The Brain, redux
One can hardly digest all of the intellectually brilliant utterings from D11 board president John Gudvangen these days. Now that all of the “meanies” are off of the school board (with the exception of the dangerous Willie Breazell, as Gudvangen’s allies call him), Gudvangen has nothing to stand against. Due to the fact that he has never stood FOR anything, he is struggling to be relevant, or at least to appear to be so. Gudvangen used to spend board meetings informing the listening public that he was a poor picked on soul. The meanies, he said, were not allowing him to govern the way he wanted to govern. Apparently Gudvangen has found his governing niche. Since academics are no longer discussed at D11 board meetings, Gudvangen is more free to pen his next mindless quote for crack Gazette reporter Shari (My editors won’t let me write it) Chani-Griffith. While Tami Hasling and Jan Tanner giggle and pass little girl notes back and forth past Sandra (Where’s my Martini) Mann, Gudvangen has time to develop that next quotable quote.
Let’s go back to the January 14th Gazette. In an article on D11, Gudvangen is credited with the following::
“Gudvangen said the fact that there’s a new board should not give district employees the idea it’s time to kick back and relax; instead, he said, it’s time to show progress can be made.”
This is as close as Gudvangen will come to ever saying anything that smells like the truth, so we need to give him credit for a “first.” Gudvangen is admitting here that the whole purpose behind wanting reformers off of the D11 board was due to the fact that we demanded accountability and performance. If that is not the case, why would Gudvangen make a statement such as this? He is clearly suggesting something that everyone else also knows: Gudvangen and his other labor union puppets on the board have no intention of holding anyone accountable for anything. They follow in a long tradition of inept board members who performed accordingly (Lyman Kaiser, Karen [Almost nobody should get a voucher, almost] Teja, Mary Wierman, Mary Ellen McNally, Lynn Petersen, and on and on). Thank you, Gudvangen, for warning the employees that they should not “kick back.” Your 8 years of sitting on boards and contributing nothing to academics will probably not cause fear in anyone’s mind that you are actually serious about showing progress. By the way, what progress could he possibly be talking about? This is the same Gudvangen who stated that he could not think of a single thing that needed to be improved in D11. Hmm.
Sean Paige did an excellent job of highlighting Gudvangen’s latest display of ignorance. In the February 4th Gazette, Paige chastised Gudvangen for having no idea that the mission of a school district is to actually educate kids. In an earlier article (February 4th), Gudvangen blamed a poorly governed board (of which he was the president, by the way) for parents removing their kids from D11 schools. It took Willie Breazell to point out the obvious, which is that parents might be removing their kids because they probably have this old-fashioned desire to have their children receive a thorough education. Gudvangen cannot comprehend something so silly. Is it really the fault of the reformers that people are leaving D11? The facts show that the D11 student population began to decline in the late 1990’s when school accountability measures began to be implemented by the state. Parents were able to see that D11 was not keeping up with surrounding districts, so these selfish parents had the nerve to find better places to educate their kids. No reformers were on the school board in the late 1990’s, but allies of Gudvangen were on the board.
Why did D11 have a greater loss of students than predicted this school year? Was it really the fault of reformers, who were trying to make the schools better, or was it the fault of people like Gudvangen, who claim that D11 schools are good enough? Gudvangen, Hasling, and Mann were elected in 2005 with the money of 3 Denver millionaires, the Progressive Majority out of Washington, D.C., and the National Education Association labor union, also out of D.C. It seems much more likely that those parents who saw this sickening alliance of ultra-liberals purchasing their school board decided that education was certainly not going to be a priority in D11 anytime soon. As the D11 budget woes continue to grow due to declining enrollment, let Gudvangen and his band of blind mice continue to play make believe at the expense of the taxpayers and students of D11. Who knows - maybe D11 will even name a half-empty school building in the southern end of D11 after Gudvangen. Somehow that would symbolically be extremely appropriate.
This is how Sean Paige handled the Gudvangen excuse making in the February 4th Gazette:
End the excuses How predictable. In Thursday’s story about falling enrollment in District 11 schools, board president John Gudvangen tried to blame “instability” and an “unhealthy organization” for the situation (we thought the catchword was “chaos,” John), though he probably can’t produce a speck of evidence to prove it. Oh, geez — are we really going to be hearing the reformers blamed any time the news out of D-11 is bad? How long does the new “Stepford board” think that will work? What happens on a school board is important, no doubt — and the struggle for the soul of the D-11 board in recent years made a compelling story. But most students and parents probably couldn’t name more than two members of the board if they had to. They care about education at the retail level — and obviously are finding the product lacking in D-11. Now, what do Gudvangen and other members of the kinder, gentler, less “chaotic” board intend to do about it? Absolutely nothing is the short answer, because almost everyone on the board willing to try new approaches, and willing to speak frankly about the district’s challenges, has been purged or resigned in frustration. Gudvangen & Co. might get away with playing the blame game for the next year or so. But how many more parents will leave the district in disgust, and students graduate with a subpar education, in the meantime?
Let’s go back to the January 14th Gazette. In an article on D11, Gudvangen is credited with the following::
“Gudvangen said the fact that there’s a new board should not give district employees the idea it’s time to kick back and relax; instead, he said, it’s time to show progress can be made.”
