Please Stop Being Worthless on My Dime

Under the awning of No Outrage = No Attention Paid, you may be shocked to hear that Big Education is rife with disfunction and full of screwheads:

(Audrey) Johnson and Colleen Moriarty, both lame ducks whose terms conclude Dec. 31, have missed six and nine, respectively, out of about 30 public meetings since January, records indicate. Mid-termer Sharon Henry-Blythe has missed seven. Responding via e-mail from her cabin, Johnson said she has spent substantial time at her cabin for family reasons (and) said she keeps in touch with constituents mostly by e-mail but also by phone.

You know, when you ask people to vote for you and send you to the school board, you really owe it to the people who sent you there to show up a the bloody meetings.

Other board members say the absences are frustrating, one factor in the perception that the board has lost steam this year. There's plenty to deal with: falling enrollment, tight money, an achievement gap, reforming middle and high schools. The board sets policy in these areas, hires a superintendent and oversees finances. The board adopted a budget in June with only four of seven members present; the numbers were the same on Aug. 22 and Sept. 26, when the board got state testing results. Minutes indicate that the board hasn't met at full strength since July 11.

Show up to the meetings. Just show up. Do the job. How tough can this be?

(Audrey) Johnson's neighbor Bert Robinson estimates she spends 90 to 95 percent of her time at Deer Lake. "She's living up here," he said.

Deer lake isn't even vaguely near Minneapolis.

(Chairman Joseph) Erickson last spring listed three priorities for the board before the terms of four members expire Dec. 31. The board has completed one. The lame-duck status of Johnson, Moriarty, Erickson and Judy Farmer prompted the board to delay a search for a superintendent until the new board is seated. The board also didn't follow through on plans for office hours in the community and formal school visits.

There's lots to do. What is supposed to be accomplished is important. You are throwing around serious taxpayer coin. Don't give the public some lame excuses for your behavior.

Moriarty cited a busy season at the nonprofit agency she heads, an ear infection and surgery. Henry-Blythe listed recent trouble keeping track of board meeting times (HOLY SHIT!), a family trip, and out-of-town travel or work conflicts. Johnson said she was sick for two meetings, and out of town or on vacation for others.

Liars. Lazy-ass liars; all of them.

Asked about the board's pace this year, (Johnson) wrote in an e-mail: "I feel that we should allow the meatier decisions to be made by the new board."

You are on the board. You are taking money fo being on the board. PARTICIPATE AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD YOU CHILDISH FRAUD!

Johnson expressed interest in chairing the board for 2005, but members chose Erickson.

Thank God for that.

Johnson has yet to pay more than $29,000 in health-insurance premiums she owes the district. Johnson has said that she can't afford to pay until she finds a job after her term ends.

So she's happy to accept and use the far-better-than-typical health insurance, but she's just not going to pay for until she's no longer on the board that she only participates in when it doesn't inconvenience her from her place on the lake.

What a collection of self-important idiots.