Jay Jackson and The Truth: Passing Acquaintances At Best?

There's two stories in the DH today regarding Monday's board meeting.

From the one dealing with the disputes between PIE and the LCSD:

Current contract language states both sides must agree on language regarding the administration issue. Lebanon says this hasn’t happened because PIE has not responded to repeated district requests.

Jackson said it’s impossible to come to terms if Lebanon won’t tell PIE what its concerns are.

This absolutely reeks of bullshit. If nothing else, Robinson, Kelley, Dakopolos, Chastain and Zarate spent an hour on Monday going over in excruciating detail what their concerns were. Even assuming that Jackson had no warning of any of the items mentioned (a claim that is not even remotely possible considering it must have taken Chastain weeks of contact with Sand Ridge to formulate her section of the report), he sure knows now - which means he has a way forward.

I find it hard to believe, given how many times I heard one of the aforementioned district employees note their inability to get a response from PIE, that it was actually the district who was non-responsive. It reads more like Jay Jackson is publicly blaming the district in the pages of the newspaper because it will play well with his supporters.

On the other hand, maybe Jackson was just posing a hypothetical cleverly designed to look like a comment with substance.

Moving on:

* PIE opened both Sweet Home and its preschool, and expanded Sand Ridge to two campuses, without formally notifying Lebanon as the contract requires.

Jackson concedes written notice was not given. However, he said, Robinson was the one who suggested the property that eventually became Sand Ridge’s second site, and that both Sweet Home and the preschool were mentioned in public meetings.

1. So what if Robinson suggested the property? It's not license to violate the terms of the contract. What kind of garbage is that? Besides, I suspect he suggested that either Sand Ridge move there or that Sand Ridge open a second campus as part of the same school - not that Sand Ridge open an entirely different school. Why would Robinson suggest that PIE violate the contract - and even if he did, why in the world would Jay Jackson listen to him? For that matter, notice how Jackson totally dodges the question when it comes to explaining why PIE gave no notice to the district?

2. As Sherrie Sprenger noted at Monday's meeting, it's not the job of the Lebanon Community School District to babysit PIE. PIE knew that it needed to give notification, and didn't. There is no reasonable expectation for any LCSD staff to constantly check on PIE. At the same time, there is an eminently reasonable expectation for PIE to fulfill the terms of its contract in a good-faith manner. PIE did not. As a result, PIE is likely in material violation of the contract.

One last thing:

Lebanon officials said they were unable to find evidence showing PIE has met state requirements on a host of issues, including whether proper payroll accounting is being done, whether services are being provided for English Language Learner students and whether employees have received training to administer medication.

Jackson said not finding evidence doesn’t necessarily mean evidence does not exist.

It reminds me of Donald Rumsfeld's "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" line - while technically true, it is, on a practical level, bullshit. It's trying to prove a negative, which is impossible. Wikipedia even has an entry for it - turns out it's a logical fallacy. I thought Jay Jackson was an attorney?

And besides, there comes a point at which it is reasonable to cease looking for evidence. In this case, it should never be necessary for that point to be reached, because PIE should be volunteering information to the LCSD, not withholding it in the most passive-aggressive manner possible. This is childish.

Jay Jackson's careful parsing of his words throughout the entirety of the story suggests a desire to mislead the public, including his supporters. In other words, he is getting as close to lying as he can without crossing the line.

No wonder Bob George - a former wrestling coach and definitely not a thin-skinned person - quit after two weeks under this guy.

Heck, at least George could quit - imagine what Jim Robinson feels like, having to be nice to Jackson. I don't think I could maintain civility in the face of such blatant dishonesty and disrespect for the community and the truth.

Given that Jay Jackson apparently can't tell the DH the truth, why should the DH print anything he says? That's my question.