Play by Play Conclusion

(Originally published August 25, 2010)

A sad announcement to make: Al Loma is gravely ill; I wish him a speedy recovery, and hope that District 11 weasels -- and they know who they are -- don't use this situation as an additional advantageous opportunity to push through whatever they want.

I find it so interesting that after my first post on this subject, both the August 11 and 18 podcasts were taken down...and the August 18 Saturday and Sunday rebroadcasts were the apparent victims of total technical difficulty...odd...must be something discomfitting there.  Of course, I sensed this early on, hence my dogged determination in posting them for you all, despite my clunker computer and scarcity of time.  I'll go through the August 11 meeting and post the video that corresponds to my Board Meeting Cliff's Notes as time permits.

Video that would already be up in its unedited form, with the generous help of someone willing to sponsor Spydra's increased bandwidth.  Just a thought.

Talk about Trailblazer having a sixth-grade community. Well, imagine that --sixth grade in elementary school...just like in the good old days. That's a question that came to my mind upteen gazillion times: Exactly why were the elementary schools suffering from lower enrollment? BECAUSE THEY TOOK SIXTH GRADE OUT AND PUT IT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL, DUH.

And that was a decision that again affected our family personally; our 14 yr. old girl entered middle school and high school a year earlier than her father and I did. Good thing she's a good girl...but let's face it -- go to high school a year earlier, grow up a year earlier. I have never appreciated that forced and accelerated one-year growth spurt on my daughter, courtesy of District 11.  In the same vein, I feel half-day kindergarten is another thing that's sorely missing.

Then comes the Big One, the Challenging One, Glenn sighs with difficulty, the high school boundaries.  Nobody wants to see their high school suffer in any way, and Glenn would know best; the school least at risk of suffering from drastic change is Doherty -- Glenn's alma mater.

Glenn goes on to talk about how Doherty is absolutely full...but how can it be? According to the numbers that were read to me, there's still plenty of room at Doherty; if not, what was the purpose of the 5 million dollar addition there?  I haven't checked the numbers myself -- and let's face it, I've already proven many times over my numerical ineptitude...but check the numbers for yourselves; is there room for more at Doherty?

I feel like they just want to make sure none of the kids at Doherty ever feel crowded.  Ya know, maybe it's just some inherently German thing; Lebensraum is what they're always hankering for...and in case you don't know what that means, it's "Room to Live" or "elbow room." Hitler was real big on it.

Ugh. I wish Jan would already give me the 10 percent cut she owes me from her 2008-2009 pizza earnings from the District...I KNOW I wouldn't dislike her so intensely...well, there's that and the THREE MOORS' HEADS ON THE JORGENSEN AND TANNER FAMILY CRESTS.

Call me Kizzy, and hire up one of'em Full Time Eee Bonics translators in case you cain't unnerstand me here, but I'se sho nuffs thinks Missy Jan's a hypocrite and a skin flint, and every word come spit-flying out of her mouth at top speed is bona fide HOGWARSH and HORSE PUCKEY.  I'm able to perceive Jan the Actress in her every nuance, always overacting, even when she's trying to play it cool. Jan is the very embodiment of the word "disengenuous"...caring nothing about our city and our kids, and even less about our state in which she hopes to represent for us. Jan is better left as some other state's small potato -- remember this, friends: A VOTE FOR JAN IS A VOTE FOR OBAMA SOCIALISM.

Glenn discusses having a spare tire in the trunk, but as he knows: sometimes, there's just too much junk in the trunk to fit a spare tire; and in those cases, the only choice is to carry it somewhere higher.

Look at Charlie laugh, and volunteer to be the "Questioner." He raises the issue of disparity in committee membership.   Gotta love the way Glenn makes it sound easy breezy for the capacity committee to also serve as the boundaries committe -- rotsa ruck, r'all. 

Charlie discusses the enrollment numbers and boundaries at Mitchell and Wasson, and how it seems as though the District, in tweaking these boundaries almost seems to be actively ghetto-izing Mitchell and Wasson in particular; he asks if perhaps the District isn't acting prematurely by about a year.

