It's Official: The ECASD is Going Backwards!

This is long, but I hope it is entertaining!

If you missed last night's meeting here is the rebroadcast scoop:

School Board meetings are rebroadcast during the week following the
Monday Board meeting on Public Access Channel 12 on Tuesday's at 1
p.m., Wednesday's at 8 a.m and 7 p.m. or tune in to 101.9 FM during
the same time as the rebroadcast to hear the meeting.

After last night's meeting I am totally flabbergasted. If anybody can
answer the following questions I would be most grateful:

1. Why would the BOE create a new set of limitations on public input
and discussion when there appears to be a consensus that more
MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION is needed?

During the work session (when no public comment is allowed) Mike
O'Brien proposed that the format for public input be changed to 15
minutes (max. 3 minutes per individual) and occur at the beginning of
the meeting for all public comment regarding any item on the agenda
that is being discussed. In the future there will be no public
comment allowed during the rest of the meeting. If you have any
comment about any of the information that is presented during the
meeting or said by any board members you are encouraged to come back
in 2 weeks and use your 3 minutes at that time. If more than 5
people want to speak at a meeting they are encouraged to "collaborate"
about their input to the board.

2. Why are 5 BOE members so committed to retaining the Weld Riley firm
in the face of all the complications that it creates for O'Brien and
the district and the BOE?

There simply is no other community that any of us can find that would
allow this kind of conflict of interest to go unchecked. In addition,
his other conflict with his wife's employment would still be
problematic even if the legal firm was changed. Brent Wogahn actually
had a "Personal Best" last night in his very own special category of
"Nitwit Comments" when he solemnly confessed to also having a Conflict
of Interest because he has 3 children in the district who are affected
by the decisions he makes. It sure makes one wonder what other
serious legal and ethical issues in the district and his own
professional and personal life are no more important to him than to
serve as punch lines to dumb jokes.

3. Why has the BOE spent hours and hours of their time and
Administrative time analyzing the potential effects of a couple
hundred thousand dollars in budget reductions in Athletics when they
increased class sizes and eliminated 40 teachers, custodians and aides
after a 10 minute discussion for a $3 million item?

I have heard that Memorial HS eliminated 70 semester classes offered
to students because of the reductions and there was not 30 seconds
dedicated to the fact that huge parts of the Music, Art, Foreign
Language and AP programs were simply erased and replaced with massive
study halls to babysit students who now have no other academic
choices. And yet the high school hockey program is sacrosanct. Tell
me what this says about priorities.

4. Why have 4 months passed with essentially NO PROGRESS at all on
developing a process for the Community Comprehensive Planning effort?

Since the motion was passed on Feb. 5th only one organization (that is
self-professed to have little interest or experience in School
District planning) has been contacted and they have not yet submitted
a bid for their services. Any other high level executives of a $120
million private sector organization who could not even get their act
together enough to solicit a couple of bids in 4 months for a key
component of their future success would be being shown the proverbial
"left foot of fellowship" straight out the door! But for the ECASD
this is just one more opportunity to give the same administrators more
sweetheart retirement deals shuffling them around and just being
concerned that all of their golden parachutes are not getting twisted
up with each other's.


5. Second to the last Question: Why do I continue to care? This is
the most difficult of all but I would appreciate your feedback about
my thoughts.

The bottom line is that I continue to believe that our public school
system is the heart of our community and the foundation of our
democracy. It is the beginning of opportunity for every child. It
has the potential to fix future problems and salvage lives that would
otherwise be lost. Theoretically, it truly brings together adults who
can focus on doing the right thing for kids who need our best efforts.

The amazing thing about all of the dysfunction and looniness and
shenanigans at the Administrative and BOE levels is that our schools,
our teachers and our students are continuing to do their best with
less, to care about individual kids and their successes and to plan to
achieve their own goals in their own buildings and classrooms. Their
focus is sharp, their goals are high and their intentions are clear.

6. Final Question: WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO TO HELP GET OUR DISTRICT
BACK ON TRACK?

Many of us are planning to continue to keep our focus on the long
range success of our community public school system in spite of all
these crazy obstacles that keep popping up to deter participation. As
I have said to many of you, I have cared about these issues for many
years and spent hundreds of hours as a volunteer and member of
different ECASD committees trying to make a difference. Being a
School Board candidate was just one aspect. It does not change my
continuing hope that we can build a better district with more
participation and more planning and more success than we can see in
the short term.

We are forming an informal group to share responsibility for attending
BOE meetings, reporting information, doing research, and communicating
with others. We plan to have a website and blog to keep people
informed and connected. Can you help in any way? Let me know if you
want to continue to be included and how you may be able to do more
than observe the always entertaining spectacle!

If we didn't laugh about this stuff we would surely be either crying
or clinically depressed or catatonic!!!

Maria