To win, you sometimes just have to keep plugging until everyone else wears out. Ask Paul Weist: after (correct me if I'm wrong) three unsuccessful bids for a school board seat, Paul finally gets his crack at government. He was the only filer for the one-year seat on the board, so the job is his. Congrats to my fellow grad student for persistence! (Now, Paul, how about an official blog from a school board member? Call me: I'll set you up on RealMadison.org!)
While I'm happy for Paul, I am disappointed there will be no election for school board (I know, I have no one to blame but myself). Incumbents Steve Nelson and Michelle Tucek filed for the other two seats and received no challengers. On the good side, we save a little money on an election. On the bad side, we miss out on the annual opportunity to hear candidates' views in the paper and on the radio and have a community conversation about the policies and goals of our school district.
Oh well—we'll just have to keep that conversation going here.
As a Masters swimmer, I won the 200-yard backstroke in my category when I lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota). I was the only person in my age group with the gall to enter the race.
ReplyDeleteI think the school board is back to the same lack of interest it had before the first opt out requests. The school board used to meet in a very small room with maybe a dozen or so chairs in it for observers. Then came the first opt out. All the controversy and interest and therefore observers that brought moved the meetings to the current lunch room setting to accommodate more people, which was great. When some controverial issues arise again, we will see renewed interest in the school board and people wanting to run for the board. IMO anyway!
ReplyDeleteThe meetings were moved from the previous board room to the Middle School lunchroom when the board began filming its meetings for public broadcast. By the way, why aren't those school board meetings on TV anymore? That was mandated by the school board in exchange for equipment that Prairie Wave donated a few years back. I understand they can now rebroadcast using quicker DVDs at Knology instead of the slower taping methods.
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