Hometown Insanity, Special Reader Edition

At the behest of commenter Michelle, I checked out the DH story on the school board meeting and the comments that folks have left.

Two words: Comedy Gold.

Some of my favorites:

Concerned Parent wrote on Aug 2, 2007 2:32 PM:

" Ok, could this Lebanon board be any more disfunctional?!!? It's emmbarassing to me as a parent of two children enrolled in the Lebanon School District to see how this supposed group of "caring" adults continuse to act. It's just appalling. It's time to clean house and start with an entirely new board in my opinion! "

I love spelling errors. Actually, I don't understand why the DH can't throw in a more advanced commenting system, one that has preview and spellchecking features. Seriously.

Moving on:

Concerned Lebonite wrote on Aug 2, 2007 10:36 PM:

" Over Joyed. I belive it's time to take a closer look at some of the other members of the school board, and the damage they may cause in the future. "

That one puts me at risk of some serious Godwin's Law violations. Someone's got a little fascist just waiting to come out.

Dammit.

And they actually spelled Lebanite wrong. Everyone knows it's Lebanite, not Lebonite. Geez.

But wait, there's more:

Lloyd - Parent wrote on Aug 2, 2007 3:35 PM:

" About time! Our children deserve the best education possible. Now the board needs to turn around the disasterous changes that Mr. Robinson has implemented. Lets get on with the job of changing the attitude of low acheivement in our system and rebuild it and gain back the respect of our students, parents, and the community. "

This one is interesting, and is more or less the dominant theme of the thread. Sadly, there is little evidence presented for this argument. Having talked to lots of folks in the high school, it's not at all clear that the changes are "disasterous." It is clear, however, that there are some teachers very interested in changing the attitude of low achievement, academy system or no.

My own take is that a lot of negative views of Robinson and the district are due to folks like Alexander and Wineteer spending lots of time talking trash. That's not to say that there aren't good reasons to oppose Robinson or his policies, but that those reasons aren't even making it into the debate.

Personally, if I lived in Lebanon and wanted to support the schools, I'd try to get the district more money, probably from the state or federal government. That would help immensely. The whole "funding via local property tax" thing is regressive and painful.

Finally, a commenter who is not looking to grab a pitchfork and join the mob:

Lebanon Teacher wrote on Aug 2, 2007 4:30 PM:

" I think the board's action is not appropriate or fair. To call a meeting to suspend the superintendent while he is unavailable to defend himself is wrong. I have disagreements with the superintendent but I would never stoop so low as to attack him in the manner this board has. "

Hm. Well said, Lebanon Teacher. Unfortunately, I think Alexander and Wineteer and Co. aren't really interested in good process or good relations. I think they are interested in power.

And finally, the tiny voice of sanity:

CSW again wrote on Aug 3, 2007 10:59 AM:

" Has anyone considered how much it will cost the school district to remove a superintendent who is under contract! His entire pay for at least one or two years and then we have to pay a new guy at the same time! Just when we finally get a budget which allows our distict to hire new teachers. "

Sound about right.

Oddly enough, there is one thing that I think could have prevented a lot of this mess, and as far as I know, it's arguably Robinson's fault. The one thing, not the current mess. The current fiasco can be laid squarely at the feet of Alexander and Wineteer.

1. The Superintendent is on a rolling three-year contract (a deal with is standard for almost all district superintendents), which means that each year the Board approves his contract for the third year out. So if they want to get rid of the guy without obvious grounds for termination, they have stop renewing and wait.

2. For the first several years, and I don't know the exact number, of Robinson's tenure, he was considered "provisional" or "probationary" or something, meaning they could fire him without cause - the old "he's not working out" thing. That seems pretty standard. When the time came for the School Board to renew his contract for the year that would push him beyond that probationary envelope, there was an effort to hide this information from board members. They renewed, locking him into the system. I think if they hadn't done that, this process might have been far more civil. Maybe.

Point being is that Robinson has quite a reputation for being authoritarian, and from what I can tell some of it is well-deserved. That doesn't mean his policies are bad, which is something I think many folks are conflating. Being authoritarian is a bad thing all by itself.