I just got home from dropping Lugnut off at his first day of preschool. Much like his first day at nursery school last year, he walked in, started playing, and all but shooed me and Wing out the door. After his hour-long tantrum during the Child Find appointment, I am relieved that he felt comfortable in the classroom.
We are fond of saying about Lugnut, “He’s 100% of everything.” If he’s happy, it’s 100% happy - and he’ll let you know it. If he’s upset, it’s 100% angry loudness. So this morning, with Wing asleep and Lug at school, the house is very, very quiet.
It’s a strange feeling to have 3/4 of the kids in school - one part lonely, one part liberating, and one part something else I can’t quite describe.
I’ve been kinda slacking in my job as part time .Gov hater here in town, I’m afraid. Last night, Netmom liveblogged a council session that was to determine whether the council was going to man up and fund the school system enough so that they wouldn’t have to cut classes, which is damn near an annual event. This year, tho, was the first time that the schools had a shot of getting some satisfaction.
In a backwards ass way.
See, the council saw the schools request for a 7 cent property tax increase, and then raised it to a 10 cent one, split 50-50 between the school board and the city budget, which up until now had not been complaining of a lack of funding.
So, the schools still didn’t fully get what they were after, and now shoulder the weight of having a larger property tax in the next year.
The architect for this?
Leonard F—in Abbatiello.
This guy has been bitching and moaning about the school board not answering his questions in the closed door meetings held by the Budget and Finance committee he is on to oversee the financial plans of this city, something thats already backwards, questions that have all been answered multiple times in multiple places (hell, I can answer em), and in the meeting last night he again took the floor to issue a diatribe against the school system and the board of education.
Good thing the jackal is leaving council this term. If I had to sit and watch more of his obvious bias against the school system, it’d probably drive me crazy. We get enough of that crap from elsewhere, we sure don’t need to vote it in.
Speaking of which, theres a lot of talk about a certain city council candidate trying to lowball the school board election. Daco mentioned it, and I took him to task for not citing sources. Since then, I’ve heard from about 7 or 8 pretty reliable sources, all telling me that there are several elderly folk in town who report being advised to only vote for one candidate in the two-seat school board election, and all needing anonymity for various reasons.
If I had a citation for it, I’d make it a huge deal, as it is, I’m still not sure how accurate it is, but if it is accurate, it totally affects my opinion of this candidate. Frankly, it puts the candidate into the worse possible light, not only advising on a race she’s not running for, but advising people not to exercise constitutional rights. Its backwards, its wrong, and if true, is going to have me looking for a rail to run this person out of town on.
See, I’m already all pissed off, and its only 7:30.
Looks like Oak Ridge is moving in the right direction to fund the school system, approving at first reading a 10 cent property tax increase.
It’d sure be cool if there were some sales tax revenue in this backwards little town so homeowners wouldn’t have to shoulder all of the burden, but still, its one I’m completely willing to shoulder if it means keeping up the quality of the school system. I’m of the opinion that if that isn’t one of your priorities, there are plenty of other towns out there that would agree with you.
Now, I’ve been watching this, particuarly the massive amount of work that my pals Doug and Cathy have been doing trying to work around this rezoning plan, effectively bussing kids at a half dozen schools to schools in other districts. The whole thing has made me immensely glad that I don’t live in Knoxville (not that I’ve ever needed a reason not to want to live in K-town), but what’s really been appaling is the way that elements in the Knoxville school board has shown a downright contempt for parents who have a very real problem with the plan.
Hell, from where I’m sitting, the plan is sublimely idiotic. Knoxville justifies the move by saying that several of the schools in their system are filled to capacity, and reshuffling is something that is more convenient for the administration of the school system. Cathy has pointed out that her daughter, now going to school at a more distant high school, is going to be crossing dangerous intersections, along with her neighbors.
And thats what it comes down to for me, is the neighborhood aspect of it. I moved into a neighborhood with my kids expecting that they’d go to the same school, that I’d be dealing with the same teachers and staff, that I’d form a relationship with the school to mutually aid the kid as he grows up. I think most people do that. I’ve sat with the Cemestos folks several times and talked about the fact that our kids are going to be going to school together for the next 100 or so years, with the expectation that this plan isn’t going to be screwed with.
Its an important thing, the bond of trust between schools and parents, and when it gets blown, it produces problems. Growing up in Chattanooga, there was a big problem with the local superintendant’s plan to close several elementary schools, including the one my sisters and I attended, due to money management problems that his staff had. I was going to be out of of the school anyway the year it would close, but my sisters ended up going to an inner-city middle school that didn’t provide anywhere near the offerings that I had received. They had to drive across town, which was an inconvenience on my family (big time), and I think it was a setback for my sisters (who have since gone on to blow me away on a scholastic level, with their 4.0 geek grade point averages, but its OK, because I’m cooler than they are).
The point is, Knoxville has screwed the pooch, and made a decision that is going to mess with a few thousand lives for a few years to come. And, apparently, this is done because the school board didn’t bother. Because people got elected to the school board who had no interest in dealing with parents, no interest in the schools, that saw the board as a political jumping board, or something to do on Monday nights.
I’m lucky to live in Oak Ridge, where the school board is united. Where we have several people who seem to act sincerely for the good of the kids and the parents, and the whole damn community, and work hard to make sure that the right thing is done.
A letter to the Oak Ridger today stood out as a shining example of what happens when smart people don’t stop to consider exactly what their positions on things are, and why this weird little town is as backwards as it is today.
Now, I don’t intend to call out the author, because I’ve met him, and he’s a smart, friendly guy, but his points in the article didn’t make much sense. Lets go over them, because this is what I’m getting from a lot of people these days, and it don’t make a lick of sense.
The nut of the thing, and I was going to do a point by point thing but got lazy, is that he’s applauding the school board’s decision to ask for a million extra bucks for their budget so they can slap a 2% raise on the teachers, and telling city council to fully fund the school board and stop screwing around, all points that I wholeheartedly agree with.
However, on the other hand, the dude is trying as hard as he can to block the whole Crestpoint thing, which, by all projections, would be a huge boost to the money available to the school board. I mean, at this point, the school board ain’t getting the money they need without raising property taxes. Now, I’m not necessarily against that, but the town already has one of the highest property tax rates in the state. Seems to me that it ain’t exactly a sign of fiscal health to have to keep milking the already high taxes in order to fund a school system fully.
So, whats the deal? Sure, the city’s going to have to dump some cash into infrastructure and works on the Crestpoint deal, thats life in the 21st century. Yeah, its gonna be traffic. However, that traffic problem is all going to be chock full of people paying income tax into the city, and the lions share of that goes to AC and OR schools.
So, seriously man, how do you negotiate the two points? How would you propose that the city funds the school system for the next 10 years or so, and we’re not talking 2% penny ante raises, we’re talking decent 3-4% raises like everybody else gives?
Peter’s broke, and lemme tell you, Paul is starting to get a mean gleam in his eye…