[Speed Gibson,
Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 12:07am]
A Failure to Communicate
I attended the Robbinsdale Area Schools (281) board meeting this evening, the last regular session of the year. Besides regular business, an overview of the proposed budget cuts and options was presented.
I took a lot of notes and could make a number of detailed observations, but I'll wait to see what happens tomorrow night at a Public Hearing at the Robbinsdale Area Learning Center, i.e., the old Robbinsdale High School, 7 pm.
The cuts are significant, so much so that I fear their static analysis may not hold up. By significant, I don't mean so much financially as disruptively to the students. Under one scenario, some first grade students that walk to school today will be bused to another school next year, and still another the year after that. When they get to middle school, they'll find most activities either gone or prohibitively expensive. They'll have a few more choices in high school, but fewer than today, and even more expensive than in middle school.
As I listened to the various discussions and presentations, I came away more convinced than ever that what we have here is a failure to communicate. The choice of words, the phrasing, and the underlying assumptions were all designed to communicate among themselves, with jargon, strange sounding program names, and needless abbreviations. When I suggested afterward to some of them that the general public finds this hard to follow, I sensed some genuine surprise.
I also felt some genuine concern and angst, by two of the board members in particular, and I had a good conversation with one of them afterwards. In fact, I felt a little sorry for them, unable to see beyond their once tidy, unquestioned world in the public sector.
The board and staff are as much puzzled as disappointed by the failure of the levy. What's not to get? Don't the voters believe in education? The only answer that makes sense to them is that they were ambushed by the CARE 281 (vote no) effort, and they could only have been successful by lying.
The good news is that they seem to have put that behind them and are moving forward as best they can. Better still, they truly seem interested in another point of view and I shall indeed oblige them.
I took a lot of notes and could make a number of detailed observations, but I'll wait to see what happens tomorrow night at a Public Hearing at the Robbinsdale Area Learning Center, i.e., the old Robbinsdale High School, 7 pm.
The cuts are significant, so much so that I fear their static analysis may not hold up. By significant, I don't mean so much financially as disruptively to the students. Under one scenario, some first grade students that walk to school today will be bused to another school next year, and still another the year after that. When they get to middle school, they'll find most activities either gone or prohibitively expensive. They'll have a few more choices in high school, but fewer than today, and even more expensive than in middle school.
As I listened to the various discussions and presentations, I came away more convinced than ever that what we have here is a failure to communicate. The choice of words, the phrasing, and the underlying assumptions were all designed to communicate among themselves, with jargon, strange sounding program names, and needless abbreviations. When I suggested afterward to some of them that the general public finds this hard to follow, I sensed some genuine surprise.
I also felt some genuine concern and angst, by two of the board members in particular, and I had a good conversation with one of them afterwards. In fact, I felt a little sorry for them, unable to see beyond their once tidy, unquestioned world in the public sector.
The board and staff are as much puzzled as disappointed by the failure of the levy. What's not to get? Don't the voters believe in education? The only answer that makes sense to them is that they were ambushed by the CARE 281 (vote no) effort, and they could only have been successful by lying.
The good news is that they seem to have put that behind them and are moving forward as best they can. Better still, they truly seem interested in another point of view and I shall indeed oblige them.
1) These cuts are being made to "punish" the voters for voting "no." Rather than review the budget top to bottom and find the least painful cuts, the Board has decided to make the cuts in obvious areas so as to cause the most "pain" and pave the way for the next vote. One clue would be to watch and see if the Care 281 people, individually or as a group, are berated and blamed for the vote so as to minimize their effectiveness next time around. It's the old good cop, bad cop routine.
2) The board is simply incompetent. Unable to do the real work of prioritizing the budget, or explaining it adequately to the public so that the public could help, they're just latching on to the first idea that comes along and hoping the public will go along. I should note that the average liberal politician, faced with explaining their actions as either criminal or incompetent, picks incompetent every time, though neither is a recommendation for public office. Unfortunately, neither is disqualifying, either.
Now, if at these listening sessions they are actually listening to the point where they present options and let the public decide, that's good. If they throw the floor open to new suggestions and add them to the plan, that's even better. It can be done, and the best Boards manage to do it. They gain the trust of the public and future referenda generally get approved.