TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! BEHIND THE SCENES OF A KANSAS CITY SCHOOL BOARD RESIGNATION AND THE DEMISE OF THE DISTRICT!!!
There was a lot of talk yesterday regarding the impact of Ingrid Burnett's resignation from the Kansas City School Board yesterday.
The local media regurgitated PR-like statements from both sides but that really doesn't provide an accurate depiction of what's really happening.
A great local blog post on the subject provides a bit of perspective:
As usual, Ms. Simmons and Mr. Benson are in complete denial of the real issues: Mr. Benson remarks that the superintendent search is “going very well” and Ms. Simmons’ response to Ms. Burnett’s resignaton is “she has never made her concerns known to the full board.” Well — now she has. And what are Ms. Simmons and the rest of the Board of Education going to do about it? Are we the only ones who get tired of hearing “we didn’t know about it” in response to valid criticisms of the District?Even more importantly, here is the exclusive info that I'm hearing:
Most shocking of all, is the lack of recognition that the current governance structure IS NOT WORKING.
BURNETT WAS PUSHED OUT BY SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT MARILYN SIMMONS AFTER CONSTANT BICKERING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!!!
Sources who were kind enough to talk to TKC provide a lot of background on this story:
Stay tuned to TKC for more info on the School Board crisis, impending takeover talk and reports of even more fighting . . . A great many thanks to TKC Tipsters and sources close to this ongoing hot mess that are keeping readers this blog informed.
Takeover is the only way.
ReplyDeleteIngrid who?
ReplyDeleteTony, its nice to see you talking about real issues for a change. (Gloria's foot fetish, while fun to read about, is not near as big a deal).
ReplyDeleteI hope Ms. Simmons doesn't have a few "students" visit your basement.
Keep up the good work!
Simmons is a disaster. She is the number one reason why we need a change or a new way to govern the district.
ReplyDeletewas simmons voted in at large or from a district?
ReplyDeleteIf district, which one? What hold does she have over her voters?
Marilyn is elected in her little black district. Now that Indy is gone, her district is all black. She could never win in an at-large race, because she is ignorant. She represents the epitome of what is not occurring in the district - education. She is very prejudiced against those who are not black.
ReplyDeleteIn Burnett's article in the paper this morning, it's clear that she still doesn't get it. Ingrid - kids in your district are not getting educated - so be proud to support public education that doesn't support its mission and never will. Ingrid is an idiot too.
I used some of the old vegetables to make a salsa today. Some might call it Chow Chow, but I prefer to call it salsa. It is hard to find a good vinegar these days. I had to resort to commercial apple vinegar.
ReplyDeleteSchool boards are often circus like, Tony, but suggesting that the 'district' is falling apart is probably overstating the case.
ReplyDeleteOne or two idiots in a school board doesn't crash a district. Fact is, they get enough money from taxpayers, have enough professional administrators and plenty of teachers... that for years, they can muddle along on simple inertia.
I think most big city districts have little turf protecting board members. But it's important to realize that they don't have that much influence as individuals.
LIke a mayor's wife. The garbage gets picked up, the cops go on disturbance calls and the water comes out of the tap whether she sticks her bare foot in her mouth or not.
Even with Bush... social security checks still come on the same day each month.
I wouldn't get too upset with the district. People whose kids go to the KCSD vote for who they want and they get what they vote for.
Don't handwring over it. Piss on the sour grapes of people who don't get the board presidency. Let em be in a huff all the time.
Just be glad local television doens't cover school board meetings, or they'd be even bigger circuses than they already are... these mental midgets who think they're important would be grandstanding to the cameras... and then we'd have to watch THAT once a week.
At least now, we only have to endure 30 second voice-overs of police tape where their dropouts get shot at 2xth and Indiana.
The only other thing, Tony is that you call yourself a joke and gossip blog. Yet you try to do news analysis based only on anonymous sources.
In my view, if you're going to practice journalism, you need to follow the rules of good reporting. Never publish based on one source. Keep sources independent. Pressure them to go ON the record.
And do what you can so you won't get used by people just trying to backstab. No one gave a shit about the mayors office stuff.
But if you stir up unnecessarily in the school system, only the children's education will suffer. And frankly they need all the help they can get... so I hope you'll be responsible in your reporting.
If you aren't, then maybe you should just stick to making jokes about gay American Idol singers.
Moreover, the mayors office is a joke. But the schools are more important. It would be better to interview school board candidates before elections rather than just humiliate people because they're trashy people who should never have been elected.
School boards COMMONLY draw trashy amateurs. But I'd also note that Dan Glickman started out on the Wichita BOE and ended up in 4th district congress and then Secy of Agriculture. Now he runs the movie industry trade society.
ANd Nancy Landon Kassebaum was once the president of the Maize Kansas BOE...and she ended up being a US Senator.
And then there are the nobodies who run for office to get attention in their little districts. They can be loud in both what they wear and what they say. But those never amount to much.
Sadly, media in this town only covers superintendent turnover. They don't cover the schools properly. That requires a beat reporter and TV stations won't spend the money for that. Besides that, suburban viewers don't give a damn what happens in KCSD. THey'd rather watch the crime beat stories of cub reporters standing in the dark, doing 10pm liveshots.
Um, okay. That's half crazy but okay.
ReplyDeleteNothing is going to change that place. Not a takeover, not anything. It's all just a game of musical chair and what district ends up with the most disenfranchised community to bring down the stats.
ReplyDelete