Are there previously documented occurrences of the School District’s taping system failing?
We are asked to believe it was just another inadvertency when the portion containing the embarrassing remarks by Board members Stew Bubar and Dana Russell about Board President Saundra Davis did not record.
At first, this seemed like a plausible explanation. In reality, it is highly improbable a technical glitch would occur just before the embarrassing statements and that somehow it would miraculously correct itself afterward.
How naïve does the District think we are?
Once again, the District Administration is not out to prove anyone’s innocence or a theory. School Board members know all they have to do is to raise just enough doubt among community members to continue in their positions as if nothing happened.
The Board understands that most parents wouldn’t dare think of confronting its members on this controversy while their children are still enrolled in the School District because of the fear of retaliation.
Spreading Rumor
If this explanation doesn’t raise doubt, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone started a nasty rumor that Ms. Davis may have erased the blank ape portion herself. That would deflect ethical heat from the School Board back to the victim.
The Lady’s Got Personality
Each School Board president brings a distinct style and personality. Just because previous Board presidents did not find it necessary to do certain things a certain way, that should not preclude another from trying new ways. Her fellow Board members have had four years’ experience with Ms. Davis. If they knew they were going to have a hard time controlling her style, why did they elect her president? For appearances?
As the Superintendent of the School District, Dr. Laura McGaughey is he governing Board’s only employee.
When Ms. Davis became president in December, she sought perks that have gone to previous officeholders.
Quietly, Dr. McGaughey asked and received a pledge of support from the other four School Board members in the event she were to turn down any or all requests from Ms. Davis.
That Dr. McGaughey found it necessary to line up support of the other members, behind Ms. Davis’ back, is telling in how she perceives her business and personal relationships with the president.
Polishing a Tarnished Image
The School District’s recent hiring of a professional media consultant, at an annual rate of over $44K (wasn’t his previous rate only $30K?) is not going to help to polish the Board’s tarnished image. It only places another layer of bureaucracy between themselves and the public. When they quote the District publicist, instead of the other way around, it is another way to insulate themselves from being held responsible by the community.
How the School Board will handle an all too Nixon-like ethical controversy is still to be answered.
Will the School Board keep issuing improbable scenarios to produce enough community doubt so members can sit this one out? Let’s hope not. Hoping that the public will lose interest is not a solution. But then this is the strategy used by both Mr. Bubar and Dr. Russell to get re-elected. Mr. Bubar didn’t win his re-election outright. His was a marbled victory in a game of chance.
Public Needs Reassurance
If School Board members truly are concerned about what the public thinks, they should stop playing with their selective memories. They should stop releasing imaginative, hypothetical explanations and improbable scenarios of what might have occurred.
Members should get the truth out to the community to avoid looking as if they are stalling for time.
It would be reassuring if each Board member would go on record as to whether he or she had anything to do with an alleged editing of the Jan. 24 meeting tape.
