I whipped my last letter together in about 10 minutes before I went to my daughter’s soccer practice, and after reviewing it, I made some errors. Where ever I wrote BOS (Board of Supervisors), I meant the School Board. The BOS appears to be listening to the will of the people which is why there is discussion of a rate cut. I have no confidence in the school board, superintendent, or the downtown administration. By the way, I’m more than willing to pay more for school if there is accountability. There is no accountability here, just speculation and excuses with no data.
That being said, for the last few days we’ve been receiving these emails about supporting what I consider, ridiculous spending. I wasn’t trying to start some deep discussion or controversy over the subject, I was just curious if there were other recipients that disagreed as I did. Most times when there is discussion about school spending, it doesn’t get my attention. This one did. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong or right, just that I disagree. And if you’re going to send political email to my house, and you’re welcome to, if I disagree, I’m going to let you know.
So my message was quickly written and I need to clarify a few things. Recognizing that we have so many of our local teacher and administrators on this distribution list, I wanted to say that even though I think this spending is out of control and needs to be reigned in, I don’t think the problem is at the school level. Living with my wife, I don’t think too much of No Child Left Behind, but I don’t believe it’s the budget buster that is being portrayed here. I think the problem is all down town. I think we need more information on what goes on down town, who works down town, and what they do. It’s my opinion that this is where the waste is, but if anyone can get this information, please share it. How many failing teacher and administrators have they created new positions for down town? How much does the county spend on bringing in some specialist contractors to tell or teachers the new metho d they will be using to teach our kids?
I believe (and I admittedly don’t have the information because it’s not available) if we eliminated 50-70% of the people downtown, and allowed our teachers to teach, we would have smarter kids, a better environmental, and fiscally responsible education. To have the increases that we are having, something is wrong, and it’s not happening at the school level.
The other thing that bothered me is the intentionally misleading data that we have seen in these emails Then there’s the, I’m not sure what you would call it…..shakedown? They always say if they don’t get the money they want, they will have to cut teachers. It’s always the teachers that must go first. In reality, they have plenty of fat to trim down town and other places, but instead they throw this emotional blackmail at the parents.
I looked at the data again. It was a 63% increase in school budget from 2000 to 2007 with a 2% growth. I’m not saying anyone is not informed on their decisions. I just think that kind of increase is absurd, and NCLB and 2% growth doesn’t explain it. All I’m saying is we need to stop giving this irresponsible school board and superintendent a rubber stamp to whatever they want. I want a better explanation. I think we should call them on it.
By the way, none of this gets me angry and as far as the growth goes, I have participated in that process too, speaking at the Old Trail Planning Commission meeting, working on the Crozet Park Board etc..
My apologies to the superb teachers, administrators (local) and employees if I offended you. It was not my intention. Nor was it my intention to enflame anyone. I just wanted to see if anyone else was thinking the way I was. And you’re right Patty, I don’t need to sign the petition. I’ll just write directly to my supervisor.
ed note: The above is courtesy of Brian Campbell. This type of discussion is part of the reason that this blog was started. Please feel free to contribute to the conversation or submit stories candidly, not everything will be published, but please do contribute. Accountability and transparency qualify as “good things.” The more discussion and oversight by the citizens, the better.
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