How Can A District Operate This Way

Few people are privy to the workings of the inner circle that make up the Danville Public Schools central administration. However all Danville residents are members of the school district by the simple fact they are taxpayers or “stockholders” in this corporation called the City of Danville. As a stockholder every taxpayer has a right to see how the district is operated and be assured the district is being operated efficiently, openly, legally, and professionally.
However try to get some information out of the school district. It would be easier to get the combination to Fort Knox. The ivory tower cannot be challenged so sayeth the queen.
Make a call to the tower. Las Vegas would give better odds as to whether you would: a) actually get someone to answer the phone or b) actually get someone to return a call. The deck is stacked against you.
Really want to stir the kingdom up? Call and ask for the middle school SOL scores. These are more closely guarded then the missile launch codes. Just merely asking for them would cause the office to raise the threat level to red. The SOLCAT (SOL Crisis Action Team) would be triggered and the blast doors would swing shut. The high command would call an emergency meeting and they would huddle in the bunkers and contemplate the question, “How can we spin these numbers so they will look good? “ The crystal ball would come out, the Merlins’ would recite incantations, magic potions would be mixed, and the sacred book, “Lies of the SOL’s”, would be pulled from the shelf. The seven dwarfs of the school board would be assembled and the call would go out, “All Is Good”. The queen would rush in and the spin would begin. “Let them eat cake!” the queen would bellow. “How dare they challenge the high command!”
When all the smoke has cleared you would not be any closer to an answer then you were when you started.
Now lets look at the hemorrhaging of money from the district. Recently the High Council (City Council) withdrew their heads from the sand for an instant and gave the queen and the dwarfs $300, 000 additional to an already bloated budget. The reason? To add onto the Golden Child called Galileo High School. Yes, the administrators pleaded, we need money, money, money! We are so poor and we must shore up the Golden Child! And then the High Council (they must have been high to agree to this) forked over the money with no questions asked. Suddenly, as if by magic, (magic book keeping that is) the sacred education kingdom three months later announces they have a $1 million plus surplus left over! Hmmmmmmmm Lets see…I need $300,000….but I’m sitting on $1 million plus………….and I did not know this? In the meantime poor GWHS , once the flagship of the district, has been relegated to second class citizenship. Ahhh what has happened and why has it been allowed to continue!
Apathy has allowed it to happen. The only way to get the district back on track is to elect new leaders. Leaders who have a vested interest, leaders who know what is going on, leaders who realize the current direction is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after it has hit the iceberg. The current board is simply not up to the task. The seven dwarfs need an “Extreme Makeover-Danville Edition”. This can only happen when concerned citizens step forward and take on the status quo. Next year school board elections are scheduled. Several seats will be up for renewal. Are there any Danville citizens willing to step forward? Will the queen continue like some actor in a weird Monty Python movie? Tear down an old building in Danville and the preservationists come out of the woodwork. Tear down a school district and not a peep is heard. Recently a good candidate for the school board was asked why they did not run the last election. The answer was depressing yet revealing. This person answered, “I think its to far gone to fix. I would only be one voice is a dark and murky sea. I really don’t have the fight in me to beat my head against the wall. The words “common sense” ring hollow with this group. I’m too old to take on windmills.” Sad, but true.
The High Council shares a burden of this blame. They have allowed the school board to blatantly squander money and allow practices that are detrimental to the district go unchecked. They answer, “Well the school board is independent!” True, they are an independent group but the High Council holds the money card. They need to reshuffle the deck and demand that reasonable expectations be adhered to and followed. Only by holding the leadership accountable can the castle be brought into line. The subjects (taxpayers) of the Kingdom of Danville deserve better. There is a two ton elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about it.