I'm with Bob

I think it's funny how all those brilliant guys and gals up on the board are so capable of playing absolutely dumb when certain uncomfortable discussion ensues.

Bob Null *CORRECTLY* questioned the procedures that were put into place for the discussion of these budget reductions...and practically everyone up there all of a sudden started blinking like simpletons and stammering out gibberish.

These are the procedures Bob questioned:

Should the Board want to consider significant changes to the Preliminary Budget for FY2010-2011, then such decisions should be made as early in March as possible so that the Superintendent can accurately prepare the Proposed Budget and notify key stakeholders on the impact of such changes. We encourage the Board to make any decisions regarding changes to the FY2010-2011 Preliminary Budget on or before March 10, 2010.

To facilitate the Board’s modification of the FY2010-2011 Preliminary Budget/Reductions on March 3rd and March 10th, it is recommended that the Board approve the following procedures:

1. That the Preliminary Budget (Rubric Reductions, Reutilization Funds, Global Reductions and Budget Modifications) serve as a base or foundation upon which modifications are considered;

2a. In order to further discuss any budget reduction item during the action portion of the agenda, two or more board members must agree to discuss the item;

2b. In order to remove or modify any budget reduction item during the action portion of the agenda, a board member must make a motion and receive a second;

3. Any motions to change the Preliminary Budget, if passed by a majority vote of the Board present, shall be a tentative change subject to Board action on the Proposed Budget in June, 2010;

4. That periodically during the process, the superintendent or designee checks with the budget director to coordinate running totals, as whether or not the budget is balanced;

5. That should the Board of Education, near the end of the process, find the Preliminary Budget out of balance by an immaterial amount, it is recommended that the Board direct the administration to balance the budget, rather than making small adjustments that might not be effective.

LISTEN:  IS BULLCRAP THE PRIMARY LANGUAGE FOR THESE STUFFED SHIRTS?  IS PLAIN ENGLISH TOO HARD FOR THESE GENIUSES??

Who was the wordsmith who crafted these new rules?   I'll go ahead and presume it was Mr. Grinch Glenn Gustafson, who slapped it together to form a quasi-intelligent-sounding lubricant to make it so that his latest budget reduction "recommendations" can be shoved in with little-to-no muss or fuss.

Well Glenn, not every multi-million dollar decision is going to be as carefree as the cataclysmic shuttering of all those neighborhood schools last year...and not all of your constituents will give in and capitulate to your mid-game rule-changing, which went out of vogue with Fourth-Grade Foursquare.

I'm so glad the district has once again seen fit to seek out the opinions of its staff; I guess whatever questionnaire you sent out this year must be a whole lot different than last year's Pet Peeves document, which ultimately became expensive and not-too-soft buttwipe; and all of this transparency nonsense infuriates me:  as far as I'm concerned, Admin might as well all be wearing full-coverage burqas...you're about as transparent as a gigantic and mysterious brick wall.

Glenn, baby, take your time, do it right; but if fast and easy is what you really want, then next time try Rohypnol for your rape reductions.