The Latest On Dit

The Latest On Dit for April 18

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Dearest Gentle Reader,

It has been said that, “Secrecy is what is known, but not to everyone. Privacy is what allows us to keep what we know to ourselves.”

And with this in mind, let us embark upon a lengthy journey of this past week…with both facts and speculation. Let us start with the most non-surprising surprise of the week…

The Non-Renewal of Rake Shamblin

The Protest

It was a pleasant surprise to have this month’s Bored agenda published before the actual meeting took place. Within it was an item indicating the King’s intent to non-renew Shamblin. This resulted in an organized student protest. 

During this protest students were informed that they would be given an after school detention for each period missed. This did have the effect of sending the majority of students back to class, but a number of stalwart supporters carried on until the late morning. This author was informed by the students that the King showed up, but did not enter into any sort of dialogue with them. While this was going on, the local independent press had been informed of the protest and showed up to cover it, only to be kicked off the premises by the King before the press had any chance to talk to the students. Later, one student went to the King’s office (the one with an open door policy, right?) and when the student asked to talk to the King, the King shut the door in their face.

Here are the links to local coverage of the student protest:

As this information spread like wildfire across social media, it became apparent that many parents were also outraged by this action, with many people pledging to attend the bored meeting and those with scheduling conflicts, sending emails to bored members. (A number of these were reposted on social media by the various authors.) 

(And for those of you who don’t get the joke about using bored instead of board, here is the explanation. They are called BORED members (instead of board members) because the majority of them seem to be disinterested in what is really going on in the schools, thus they appear BORED. “Uninformed about the true state of the kingdom” would be a better descriptor, but alas the pun doesn’t work. But this author digresses…)

At the Bored Meeting

Given that the King and Court departed immediately after the start of the meeting to enter their private domain, calling it a “bored” meeting it really quite accurate – as they tried to wait out the crowd for over 2 1/4 hours. Reportedly, an angry woman yelled at the bored as they were leaving, saying that she wanted answers. As a result, two sheriff’s deputies were called in. One can think of better uses of law enforcement time and resources, but obviously our royalty is uncomfortable when the peasants start uprising. 

After our royal court reconvened, the public was allowed to speak. The main points:

  • Universal support for keeping Shamblin as principal. This was from parents, a staff member, and the senior class president, speaking on behalf of the senior class and student body as a whole.
  • Calls for the King to resign/be removed
  • A call for the Queen to be recalled and subsequent circulation of recall petitions

Of course, there was no need to involve law enforcement, even though at times emotions ran a bit high, there were no threats of violence and the evening’s speakers were generally thoughtful and heartfelt.

Of course, as is usual, there was no public discussion on the part of the bored to reveal  anything relevant to Shamblin’s non-renewal before the vote. (More on this later.) And the court voted 4-1 to non-renew. Can anyone guess which member of the court stood up and said no? Countess Leto, of course. Obviously there is one bored member who reads their emails before a meeting.

The evening ended with an impassioned outburst from a palace servant, and of course, we are all certain that there will be punishment and retaliation from and through the King and Queen. Because unquestioned compliance is their ultimate goal.

This does lead to some short side-commentary here. Numerous parents said on social media that they had not felt that they could speak up in the past, because they believed that their children (and their families) would suffer retaliation. How can this be acceptable to anyone? That people are afraid to speak up for their children because they think it will make their children’s lives harder? This is just….wrong, on so many levels and begs the question, how can we work together to make children’s education better if we can’t even talk to each other? It was gratifying to see that numerous people are choosing to speak out despite their feared consequences. We need to encourage effective and meaningful dialogue.

Which comes back to our bored – who at the time of the meeting refused to offer up any explanation for the vote of non-renewal, leaving the crowd angry at the lack of information. For how can one offer up a defense, when no cause has been communicated?

Three other salient points about this bored meeting that are of special interest. The first, is that Princess Broommeadow, NOT the Queen, ended up running the Public Speaks portion of the meeting. Is this because the Queen has repeatedly demonstrated her inability to control herself and her emotions at past meetings, and so she was just able to sit there and shut up? Of course, when the final speaker of the evening said that they were passing around recall petitions, she just couldn’t control her face and her typical eyeroll.