LuAnn, nauseting as usual with her know-it-all-ness. Jan, speaking like an auctioneer. Gledich, talking about October 15. Charlie...brave as always...asking, "What are we trying to accomplish?" Every one of his concerns is ignored and dismissed, almost as though no one heard him speaking, period. Referenced are all of the Board absentees, and how they'll be apprised of the determinations that were made during the meeting. Notice Bob's quip at the end of the clip, about how decisions might be made in a person's absence.

Here come the "Community Engagement" discussions, which I found to be especially painful. Charlie talks about how he sees these meetings, and how so many of the community expressed their dismay that their questions were not answered during the 2008-2009 utilization meetings. Jan expresses her confidence that the meetings will be "civil", doubting the need for any type of moderator or "proctor."

LuAnn reliably pooh-poohs Charlie, and concurs with Director Tanner. Don't you hate LuAnn's stupid vest, which appears to have been attacked by a Bead-azzler?

The food discussion; hopefully, the "nibbles" won't be the pizza-flavored Scooby snacks that have LuAnn so mesmerized and always looking so zaftig.

Charlie mentions the Board Director Open House Contest, which from the sound of things are not much more than glad-hand opportunities being dominated by Jan and Bob.

Bob delivers a Ha-Ha Stab in the Back and Al seconds it.

The meeting ends with Charlie as the party of one...when it's actually all of us for whom he gives voice. It hurts me so badly inside when he begins to stammer, and I can only imagine how hard it is to formulate a polite response to all of the crap issuing forth from all of these people's mouths. Jan better not think for a moment she's in any way superior to Charlie; check out how many times that mile-a-minute-mouth uses the word "UM."

Notice the last scene, where Charlie leaves in disgust, and they all watch him go.



At first, after watching this Board meeting from beginning to end in one sitting, I blamed my angst on Post-Traumatic Numeric Violence; Glenn has previously and mercilessly perpetrated such upon me...binding me, blinding me, silencing me...beating me, and at times, rendering me comatose. 

But after having watched the entire thing 5,000 times, I realize now that Glenn actually mentioned very few numbers; no, my severe math inferiority complex wasn't to blame for my acute sense of anxiety.

No, it was something else entirely. 

It was the tether-ball to the head on the playground and the closed ranks of the long lunchroom table...it was the passed note and the inside joke and the peals of a sly, secret laughter...it was the lowered eyes' sadistic gleam and the hurt of being picked last for the team, and the sad cloudy sky of a fair-weather friendship; IT WAS the 32nd reunion of the sixth-grade Mean Girls and asshole Eddie Haskells of Audubon Elementary School circa 1978, a group so vicious and an era so painful...

I absolutely resent the resemblance to D11's administration and Board.

I'm tacking this onto the end, but it was really right at the beginning of the meeting when the discussion of the Compass Learning K-8 curriculum was discussed. Had it not been for the delay caused by Gledich's "Welcome Back to School" comments, the Board would have voted for the curriculum lock stock and barrel prior to Charlie's arrival...all, based only upon Mike Poore's gabby presentation a week earlier.

I'm not a big fan of online learning whatsoever; I also can't seem to figure out why the District decided to make such big changes to its online learning program, which was pretty popular and successful where it was in the Citadel Mall -- the Board is always ready to explain why what isn't broken needs fixing. 

Lastly, there's something oily about the two presenters...I dunno, but the principal, whatever his name is, doesn't seem very scholarly to me...and that Junk man...well, I went to Mann Middle School with one of his kin -- his sister or cousin or some such other relative, judging from their remarkably strong facial resemblance.   A.J. was a mean and flippantly cruel popular jock back then...I can't believe she changed much since, and the very memory of her, I guess, just doesn't reflect well on this man Junk for me personally.

Apples never fall far from their tree.

So...sorry to ramble, but thanks for reading this far.