If You Feel the Urge, Don't Hesitate to Rant

I got interested in the school board when Elia and Kipley cooked up a case against Bart Birdsall. He had written to the county library protesting the gay director's cooperating with Ronda Storms's ordinance curtailing gays' library rights from his home computer. Joe Stines, the head of the library is gay like Bart.

Joe Stines, instead of having the courtesy and courage to respond to a citizen, turned the emails over to Pat Bean, who is Elia's girlfriend so that Elia would put the screws to Bart. What's a girlfriend for if not to terrorize a little bug of a library person in the school system to make him think he is going to lose his job.

Elia and Kipley a love for the sadism as their chief management technique that the Professional Standards cell block dishes out for their amusement of watching the little school lower-level bugs scamper around in a panic with the fear of being out of work because something they have done has irked Captain Queeg Elia. Kipley brought Bart in for some mind games, and my guess is that Black, now head of Technology with an early-childhood degree joined in by having his technicians comb the email system for any little speck that Elia and Kipley should lay on Bart.

Black is the third one of the three thugs--he, Hamilton, and Lennard--who tortured Doug Erwin to the point of panic from that poor man before he finally took the board to court and cleaned its clock for their members' violating the whistle-blower law. He and they are well macerated in the culture of terrorism which is how ROSSAC maintains its hold on the rest of the school. The ROSSAC thugs found that Bart had posted an invitation on the media bulletin board about the speak-out about the library shutdown to gays that invited people to come and participate. The thugs grabbed that speck and used it to pin wrongdoing on Bart, although one would have thought a bulletin board was the place to post community notices. All the gays working for the schools panicked and wouldn't speak to Bart for fear of his being in trouble with the ROSSAC minions would contaminate them with disobedience to the top thugs.

After Elia et al had shook Bart up pretty badly and he went to therapy to get over the terror tactics he endured, I told him this bit of wisdom: Don't ever back down to thugs: it just encourages them to treat you worse. They want to hang you from a post in the court yard to act as warning to the other lower-level personnel. The thing to do is fight them. Repudiate them. Criticize them. They pick on the weak. They leave the strong and rebellious alone.

I know this because from the minute I stepped into a classroom at HCC, I fought the administration skullduggeries. I complained. I screamed. I wrote memos and sent them school wide. The administration got to the point that its bullies wouldn't even answer the phone when I called them. They had a festival that lasted three days when I picked up my chalk one day and retired to the beach. If you bow to bullies, you encourage them, I said. Fight them, and they give you wide berth.

So in his gentle way, Bart has done just that. He sees things wrong in the schools and writes the board homilies like the one below. Here is a typical email Bart writes the board since his episode with Elia and Kipley's trying to mess up his brains (I got his permission to publish it):

Dear Board Members: I was heartened by Mrs. Kurdell's and Mrs. Edgecomb's questioning of Cathy Valdes concerning the kitchen temperatures in cafeterias. I believe Mrs. Kurdell and Mrs. Edgecomb are compassionate toward the cafeteria workers who must work in the heat. Whenever the board shows concern for the little people I am heartened.

Please review the video of the questioning however. I am very sensitive to body language and how people speak. I get this from my mother. I sense a note of defensiveness in Cathy Valdes. Near the end she acted like she explained it all and why is she being questioned so much, and when the man spoke about the issue after she did, she sort of seemed like she had the attitude, "Thank God he is here to back me up! What else do you all want from me?"

What you two did was what I would like all the board members to do. Question the administrators and make sure they are taking care of the little people like cafeteria workers and teachers. You are paying these people a lot of money, and they should explain themselves and answer valid questions without any hint of attitude, when you are simply asking valid questions.

Mrs. Kurdell and Mrs. Edgecomb were extremely polite with Ms. Valdes, so there was absolutely no reason for her to get her feathers ruffled, unless she feels she is not doing an adequate job or not able to explain herself. I felt your questions were important ones to address to her and ask of her. I can't imagine she doesn't feel the same way. She should be thrilled with the opportunity to share her info with you.

I believe the next time one of the administrators acts like she should not have to explain all this, one of you should say, "The district pays you a lot, and the public expects us to question you about these types of things that keep our employees safe. Chill out!"

Mrs. Edgecomb seemed almost apologetic for questioning Ms. Valdes and explained why she was asking Valdes all these questions. I don't feel an explanation for your questions was necessary. I don't feel you two were rude whatsoever and did exactly what voters ask you to do (look after taxpayer dollars and make sure the district is run correctly).

I do not think the school board should ever apologize for doing what is in the public's best interest (open government) not to mention the cafeteria workers' best interests. Mrs. Edgecomb also seemed worried people thought too much time was being spent on the issue. CONCERN and the WELFARE of employees is never a waste of time or should not be considered such. NEVER feel guilty about asking questions that concern the welfare of employees.