The second point was the complete disconnection and continued disrespect by the King. During the meeting, as per usual, he sat looking at his computer screen and his two phones. At one point a speaker had to tell him, yes, you heard correctly, that the speaker had to TELL him to look at them. Seriously? It is obvious that the King wants to be anywhere other than here. We wish he would just resign, but it is looking more and more like he would have trouble securing another job given the banners of incompetency and narcissism trailing him. So many bridges burnt. Perhaps going back to Florida could be an option. Or at least somewhere far away from here.

The third point was the timing of this. They basically fired the principal just before state testing started. Was this smart? If test scores are everything, it seems that they went about creating a very tense and hostile atmosphere for the student body – definitely not an ideal situation. Of course, should the King not receive his testing bonus, then they can point to bad test scores as, once again, being all Shamblin’s fault.

And that leads us to…

Post Bored Meeting Press Release by the Queen

Post meeting, the Queen went into her usual media spinning frenzy and issued a statement that Shamblin was non-renewed because of test scores and attendance rates. 

Comparable data from the 23-24 school year shows FedHock outperforming Trimble, Nelsonville, Wellston, Eastern, and Meigs. (Alex, Athens, and Warren had better scores, to no one’s surprise.) And attendance rates since Covid have been particularly awful everywhere. So this author is wondering at their veracity. If testing and attendance was indeed the issue with Shamblin, why wasn’t this something discussed at the meeting itself instead of being issued post-meeting as damage control? Because it seems that if the board would bring up these specific reasons in public, then that would also mean that there could be some sort of argument against their faulty reasoning. So it seems that the bored thought it better to not talk about it at all, and only bring it up after the fact – which does not pass the bogus smell test. This author also wonders if Trimble, Nelsonville, Wellston, Eastern, and Meigs will also be looking for new high school administrators, given they are not doing as well as FedHock.

Here is the latest data:

Here are the links to local coverage of the bored meeting:

What Happens Next: Who’s Taking Over?

So gentle reader, this section is one of pure conjecture and rumor. None of this has been confirmed as the bored has been secretive of what plan they have for moving forward.

The first, and most likely scenario is that in order to save money, Honoré Snow, or “The Blizzard,” may be coming to a high school near you. Yes, moving back to the tired model of having a 6-12 principal is rearing its ugly head once again. It didn’t really work the last time it was tried, the 6th grade was moved back to the elementary schools because of the difficult administrative load, and then we moved back to a middle school/high school model instead of a junior high/high school one, and moving the sixth graders up to the central complex yet once again.

Which is it? This constantly shifting landscape is the result of poor planning and poor understanding of what these things are and how they are different – AND how they affect kids. And if concerns are with testing and its incumbent attendance issues, then putting an administrator in charge of a building for which they have no experience is probably not the best choice. Please note: The Blizzard is a K-8 specialist.

The other rumor is that the King himself has said he could be both King and principal. This author has no idea how that would work – given that he is rarely seen at school or anything associated with the school. This is not a new problem for the King. Why don’t we ask him why he had a special outside door installed in a previous position that seemed to expedite his exit from the building? Previous staff members have said that he was frequently AWOL there as well, and would be absent for hours. He seems to have carried that personal tradition with him wherever he goes, and FedHock has been no exception.

If true, this would be disastrous in today’s school climate which desperately needs admins who are present and available. I think it is telling that so many of Shamblin’s supporters have made mention again and again of his consistent presence and support.

As of this writing, there have been no rumors about conducting a principal search to replace Shamblin from outside of the kingdom. In the past few years, it has been nigh impossible to find good and worthy candidates to fill our own openings. We have certainly lucked out in the elementary department this year with two fabulous principals. This author wonders if it is required to have half the district on fire at all times. If so, the fire has certainly stemmed from the middle school this year, and it doesn’t seem wise to hand the reins over to someone who seems to be struggling with just three grade levels, let alone seven in which they have no experience. (Note: current middle school data is worse than the high school’s. In fact, all of the other school’s scores are worse than the high school’s.)

