Members of Somerset School District Complacent! Hoodwinked!...How about home watching Fear Factor?

Right up front, I'll admit that I didn't go to the Somerset school board meeting tonight. I did stop by the Treadmill in Somerset to get a pair of schools. I was close to the school board meeting -- probably not as close as the vast majority to voters in the Somerset school district. However, I don't live in that district and stick to New Richmond school district business.

However, Chris over at www.ontheborderline.net did attend the Somerset meeting tonight and even has a report on it. His report is titled Hoodwinked in Somerset. Check it out. He also has another report from the October 10 Somerset meeting titled Complacent In Somerset...Hardly.

Maybe Chris needs to get a hobby...like painting birdhouses he suggests I should be building. Or maybe he needs to start up a consulting company that informs school district voters on how school boards operate.

His articles have a heartfelt beat to them that show his compassion for us hicks in the sticks. He points out that news of school board proceedings are hard to come by and often go under reported in the local newspapers. He makes it sound like the information being debated and the business being conducted at school board meetings is being done under some highly-coordinated cloak of conspiracy. He says he's learned a great deal about school board operations in the past 18 months...and probably hasn't painted one bird house.

Welcome to the club Chris!

After spending a few years in the late 70s and early 80s covering a number of local school district for various weekly newspapers, I too noticed a pattern to the attendance of the citizens at these meetings. They basically didn't show up -- unless the agenda included something about cutting a sports program or decreasing the radius in which students were going to be bused. Both were cost-cutting measures and always drew a crowd. Otherwise people were pretty much too busy watching the baseball game or Fear Factor or Mork and Mindy.

For the most part, people don't really pay much attention to what is going on in their local, state and national governments. Infrequently, the people pull their heads out of the sand, cock their ears and pat attention for a short awhile...but then things return to "normal."

If people aren't aware of what is going on in their school district, it is their fault. It's not the local newspaper's fault. Local papers are not required to cover school boards -- but they will gladly print the minutes or publish the notices (it's a revenue thing). The reporting staffs at local papers are usually spread pretty thin and, if you pay attention to it, reporters don't last long at local papers like the New Richmond News. The pay is low, the benefits are lower, the hours are long and, if you want the previous three things to change, you need to be moving on.

The information for Somerset school board meetings is available on their web site. Also published there is the agendas for these meetings. If voters in the district are not happy with the timing and/or placement of school board minutes and notifications, they need to go the meetings and/or contact the school board members and let them know what needs to be changed. There are laws surrounding the posting and publication of school board minutes, etc. If these are being violated, concerned citizens need to take steps to fix this.

If you notice over on the links on this blog site, I have a list of Local Links to the Somerset, Hudson, River Falls and New Richmond school districts. They are located right below the picture of the Taxpayers Hell link (Chris' link). Maybe Chris could add these school links to his site (maybe a link to my site also). This would help his new visitors from the St. Croix Valley area access the school district information. If space is an issue on his site, maybe he can get rid of the time and temperature for New Richmond and Somerset. I think we all know those are pretty much the same as Hudson.

If the people have any hope of exercising their political power and rights, the best place to start is at the local level. I think Chris stated this quite eloquently in one of his posts last April 4, when he paraphased me:

We are at the crossroads to determine the future of Education in Hudson. It was summarized earlier by a blogger here that paraphrased in a comment that the election was about the contrast of a lapdog and a watchdog. To paraphrase dratsum; “That the school board is elected to oversee the school administration refers to the board as a “watch dog.” The “coziness” of the board to the administration makes is seem as if board is acting more like a “lap dog.” I am in 100 percent agreement to what the board’s function is. Its function is not to freshen up the inkpad for the rubber stamp of approval. In my opinion, that is the board’s function. Likewise, it is the school administration’s function of oversee the daily activities of the school and do the future planning for the district to see that it is in sync with the evolving future of the school district. In the case of school districts in our neck of Wisconsin, this target is moving and expanding. It is up to the voters of the district to determine which role the board plays: watchdog or lapdog.”

Source post of above quote.

I'm sticking by that statement and I'm expanding it to include district voters. Are they watchdogs or lapdogs? If Chris has nothing better to do with his time, that's his business. He pays state taxes and they go to the schools. To continue to spread his blackwashing that every action taken by local school boards is part of a vast, illegal conspiracy is a public disservice and slap in the face of those people that dedicate their time and efforts to further the state of public education in the communities. Chris needs to be more up front with his anti-public education agenda on his web site.