Followership, D11 style
No, followership is not a real word, but it is totally appropriate when talking about the 5 status quo members of the D11 school board. The two newest members are no exception.
New D11 board member Charlie Bobbitt will fit right in with the existing status quo members of the board. During a board retreat on Saturday, January 13th, Bobbitt made it clear that he was just there to serve, but not to serve the public. Bobbitt stated that he was there to serve, (you guessed it), the D11 administration. This was from the January 14th Gazette:
Bobbitt said he fully trusted the administration to tell the board what was needed and that he planned to back its recommendations. Breazell countered, saying, “I’m not here to rubber-stamp what the administration says.”
Thank you, Willie Breazell, for undestanding the role of the board. Like all labor union purchased school board members, Bobbitt likely has no ideas of his own, so he has to blindly rubber-stamp anything that the union or administration tell him to do.
Before Bobbitt was placed under union control, he did not seem to think that rubber-stamping was such a good idea, at least when his self interest was involved. Bobbitt made his presence known at public hearings and school board meetings to speak on the issue of D11 boundaries. He is a member of the Longfellow Elementary School neighborhood, and he was appalled that the administration was recommending a boundary change for that school. Bobbitt insisted that the board ignore the administration’s recommendation and vote to leave the Longfellow boundaries unchanged. At the time, Bobbitt felt that the administration was putting its financial interests ahead of the interests of the community by setting Longfellow up for reutilization.
Now that Bobbitt has gotten what he wanted at Longfellow, and now that he has accepted union support for his election, he has been given the standard labor union marching orders: “Do as you are told.” Like most status quo school board members, Bobbitt apparently has no intention of taking his role as an elected official seriously. Rather than represent the people as he is supposed to do, he has publicly claimed that he will take the easy road and simply nod approvingly of everything that the administration tells him to do.
Welcome aboard, Charlie. You will follow well in the footsteps of many other do-nothing D11 school board members who preceded you. Your apathy about student achievement will bring you close to Gudvangen, Hasling, and Mann, and it will certainly get you invited into the clubhouse with the Teja’s, Wierman’s, Kaiser’s, McNally’s, and Doyle’s of the world. After a decade of doing nothing on the board, make sure that you blame Willie for your failures, especially if he has the nerve to continue to push for improvement. After all, average is good enough, especially if it means that you won’t have to think.
New D11 board member Charlie Bobbitt will fit right in with the existing status quo members of the board. During a board retreat on Saturday, January 13th, Bobbitt made it clear that he was just there to serve, but not to serve the public. Bobbitt stated that he was there to serve, (you guessed it), the D11 administration. This was from the January 14th Gazette:
Bobbitt said he fully trusted the administration to tell the board what was needed and that he planned to back its recommendations. Breazell countered, saying, “I’m not here to rubber-stamp what the administration says.”
Thank you, Willie Breazell, for undestanding the role of the board. Like all labor union purchased school board members, Bobbitt likely has no ideas of his own, so he has to blindly rubber-stamp anything that the union or administration tell him to do.
Before Bobbitt was placed under union control, he did not seem to think that rubber-stamping was such a good idea, at least when his self interest was involved. Bobbitt made his presence known at public hearings and school board meetings to speak on the issue of D11 boundaries. He is a member of the Longfellow Elementary School neighborhood, and he was appalled that the administration was recommending a boundary change for that school. Bobbitt insisted that the board ignore the administration’s recommendation and vote to leave the Longfellow boundaries unchanged. At the time, Bobbitt felt that the administration was putting its financial interests ahead of the interests of the community by setting Longfellow up for reutilization.
Now that Bobbitt has gotten what he wanted at Longfellow, and now that he has accepted union support for his election, he has been given the standard labor union marching orders: “Do as you are told.” Like most status quo school board members, Bobbitt apparently has no intention of taking his role as an elected official seriously. Rather than represent the people as he is supposed to do, he has publicly claimed that he will take the easy road and simply nod approvingly of everything that the administration tells him to do.
Welcome aboard, Charlie. You will follow well in the footsteps of many other do-nothing D11 school board members who preceded you. Your apathy about student achievement will bring you close to Gudvangen, Hasling, and Mann, and it will certainly get you invited into the clubhouse with the Teja’s, Wierman’s, Kaiser’s, McNally’s, and Doyle’s of the world. After a decade of doing nothing on the board, make sure that you blame Willie for your failures, especially if he has the nerve to continue to push for improvement. After all, average is good enough, especially if it means that you won’t have to think.
posted by Craig Cox | 1:42 PM
1 Comments:
Yes, Bobbitt's comment in the paper struck fear in the hearts of people who actually care about whether kids are learning in D-11. Let's pretend all kids are learning, even though they aren't, and let's not look at whether our administrators advance a single idea that will improve kids' learning. No one to hold them accountable, no one on the board except Breazell who seems to care that thousands of kids aren't learning. It's a scary day in D-11.
Post a Comment
<< Home