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KJAM gets to last night's Madison Central School Board special meeting: Junius farmer Steve Nelson wins the board's appointment to the vacant school board seat. Board president Mark Hawkes says on air, "Steve represents a costituency that we really tried to involve in the school board," meaning the board hasn't had a lot of farm representation. (No word yet on what constituencies the other two still unnamed applicants represented -- wouldn't that be interesting to find out?)
I'll admit, the board has surprised me. I thought the fix was in for Roxie Ebdrup, the other applicant the board interviewed last night. There was diversity talk going about, and in some people's eyes, "diversity" means "we could use another woman on the board." Evidently the board last night decided that diversity is more than the traditional affirmative action categories and that appointing another downtown businessperson to the board might not broaden its range of perspectives.
But diversity is more than where you live and where you work, too. Diversity means actively and vocally representing voices who otherwise would not be heard. Representing those voices requires being willing to question the established voices and go against them when necessary. Will Steve Nelson bring a unique voice to the board, or will he go along to get along with the board that picked him for this job? We'll find out starting in July, when Nelson and election winners Jay Niedert and Tammy Jo Zingmark take their oaths and get to work.
Media note: The webcast of last night's meeting isn't online yet, but I can't wait to get the video and see the interviews of Nelson and Ebdrup. I taught job interviews as part of my speech classes, and if nothing else, the video of those interviews could make for a remarkable teaching tool.
Drinking Liberally Update (11/15/2024)
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In Politics: Nationally: The Election is over and the wrong side won. I
have nothing to contribute to the barrels of ink being used by Pundits to
explain a...
3 days ago
There were no cameras or microphones at the open public meeting last night. There were four spectators, Superintendent Schaefer, Business Manager Callies, all seven board members and the two candidates. The meeting was held in the original board room near the front door.
ReplyDeleteEach was asked exactly the same questions, some of which were based on the Daily Leader's interview questions from April's election.
The appointment could have gone either way, depending on who made the motion first and which candidate they motioned for after coming out of executive session. Both are excellent people and I'm confident that either person would have been approved.
Pardon me for being a cynic here, but after reading the article in the paper, it seems that Steve stands four-square for a new gym. No mention of that topic in Roxie's reported interview. Could that have been the tipping point? Shouldn't the same questions have been asked and reported on in the paper for each candidate?
ReplyDeleteSteve also wants mandatory pre-K programs.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the board picked an applicant who on those two issues took stances opposite those expressed by most if not all of the candidates who stood for election. All four of us agreed at the candidates' forum that any new gym would have to take a backseat to other priorities. Three of the four took a clear stand against mandatory preschool; Zingmark sounded o.k. with the idea but was dubious on funding. It will be interesting to see how Nelson's stated positions translate into actual votes and policies.
ReplyDeleteThis is anon #2 and #3 again. I don't want to disparage Steve Nelson as a candidate - anyone who steps up to the plate for school board deserves a pat on the back! But his positions were worth noting and the fact that the board chose him also worth nothing.
ReplyDelete