December 21, 2007

Dangling A Carrot

Last night I attended the monthly school board meeting, which like certain other monthly occurrences, was uncomfortable and gave me a headache.

I got there early; I was the first one in the meeting room, so I sat down and started reading the agenda. No sooner did my arse hit the seat, though, but the local law enforcement officer ("the man") took up his post as if I was some reprobate out to cause a problem.

I wasn't. I felt like roadkill and was in no mood to raise hell....for once.

Anyway, some teachers sat around me, so I chatted with a couple. Wonderful people, really dedicated; we do have some great teachers in this district!

The meeting rolled on smoothly until, and I'm being totally honest here, I got wildly confused. It had something to do with certain board members voting on contract negotiations for a certain group of workers (busdrivers, aides, cafeteria workers), family members of certain board members. I understand what they were talking about, but the BOE president brought forth a letter that had all that legal run-around, and I just got confused.

During public participation, a student at the high school stood up to plead the case for the theater program, which is being cut at the end of the semester. It took a lot of courage for this kid to get up and speak, and one could hear he was nervous. Well, that poor kid sits down, and a BOE member (one of the outgoing members) said basically "It isn't us, the board, cutting your theater class, it's the voters who cut this for you because they didn't pass the levy."

UGH! That g**damn levy again!!

I'm used to being blamed for a lot, I'm a Republican after all, but that old fart sat there and threw it all back on us. That BOE is apparently above reproach!

There was more talk about cutting the art and theater program (no more art in the elementary or middle schools!), and the last speaker got up and essentially called for the resignation of two board members, one of them being the BOE president.

Well, this president is the same one who last month called us all "cheap" because we didn't vote to pass the FECKIN' LEVY. Miz Prez went on to say that if we passed the levy in May then she would resign from the board and never run again.

Honey, put that in writing and have it notarized and maybe, just maybe, I'll vote your damn levy in!

They keep harping about building a new school. Got to get that new school built! Well hell, I'm a big believer in taking care of what you've already got, so if the levy money were to be used for operations, you may have my vote.

But see? I could take my five minutes and say such a thing, but it would be a wasted effort on my part. I would love to say that by resorting to childish name-calling, the BOE president isn't winning any respect or votes.

I'm still just as frustrated as before, but I'm putting it all on the back burner so I can enjoy Christmas.

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