Candid thinking on ACES, schools, stuff like that
September 13th, 2006 by Atomictumor
One problem I have with mixing Atomictumor.com with stuff like ACES is that some folks are going to come here looking for ACES stuff. Thats all well and good, but with ACES I’m largely trying to filter the more caustic aspects of my personality to fit a more polite audience, and here, well, I just say whatever garbage jumps into my mind.
The way I see it (and Bos, GAC, Eaves, whoever, may not agree) is that the whole point of the thing is to make sure that kids in kindergarden in Oak Ridge now will have the best start in life they can get. Its entirely selfish, because if the schools are great, my kids will have a reasonable chance of making all sorts of cash and buying me a boat. Because the schools are helping out kids with special needs and economic disadvantages, I’ll have less of a chance of a crackhead stealing the boat.�
I’ll probably call it something dumb tho, and misspell it, like “Sissyphus”, or “Admireal”.
Everybody wants that (not necessarily the Admireal, but the good school system). Nobody is going to say “Well, I’m cool with a medocre school”. However, the problem that I see is that the City Council feels safer playing the “no new taxes” card than the “make sure the schools stay good” card.
I’m not blaming council, and I don’t have a beef with them. Theres been the perception that anybody who’s for the schools is automatically against the council. Thats self defeating, limiting, and just plain stupid. The Oak Ridge City Council has done a pretty damn good job running this town. Sure, the mall things a problem, but thats more because Arnsdorff’s a dick, rather than that the council messed up.
They gave city employees raises. The library is getting better funding. Businesses and homes are popping up all over. They’re being proactive about the blight situation. A lot of things that really matter are being handled quite well, so there’s no reason to dismiss them.
However, I’m not sure everybody is as openminded as I am, which is a problem. Turns out, and I didn’t know this before, that 99% of the time somebody mentions schooling, they’ve got a grudge somewhere. People backing the city say “Well, how much money are we supposed to give the schools?” or “The school board is trying to rip us off”.
On the other hand, you have a lot of the people backing the schools who feel that the city is out to get them, they’re holding funding from the school system in order to teach the system a lesson. I’ve accused them of that myself, and who knows?�
(Word around the campfire has been that, in a small ’sunshine law friendly’ get-together, Mayor Bradshaw and Manager O’Connor told SB Chief John Smith and Superintendent Bailey not to give them a budget fight this year, because they’re just getting 3%.)
Maybe thats accurate.
With ACES, we’re hoping to get past those people who have some sort of emotional stake in this thing one way or another, and speak rationally to everybody else. Those of you who want to play sides, guess what?
Its not helping.
This is not a “get rid of the politician” issue. This is a “lets all show everybody how important the school is” issue, and based on the reaction we’ve been getting from ACES, it seems that everybody thinks it, but nobody wants to get up on the chair and say it without thowing mud in the process.
Which is the problem, because I’m a rock thrower. I’m keeping that separate from ACES, tho, and I hope you do too.
September 13th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
You’re right, of course: what needs to be said, needs to come from the whole City, and needs to be said without throwing mud.
Thanks for your efforts — all of you.
September 13th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Truth is, its getting hard to keep up. GAC and I have no free time (despite my blogging, which is all on the work computer…ssshhhhhh), and Eave’s and Bos’s time is getting eaten up by the creature growing within her.
Which is a lie, of sorts. We do have time, but its hard finding the mental facilities to commit to the thing. Yikes!
September 13th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
I don’t think people will be able to turn off their cavalier thoughts/processes just by asking them to–on BOTH sides of the fences.
Quite frankly I don’t care about the stupid grudges, as you mention. But they’re there. We can’t just ignore them, at the very least we have to acknowledge them so we can either correct legitimate problems or we can discuss how those feelings are just untrue.
September 13th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
AT, you already know I agree with you on this. I’d like to think that there’s a middle ground somewhere - though if such a thing exists, both sides will have to make concessions.
September 14th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Thank you for a refreshing look on the situation. I appreciate it.
September 14th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
I appreciate you dropping the note, Jo!
September 14th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
One of my hopes w/ ACES is that the school budgeting process gains wider community exposure. I want more people to become invested in the process by which our schools are funded. I don’t think either the Council, or the School board, have hidden aggendas to undercut each other. I believe both are acting with the best interests of the community in mind. It seems to me that the two entities are, however, working against each other.
The bickering is knuckle-headed, because it draws attention away from the real issue at hand. That’s what AT has drawn our attention to, “to make sure that kids in kindergarden in Oak Ridge now will have the best start in life they can get.”
AT, thanks for the post.