We Need To Do Better Than This

I feel like I am about to go back to the origin of this blog...BISD.  It amazes me the kind of crap that comes out of the school board meetings.  It seems it never stops...never will stop.

Last night, the news stations reported that the school board meeting went on until midnight.  This seemed to many to be an apparent attempt to keep the public from speaking by making them wait.  The scheduled time for public comments was after all other business was finished.  The picture below was taken sometime around 11:30 last night.  As you can see, what was described as a packed house at the beginning of the meeting had become stragglers by the time the public comment portion of the meeting started.  Board president Woodrow Reece has publicly stated that maybe the public should not be able to comment at the board meetings...it seems he is trying to get this achieved without making a policy change.

At last night's meeting the subject of the upcoming election was on the agenda.  For those of you who may not know, the board was supposed to hold elections in May; but because of their resistance to the change from seven single member districts to five single member and two at large, the board was able to effectively put off the election until November.  This is a problem though because Texas law states that school board elections must be held in the spring of odd number years in conjunction with municipal elections.  There are no other elections being held this November.  This makes this election illegal.  (Texas Election Code Sections 11.053 and 11.0581)  The Jefferson County Voter Registrar Shane Howard attempted to speak at last night's meeting about the election...he was denied the right to speak because he supposedly has no interest in this issue.  Except that he does.

The voter registrar's office is charged with ensuring that voters have registration cards that prove they are eligible to vote and in which district they should vote.  This office has to do this before each election.  This is Mr. Howard's job.  If the voter registrar's office aids in the illegal election, Mr. Howard has a problem.  So as you can see, he is affected by this issue.  He was not allowed to speak on the advice from the district attorney, Melody Chappell.  When the board denied Mr. Howard the right to speak, another local attorney and City Council member, Mike Getz, again made a circus out of the board meeting.

Lest you think these antics are a one time thing, I assure you they are not.  This happens at every board meeting and in buildings all across the district.  One side argues with the other and it gets out of control.  One person doesn't like what another is doing...let's sue them and cost the taxpayers money.  A principal of a school has a disagreement with another principal...let's ruin the daughter's life because we can't get along.  The circus atmosphere needs to stop.  People need to grow up and maybe listen to what the Pope has had to say this week.

Tolerance and compassion.  We need to work on our tolerance and compassion.  We need to learn how to get along with people we may not see eye to eye with.  Whether it is because of perceived wrongs because of race or because of what you see as someone trying to one up you...we all need to get along.  The only way this city will ever heal is if we all decide to listen to each other.  The board has decided they will not listen to the public or each other.  This has caused conflict and anger.  We need to be better than this.