled). Beaton should be here for good on November 21 (the day before Thanksgiving). No mention was made of a special meeting on Monday, Oct. 30, but I think it's still the plan for the Board to vote on the contract at that time.
