Tim Culver whines on about how difficult it will be to "ameliorate" this travesty...this "crisis which has been thrust upon us". Who talks like that? What? Was ameliorate the word for the day? He used that word at least 3 times in less than 2 hours! We got a great quote out of a fortune cookie once...it said "People use big words to hide small ideas".
So...you wanna know what's really sad? What's really sad is that we blah, blah, blah about how we need decorum in public, and then the people whining about decorum trash everybody that disagrees with them! If you ask us, this economy has pointed out that decorum only gets us so far...it minimizes things. Anyone out there old enough to recall the movie, "Network"? Once in awhile, people have to stand up, got to the nearest window, and shout, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!".
Here's a whole list of things that are sad, when you consider the actions and words of our school board and administration:
What's sad is...
- ...that when 40 or fewer people (2/3 district employees) come out to the annual meetings the district expresses dismay that more community members don't "get engaged"...and when they DO get engaged, and disagree with the district, they claim that it's not representative of the community,
- ...that when people in the community pass on e-mail messages which contain actual budget information taken directly from district documents, board members allude to the "misinformation" contained in these missives,
- ...that when concerned citizens bring forward legitimate issues, the district administrator treats them with disgust and accuses them of having "ulterior motives",
- ...that ALL school districts are facing the difficult times, yet our board/administration display indignance that community residents demand fiscal accountability,
- ...that other school boards are bucking up and are cutting administration (and admittedly some teachers/aides), increasing class sizes, freezing administration salaries, and making REAL cuts, yet our school board whines,
- ...that many other districts of equal size to Sun Prairie seem to operate on less than 10% fund balance, but our school board whines that taxpayers want to use fund balance---or make cuts--to lower the tax levy,
- ...that other school districts are making wholesale changes to the way of doing business, but our board/administration wants to look at this "crisis thrust upon them" as a one-time move by a bunch of wholly un-informed people,
- ...that Caren Diedrich was the ONLY school board member to push for actual, tangible cuts yet the other board members treat her like she's nuttier than squirrel droppings,
- ...that the district endeavors--unsuccessfully we might add-- to humiliate citizens that speak out about ludicrous spending like Kit Kat bars for employee birthdays, and then quietly cut the practice and just as quietly tell staff to blame it on a certain outspoken critic of the board,
- ...ludicrous spending on pizza and subs for staff...see the fate of Kit Kat bars,
- ...ridiculous and inconsistent class fees and class supply lists... see the fate of Kit Kat bars
- ... that the board acts like they really know and understand the district finances, but anyone in the community that disagrees with them does not,
- ...that the board and district suffer from that disease which doesn't allow them to simply admit when they are wrong, have erred, or that someone else might have better facts....instead they simply puff their chests and talk about "un-informed" people...or lie.
Isn't it LONG time that the people elected to serve us...PAID (albeit 5% less this year) to serve us...do nothing but ignore us and tell us how dumb (in so many words) we are?
We're just sayin'...
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