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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Daily Times Rides to Defense of Wicomico Board of Ed - II

On Monday, we began to examine what will probably go down in history as the most disgraceful editorial ever to appear in the Daily Times.  Today, we continue deconstructing the DT’s journey through the looking glass:
In return, this week the school board presented the council with its own list of questions, attempting to force a dialogue rather than simply submitting to what seemed like interrogation. It was not well-received, and the tone of the meeting turned hostile.
Again, the author either was not present or lives in a fantasy world.  Councilwoman Stevie Prettyman (R-2) mentioned the questions submitted by the WCBOE.  Board member Ron Willey is the one who turned hostile.  Let’s face it, the guy melted down in front of a room full of people.
Perpetually pitting "us" against "them" leaves no room for compromise, no tolerance for explanations and no chance of seeking common-ground solutions.
No tolerance for explanations?  The chief complaint against the council in this matter is that they dared to seek explanations, albeit explanations backed up by evidence.  Can they be blamed after being given misleading “explanations” so many times in the past?
My personal favorite:
Tuesday's meeting in Wicomico County was a showdown, a power play by the council to demonstrate it is ultimately in charge. Or so it thinks.
This paragraph is the real clue that Fredericksen may have written the piece himself.  Just the right amount of ARROGANCE!
It is true that the Wicomico County Council does not have the authority to dictate how dollars are spent.  The author may not understand it, but the same actually applies for the county budget as well.  However, as Rick Pollitt is fast finding out, this council will not hesitate to cut funding when they see evidence of wasteful, unnecessary, or inefficient spending.  I can only hope that the council shows the same spine when dealing with Fredericksen and his merry little band of bureaucrats.  If the WCBOE doesn’t want to provide the information sought by our elected officials, then the council should simply zero out the entire line item.  True, there are mechanisms for getting around some of this, but does Fredericksen want to explain to the public the following:
For years we were told that the WCBOE didn’t waste money.  They told us that it was all for the children.  Now, they are facing funding cuts, but claim that no money is being taken from the classroom.  Interesting.  Both assertions cannot be true.  But hey; John Fredericksen would NEVER try to pull the wool over the eyes of the taxpayer.  Would he?
Tomorrow we conclude our examination of the DT’s bizarre view of reality.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. I noticed that the DT did report accurately (when comparing against SBY) the incident at the board with the 9 questions and Willey and Wright. It is their editorials that need to be screened because they are full of lies. As you say, had to be written by an inside man because nobody is on the side of the Board.

Anonymous said...

The Board's usual tactic is to stall, stall, stall then manipulate and evade then, when months have passed, they say, "That's old news. We've moved on" and they still won't answer. It's a study in deception being taught by masters. Do competent people with nothing to hide behave that way?

Anonymous said...

How about the $50,000 cut from the budget for school media centers for the current year? Every school lost about $2,000 so $50,000 or more could be moved into an account to pay speakers on multiculturalism. Were the speakers worth having the kids lose $50,000 in library books and materials? If two programs were supervised by the same person, should money have been taken from one to fund a pet project for the other one? We'll all be dead and gone before the central office admits this happened.

Anonymous said...

SH, I am not up on what took place at the meeting, sorry. However I need to report that I know for a fact that the county could of had some property in Hebron and possibly a big portion of it could have been worked out as donated to the school system. When this offer was made the county school board never even acknoledged the offer. I as well know that a offer was sent to the county as well. Again no responce. Looking in the future I can see why there was no responce because how convenient that the Town of Fruitland home of our county leader got the school put on their property at a high price. This is the kind of government that the county runs, the good ole boy system. I appreciate our teachers that really earn their positiona nd money but I am so sick of the issues around the BOE and the county. Both are no more then administrative tax usiers. They do not try to get what is best for the kids but what is best for them.

Anonymous said...

5:31, you are so wrong. There are many many parents on the side of the board. What are lies to you are realities to others. Please speak only for yourself. You don't know what everyone else is thinking.

Anonymous said...

Puke , puke , puke.
If this were a third world country , the BOE would be beheaded.

Anonymous said...

7:17, as a Fruitland resident that has kept a closeful eye on the middle school, the land was not Fruitlands, it belonged to the Houlihans. (sp?) This project does absolutely nothing to benefit Fruitland (aka the residents). It has only served to take land off of the tax rolls, and the realistic possibility of traffic issues. Rick Pollitt would have nothing to gain by it being located in Fruitland. It was a better location than the other, but it will do nothing for us.

G. A. Harrison said...

Anon 1952 -

You are correct that neither the commenter nor I have a right to speak for you. I am curious about your statement, "What are lies to you are realities to other.". Again, I can't speak for Anon 1731, but I am curious if you would apply this to the points I have made regarding the WCBOE.

I pride myself on being pretty careful. When I say something is untrue, I can back it up.

While opinion can be, truth is not subjective. One of the problems with today's society is that kids are taught in school to "respect all opinions, all beliefs". Many opinions are objectively wrong; so are many beliefs. Giving equal sway to them is merely a form of relativism. That relativism has caused many problems in our country and throughout the Western world.

Anonymous said...

Stevies hot

Anonymous said...

10:14pm Oh please, this is not about what any council member looks like. This is about how our money is spent.