Rescued Comment from DL on school board elections
May 14th, 2009 by David Anderson
Smitty made a great point over on DL that deserved a wider audience than one blog. He is opposing changing school board elections to November with the general elections. I agree with him.
I do NOT EVER want to know or hear what political affiliation a school board candidate identifies with. If nothing else, I would less inclined to vote for a person if they felt a need to tell me their registration as a school board candidate, R/D/G/I/coo-coo bird/otherwise. I want to know what you want to do, how you can work with, and how you plan to get it done on the school board. If you can’t be independent on a school board, then excuse me, but get the EFF OUT! This isn’t your damned political springboard, it’s the students, the teachers, the parents, etc. If you want a political springboard, run for a damned row office and flout your affiliation there. this isn’t to say that if you are on a school board, you shouldn’t run for higher office, I am saying don’t do it, if all you intend to do is pad your resume. That was two.
You must be a registered voter for governmental elections, but not for school boards. How are you going to blend that? Three.
Point four, which will also combine points two and three:
School boards are officially non-partisan elections, so how do you blend the ballot with general elections in the same booth? It’s not as simple as saying you can add extra machines or create a segregated voting system where school board elections are that side and general elections are this side. It’s painful enough as it is to staff enough people for general elections, but now adding more seems feasible? Seriously, if you think claiming fraud is fashionable now, just wait until these poll workers get more work without more workers. I’m not saying fraud will increase, but the opportunity for people to cackle “fraud” sure will.
I’m making posts without even posting now. Spooky.
Here is the comment link.
You also missed point one, which will lead people to think I don’t know how to count…a charge which hasn’t been levied at me since I miscounted while walking a straight line and touching my nose simultaneously…er…nevermind. That’s a joke, people, it’s a joke.
Here was the first point, which references one by MJ about the start of the operational school year and it’s relation to the general election calendar:
Okay, I didn’t claim to be quoting the entire comment. You Picky moderate.
Thanks for the addition. LOL
Right on Smitty !
http://kilroysdelaware.blogspot.com/2009/05/house-bill-117-is-stealth-attack-on.html
RSmitty , I agree !
Who really runs for these spots? What do we know about them?
Boards of education are largely populated by friends oif the ‘Educational Establishment’ and thus perpetuate overpriced mediocrity.
Regrettably. challenges often come from people with a very narrow agenda that has little to do with educational excellence.
We get a real vote when we can cast a meaningful ballot against throwing more money down gold-plated bureaucratic ratholes.
Are Delaware public schools any more cost effective than those in the District of Columbia?
While there are issues for sure with funding Art, your criticism reads like the talking points of people who forever vote no, because they feel that it’s their lot in life to not be a contributing part of society. Not all of the districts fits your one-size-fits-all mold. The district I reside in (Appoquinimink), for example, has been highly responsible and highly open to the constituents.
Yes, there have been bad players in the past, but it seems you’d rather flush the entire thing down the drain rather than address the problem.
BTW I thought Pandora exceeded all expectations with her school board election and results coverage.
Art brings up a point that is not lost on voters. Most of the decisions are already made at the Department of Education. Local control is a talking point not a reality. Most of the budget is mandated down to the line. For only the second time that I was in town, I didn’t vote in the school board race. Quite frankly, I didn’t feel like any of the candidates represented me or had any proposals. If they had them, they didn’t present them to the paper or campaign. It all seem like beauty pageant stuff (except for Ms. USA no offense to CP). I didn’t even get a feel that they understood the problems. Now I was away and did not make the forum so I figured maybe someone said something there.
They may have been wonderful people with answers, but they didn’t respect me enough to share them and I didn’t feel like I needed to give one my endorsement over another.
Capitol school district has had over 1600 voters. This year it brought up the rear with 160 something. Is that really the voters’ fault or the candidates’ fault? Maybe that we didn’t demand answers.
I have rarely been so underwhelmed that I intentionally decided to vote by not voting. I vote compulsively.
What is the solution? Maybe the people running realized how little control they actually have and what control they do have the current board has done a good job setting those priorities. A charter school board has more control than an elected school board. Some think the answer is to take control from the charters. I think it is to give control with mandatory transparency of funds to the school boards.
When school boards matter more, the elections will matter more.
Ya’ know…
I do support charter and private schools, but I do so as much as I do public schools. Sometimes “turning your back” to an unruly child will calm them down because they realize no one is paying attention. However, turning your back on an entire education system is wholly unacceptable. I am OK if you chose to not vote. I don’t prefer it, but I am OK with it, it’s a protest vote. Ignoring the public school system is a wretched, horrible idea (I know neither you or Art said to ignore it, but the two of you make it incredibly easy – and inviting – to read between the lines). Think: cause-and-effect. If your turning your back to the system is your action (cause), what do you see as the effect?
CALLING JOANNE CHRISTIAN! CALLING JOANNE CHRISTIAN! Please provide input!!!
I favor leaving the school board elections separate, because they are two distinct entities.
Moreover, May is an ideal time to accept newly elected members, permitting them and the school board the summer to formulate policy for the new year.
I totally agree with Smitty about the wisdom of fully supporting the public school system.
The problem I have with charters is that they can drain the better students out of the public school, therefore making for even more of a challenge for the publics.
The problem with private schools is not only are they segregated ( Be honest now!) by class and race, but also they are not required (as far as I know) to take the DSTP’s. This forces the public and charter school teachers to dilute their academic program by having to teach (more difficult students) to the test, whereas the private school teachers can focus their teaching to enhance critical thinking skills, the very basic of quality education in my view.
So those are the problems, then what is the solution? The solution is to invest in the public schools re teacher’s salaries, source materials, and facilities, with the goal of making them, all of them, robust, quality educational institutions. We have to start somewhere sometime, like right here and now!