Friday, September 07, 2007

Disgruntled or uninformed - those are your choices

When my supervisor left the Edmonds School District in 2005, his insulating powers left with him. When fecal matter hit the fan, he was always standing between us and that fan. The extent of our collective observation would be nothing more than the faint whiff of something unsavory. What arrived in his place was someone with fecal matter between his ears. No insulating happened and the exposure to all that was unholy was laid out right before us. It was unpleasant. It was raw. It was agonizing to behold. What was once explained in advance and resulted from departmental collaboration was now plunked down in reeking filth without so much as an introduction.

For those among you that still do not know, I love the District sincerely. I want to see our public schools thrive and churn out healthy, happy and intellectually-developed young men and women. Unfortunately, such results depend on money. The same money that is being handed out in questionable land transactions and through unnecessary raises for only district administrators. Employees on the front line have to carry the burden of program cuts and staffing reductions - not administrators. The real sacrifices are being made in the classrooms, when class sizes increase and academic programs are scaled back. Students have fewer opportunities. Staff have greater pressures on rapidly dwindling resources. How can you be anything other than dissatisfied?

Am I disgruntled, as Marla Miller claims in the board minutes? Absolutely. Disgruntled means "in a state of sulky dissatisfaction - discontent". What is happening in the District makes me incredibly dissatisfied and far from content. Like many people, I intend to express my dissatisfaction and discontent with a ballot. I will not vote for the current school board. I will be voting for change and strongly encourage others to join me.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here, here! The District is turning into "Night of the Living Dead".

We need to exorcise a few of them so that they may go to another "resting place".

Anonymous said...

I'm with you.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. I remember when our district was having budget problems and Brian Benzel cut adminstrators and did not accept an offer of a raise. That was then this is NOW!

Anonymous said...

I wonder what Brian Benzel is up to these days? If he is still running the Spokane School District he can't possibly be earning more than the superintendent at the Edmonds School District. What would it take for him to return? We can throw these rotten souls back into the pit from which they crawled.

ESD15.org said...

Dr. Benzel just accepted a position at Whitworth College as Vice President of Finance and Administration, effective August 1, 2007. I doubt he will be interested in saving the Edmonds School District, even at the rate they're paying. Dr. Benzel was never about the money.

Anonymous said...

I, too agree, Brian Benzel was never about money; he was truly one of the "best" leaders I worked under in my 30 years with the District. I wish him well in his new endeavor, however, I would welcome him with open arms if he would come back to ESD.