I’m pretty certain that neither of these high school principal options will sit well with the public, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

And this author just had an evil thought, that perhaps when Shamblin is no longer an employee, he could potentially run for the bored himself. Would that not be the funniest turn around ever – that he could potentially become the King’s boss? This author would also like to point out that the King wouldn’t be able to do that, because he does not live in this kingdom, and so would be ineligible.

Petitions to Recall the Queen

Despite the desire for citizens to recall the Queen, and the numerous petitions that have been passed around and signed already, this author is sad to report that the State of Ohio has no provisions for the recall of school bored members. Perhaps this is why our Queen was so contemptuous of the threat, but in any case here is why it’s not really the issue it seems.

First, If she COULD have been recalled, she would have been put on the November ballot. Since she is up for re-election, she would be on the ballot anyway. (Assuming she runs.)

Second, having a large number of signatures is an indication of “no confidence” in her as a bored member. It also spreads the word to other members in the community who may not be otherwise aware of what’s going on.

Kudos to all of those who organized and participated. Eventually, your voices will be heard.

However, this author believes that the reason that we are in the mess to begin with is that people do not go to candidate screening events for themselves to actually see the people running for this important office, ask probing and thoughtful questions, and listen to what the candidates have to say – and then be really discerning about who they are voting for. It will be more important than ever this year for people to be informed voters. Just because someone can get a petition with 25 signatures on it does not mean that they are suited to be a BOARD member, and not just a “bored” member.

We need people with real experience in education to help guide us out of this hole, because running a school based on a popularity contest based on name recognition certainly has been disastrous.

To Our Current Bored Members

This author has a spot of advice for you.

First, the King and Queen aren’t your bosses. Maybe for some of you, you believe they aren’t, but some of you certainly act like they are. And there have been many rumors suggesting that bored members were told to limit their contact with the public – and that they weren’t allowed to talk to staff about the school. THIS IS NOT TRUE. School BOARD members SHOULD talk to teachers and staff on issues related to policies, budget, curriculum, and the overall well-being of the school and students.

What you CANNOT do is address individual teacher performance, issues that would normally be relegated to HR, or student grades. It is inappropriate for the board to give any sort of directive or direct orders to an administrator who is not the King. It is not the school board’s job to micromanage the school. Please note that no individual board member should be issuing directives to admin through the King either. (I’m looking at you, Queenie.) One of our biggest problems is that the current bored does not seem to know how to operate, and it appears that newer members have been given bad and/or misleading information. It also appears that as long as the Queen is enmeshed with whoever our current King is, that she feels free to exert power and control that is beyond the scope of her office.

To Our Newly Appointed Bored Members
You have obviously stepped into the hornet’s nest – and some of that may seem to be falling unfairly on you. Here is a perspective that is held by some of the public and that is – you were put on the bored to be the Queen’s stooges – particularly since the bored passed over Mary Mitchell for an opening not once, but twice. This author will not speculate on all of the reasons this could be so, but it is believed that she would not be a controllable asset, since she has extensive educational experience and was not only principal, but could also have been our superintendent. (This author seems to recall that the will of the admin, faculty, and staff was overruled by the bored then too, which was how we became saddled with do-little King David for five years.) There were public calls to put Mrs. Mitchell on the bored, and the bored didn’t listen. And so you have been put on the bored and in the first 3-2 vote to eliminate teachers, you voted with the Queen. That’s going to carry some onus for you to deal with.

If you, as “new” members, want to dispel this perception, then maybe you need to challenge and change the culture of secrecy surrounding the bored and its decision-making processes. This author’s jokes about the bored and the sunshine law were not made entirely in jest, as it is quite obvious that the current bored is circumventing the intent of the law, which could perhaps be putting the bored in legal jeopardy.