If you worry a fellow board member doesn't think helping the little people is a worthy topic, say, "I find the welfare of other human beings the most important thing in this district...." That will shut any board member up who tries to imply you are wasting everyone's time by asking questions of cafeteria temperatures. I believe there is a time to be apologetic. For example, if you accuse Ms. Valdes of doing a terrible job and then you find evidence she is doing a wonderful job.

THEN, it is time to be apologetic. Or maybe if you get snippy with her, because you had a bad day and took it out on her. However, I don't think you need to be apologetic whatsoever to question her about the cafeteria kitchens being 84 degrees or not. Both Mrs. Kurdell and Mrs. Edgecomb were asking VERY valid and VERY important questions for the welfare of the staff. I actually commend that, but I was bothered that you all felt apologetic about doing what is right. It is NEVER wrong to help your fellow human being, especially the ones below you. Never! One of you mentioned having a notification of the process for monitoring kitchen temperature. I think that is a good idea, and I hope you pursue it. I think 84 degrees in the kitchen is horrible myself. I would not want to work in 84 degrees all day long every single day. To me that is inhumane treatment even if it is the state or federal or whatever standard that Ms. Valdes states. The district should pay for their deodorant if this is the case and install big fans all over the kitchens. I get the impression that the ROSSAC administrators are not used to being questioned, and they expect you to nod your head to whatever they say, so any slight questioning ruffles their feathers. This is abnormal. Someone doing a good job explains things and is glad to do so.

I was questioned very harshly (and lied to) by Linda Kipley, but when I complained to CTA and asked for an investigation into Kipley's treatment of teachers, Jean Clements said that "investigation" is a harsh word.

Apparently, investigating teachers is no problem. Investigating administrators is harsh. This is a double standard in the district. I don't know why the board and everyone at the top handles each other with such kid gloves as if you are mortally wounding someone simply by asking questions about a topic. Meanwhile, teachers are mistreated routinely by Kipley and the gloves come off. That is not right, and it needs to change. There is always talk of the district's Civility Policy. I have had a board member yell at me in public, yet I am always told I have to be civil according to policy. That is why I am hoping some new blood gets on the school board in the upcoming elections.

It is not right to continue like this and all of you know this in your heart. Administrators and Superintendents should not be friends of yours. Keep them at arm's length and ask the important questions like you did tonight about the kitchen temperatures. If they are friends they will stay friends despite your questioning if they are true friends.

Lee has given me hell about this or that, and we remain friends. If I were on the board she would not give me a free pass. I would be reamed out also. I think you all view Lee as crazy, but deep down inside you know that a lot of what she is trying to do is right. She expects the school district to continually improve (advertise jobs, stop no bid hiring, stop hiring consultants, etc). Like I said, you have a community member who actually cares about what is going on in the school district. I don't know about you, but I find that rare! She should be cherished. She is policing the district, and that will force it to run better which will benefit thousands of children. When I read the Doug Erwin files that she has posted on her blog, I literally get sick.

To know that so much waste has gone on, but we are told to turn off lights at our schools or whatever is simply sad. The school sites usually have to pick up the slack. Teachers are always the ones having to get the blame. Elia says school sites are not going to be impacted by budget cuts. This is not true, according to a friend of mine. Each principal was supposedly told to cut a unit and told not to tell anyone, so that Elia could announce to the press that school sites are not being impacted. She should simply tell the truth and not lie.

The truth is always much better. Simply say to the press, "We are trying to protect the school sites, but the cuts are so horrible that we must lose one unit at each school." What is wrong with the truth and open government??? People will always be upset no matter what stance you take. As it stands, she covers up and does things behind closed doors and everyone gets mad anyway, so she might as well tell the truth and hope for the best.

Go to Lee's blog and read the Erwin files if you have not. What reason did Erwin have to lie? None. He made enemies, lost friends, and had to move out of town. No one wants that. So he had nothing to gain, but the others had lots to gain to hush him up.

It is the same when I tell a parent that her child was skipping in the library, and she thinks her child would not do such a thing and believes her child (hypothetical situation that is close to things that have happened to me). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that I gain NOTHING by making up lies about her child skipping (I have so much more to do than create stories about a child and take time to meet with her), but her child has something to gain to say he didn't do it (he gets out of trouble). It is the age old story. The truth always lies in the answer to this question: Who gains something by lying? Who doesn't? You usually have the answer right there.

To sum this email up: continue to question the district administrators. As a citizen and voter I expect that from my school board members. Do not be apologetic about questioning them. I know you will question them in a civil manner, so they should not be upset by it. When you suggest a memo for a procedure to go out to lunch ladies, don't accept, "No, there is no memo...." Ask, "Why not? Let's do it! Why don't we discuss and vote on a memo to the lunch room managers for monitoring the temperature? Do I hear a motion?"

You all have a lot more power than you probably realize. You could help change the climate in the district and make it more humane by making everyone who reports to you accountable. If they feel they are being held accountable, they will do a better job and treat those below them with more respect.

Sincerely,
Bart Birdsall