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Romeo Sinking Fund No As the title implies I went to a school board meeting tonight. To say the least, it was an eye opening experience.

What struck me about the meeting was not the politics of the whole thing, it was what was and was not discussed. I was often left feeling “Are they serious? Is this a joke?”

I did get brave at the end and voiced my opinion on a couple of things during the public comments section. I did this mostly so that I could sleep well tonight. I hate keeping my mouth shut and then kicking myself for it.

Here are the 5 questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to hijack the end of the meeting with too many questions. So, here they are: (Bold ones are the two I asked; the board didn’t respond to me! Guess that tells you how much they liked my questions.)

Is there a plan for the 2008-2009 budget to be balanced, including normal building maintenance so that in 2012 the school board will not ask the community for another tax increase?
Will the board consider a policy prohibiting district employees from using district time and resources from any/all political activity? (Including school district bond and fund proposals.)
Who is willing to be held accountable to the community for the districts continued unbalanced budget? (Sinking Fund has acted as a band aid since 2000.)
In regards to evaluating the districts superintendent. Perhaps the district should consider using the evaluation method of a district which is modeling high performance and high retention of executives? (The current method clearly isn’t working.)
Would the board consider giving up finalizing goals for the 2007-2008 school year since the school year is half over in favor of beginning today to set goals for 2008-2009 school year? (This would maximize effective change for the district and ensure accountability.)

I met several people from the board, district employees, and involved community members tonight. It was great to put names and faces together. Honestly, I care deeply about the school district. Fundamentally I would like to see a “common sense” mentality take priority over a “status quo” mentality. At the same time I don’t think that a one or the other strategy would move the board forward. (Which seemed to be what most folks were saying tonight.)

A quick sidenote: I’ve had several people tell me that they are reading my blog but either don’t want to leave a comment or don’t know how. I’d still love to hear from you. Just shoot me an email to mclanea@gmail.com.

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