To our newest elected bored member, Countess Leto: If this makes you uncomfortable or a target, I will stop bringing this up in the future. But know that you are the only member who seems to have the courage of your convictions to vote against the majority. That you listen to your constituents is exemplary. And while we know there will be times when you may have to vote in a difficult situation, you are building a reputation as someone who can be counted on to at least listen to everyone and then vote the best you can. We are grateful for your resilience and determination.

Princess Broommeadow, in the past, you have often been the singular member who would ask the hard questions, even as you were talked over, disrespected, and ignored by the Queen and other bored members. Have you been worn down by all of this? Because it seems that you are struggling here.

To the Queen, please just resign or at the very least, just don’t run again. We all know that you want to hand your daughter her diploma as she walks across the stage, but that isn’t a good enough reason to keep you on the bored.

And to conclude this more than slightly longer than normal missive….

Why is this Author a Coward?

Yes, dearest reader, according to one current bored supporter I am exactly this. But I would like to bring you back to my opening quote that, “Secrecy is what is known, but not to everyone. Privacy is what allows us to keep what we know to ourselves.”

It has been vitally important that secret information, that is, information that has been kept from the public, be brought into the light – not for any personal aggrandizement, but because the things going on in our kingdom are bad for children and the adults working with them.

Why would I keep my identity private? There are two primary reasons for this. First, this author has been accused of the following things…

  • -Being a teacher who hates the King and any authority
  • -Being a lesbian (and the attendant homophobia that comes along with that)
  • -Being a far-lefty (this was addressed here)
  • -Being unable to attract men
  • -Being jealous of the King
  • -Being jealous that I could not attract the attention of the King (As if I am some spurned jealous would-be lover – and so this author wonders – is the King sheltering a harem somewhere? Weird.)

None of these issues are relevant to the things that are being reported here. None. So it seems that the “who are you really” issue may be one of misdirecting people’s attention away from what’s really going on. You can read what I write and you can decide whether or not it is valuable information or rubbish. Just understand that if you go back to the beginning of this entire endeavor and read, you will have a broader understanding of just what was being communicated. (Yes, there is a lot of foreshadowing in play.) Certainly some past articles could be viewed as crass, and rather shocking, for isn’t humor often a nugget of truth wrapped in comedy? And yes, some of the articles presented are completely outrageous – and those pieces were done purely for comedic purposes. Since humor is subjective, it is not reasonable that everyone will like everything (or for that matter anything) that this author has composed.

The second is the issue of privacy. I did not seek an elected position that invites scrutiny and requires public discourse. It may be shocking to members of our bored to be put under the microscope, but that is the life of a public official. Being a public official and a good public servant can be a thankless and difficult job. It can also be a rewarding one. In this case, though, the rewards come from seeing a stronger school, a more supportive community, clearer communication, and a better education for all of our children. The reward is not that you get to sit at the front of the room, say whatever you want to say, and then tell everyone to shut up, because you think you have the power to do so.

All I have to say is that I am privy to an overwhelming abundance of information, some of it quite damaging – most of which is not widely known, and for some of it I am a first-person, primary source. In this case, privacy is what allows me to keep what I know to myself. Some of the information passed to me may be false and lacks solid proof, and thus this author will not publish it – as some of these things could permanently damage reputations. But this author certainly feels free to scan local sources of information and make it available to the public – because secrecy is what is known – not just to everyone.

This author has no intention of stepping out of the shadows, and it will be for every reader to judge for themselves the worthiness of this information based on that fact.

If bored members would like to have their views published to a wider audience, perhaps they should utilize the kingdom’s communication channels. They could write articles explaining policy, their decision making process, getting real feedback, and interacting with the public in ways other than a once-a-year survey designed to give them the data they want. (Please don’t get this author started on how incredibly inept the bored’s surveys have been, it’s embarrassing.)

And just as I will not be stepping from the shadows, I also will not stop publishing the secrets that I can reveal.

And no one is required to read it, like it, or approve of it.

Free speech, remember? Our kids got the message.

Sincerely, 

The Lady Whistleblower

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