This is as close as Gudvangen will come to ever saying anything that smells like the truth, so we need to give him credit for a “first.” Gudvangen is admitting here that the whole purpose behind wanting reformers off of the D11 board was due to the fact that we demanded accountability and performance. If that is not the case, why would Gudvangen make a statement such as this? He is clearly suggesting something that everyone else also knows: Gudvangen and his other labor union puppets on the board have no intention of holding anyone accountable for anything. They follow in a long tradition of inept board members who performed accordingly (Lyman Kaiser, Karen [Almost nobody should get a voucher, almost] Teja, Mary Wierman, Mary Ellen McNally, Lynn Petersen, and on and on). Thank you, Gudvangen, for warning the employees that they should not “kick back.” Your 8 years of sitting on boards and contributing nothing to academics will probably not cause fear in anyone’s mind that you are actually serious about showing progress. By the way, what progress could he possibly be talking about? This is the same Gudvangen who stated that he could not think of a single thing that needed to be improved in D11. Hmm.
Sean Paige did an excellent job of highlighting Gudvangen’s latest display of ignorance. In the February 4th Gazette, Paige chastised Gudvangen for having no idea that the mission of a school district is to actually educate kids. In an earlier article (February 4th), Gudvangen blamed a poorly governed board (of which he was the president, by the way) for parents removing their kids from D11 schools. It took Willie Breazell to point out the obvious, which is that parents might be removing their kids because they probably have this old-fashioned desire to have their children receive a thorough education. Gudvangen cannot comprehend something so silly. Is it really the fault of the reformers that people are leaving D11? The facts show that the D11 student population began to decline in the late 1990’s when school accountability measures began to be implemented by the state. Parents were able to see that D11 was not keeping up with surrounding districts, so these selfish parents had the nerve to find better places to educate their kids. No reformers were on the school board in the late 1990’s, but allies of Gudvangen were on the board.
Why did D11 have a greater loss of students than predicted this school year? Was it really the fault of reformers, who were trying to make the schools better, or was it the fault of people like Gudvangen, who claim that D11 schools are good enough? Gudvangen, Hasling, and Mann were elected in 2005 with the money of 3 Denver millionaires, the Progressive Majority out of Washington, D.C., and the National Education Association labor union, also out of D.C. It seems much more likely that those parents who saw this sickening alliance of ultra-liberals purchasing their school board decided that education was certainly not going to be a priority in D11 anytime soon. As the D11 budget woes continue to grow due to declining enrollment, let Gudvangen and his band of blind mice continue to play make believe at the expense of the taxpayers and students of D11. Who knows - maybe D11 will even name a half-empty school building in the southern end of D11 after Gudvangen. Somehow that would symbolically be extremely appropriate.
This is how Sean Paige handled the Gudvangen excuse making in the February 4th Gazette:
End the excuses How predictable. In Thursday’s story about falling enrollment in District 11 schools, board president John Gudvangen tried to blame “instability” and an “unhealthy organization” for the situation (we thought the catchword was “chaos,” John), though he probably can’t produce a speck of evidence to prove it. Oh, geez — are we really going to be hearing the reformers blamed any time the news out of D-11 is bad? How long does the new “Stepford board” think that will work? What happens on a school board is important, no doubt — and the struggle for the soul of the D-11 board in recent years made a compelling story. But most students and parents probably couldn’t name more than two members of the board if they had to. They care about education at the retail level — and obviously are finding the product lacking in D-11. Now, what do Gudvangen and other members of the kinder, gentler, less “chaotic” board intend to do about it? Absolutely nothing is the short answer, because almost everyone on the board willing to try new approaches, and willing to speak frankly about the district’s challenges, has been purged or resigned in frustration. Gudvangen & Co. might get away with playing the blame game for the next year or so. But how many more parents will leave the district in disgust, and students graduate with a subpar education, in the meantime?
posted by Craig Cox | 12:42 PM
3 Comments:
Boy, that guy at the Gazette really got it right. What will the nice board do now to help kids? How does nice equal making things better? How does nice improve reading scores? Or math scores? How does nice make adults do the things they're supposed to for the kids? Considering that we had nice boards until the mean board, my guess is that nice means nothing good for the kids.
Don't try to logic your way through this one, Sad. It is not about the kids for this crowd. It is all about status and control. It isn't about kids learning, it's about these liberals feeling self-important. If you understand that piece, then you will realize that these high-society people are doing just fine for themselves. That is all that matters to them.
It's hard not to be smug right now, wanting so bad to say "I told you so" but that would be in poor taste. So instead, what to do about this loser now? Or should anything be done? Should this community have to live with the repercussion of a totally incompetent board and learn firsthand how their property values are being affected, along with more potential inmates than educated high school graduates?
It is quite obvious that Gudvangen CANNOT get off this dime; that he is truly obsessed by the three years that his masters didn't rule; that he is going to whine and snivel for three more years.
Like I said, it's kind of hard to feel bad for this community - the majority did NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, to keep reform alive and to prevent the unions from regaining their chokehold on public education in our district.
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