Michael Atherton sure has my School Board vote. And because of the anti-minority system (at-large, four votes for four seats) system of voting we use, I will probably and regretably bullet ballot by voting for him alone.
But that seems to be the only way to avoid putting a weaker (but better in my eyes) member of the DFL slate over a really good independent candidate. Because the voting system we use lets 60% of the voters who are bullet voting for the DFL-slate get 100% of the open seats on the Board. The rest of the voters (the other 40%) be damned. Or at least not be represented. If DFLers really cared about (proportionally) representing everyone's perspective in School Board decisions they would withhold their votes from one or two DFL-slated candidates that they weren't so enthusiastic about. Out of respect for their dissenting neighbors. Dream on. (Notice how LM had to vote for all four. Even after regretting that good candidate JP got shot down at Convention.) Just as one-party rule ill-served city government, so too does one party rule of the School Board ill serve our schools. When I see years of failed and/or ineffective policies rewarded by reelection after reelection, I realize that never-swerve DFL voters either don't care about the schools' failure, or are clouded by ideology or anti-conservative bigotry, or happened to be held harmless because their kids got lucky (or had their luck made for them by their parents' interest and ability to navigate the system). And there is something not working in Mpls schools. We pay more for lower results, and many parents who are able are voting with their feet--and paying to educate their kids twice. Once for the pro-offered public option that doesn't work for them, and once for the private education they have to find instead. Last year I got to hear a Mpls school official complaining about the serious money Mpls schools were losing (actually, not getting) because of all the kids in the city who were going to private school or were being home schooled. The logical approach would be to ask why parents opting out, and what can the public schools do to keep them with us. But monopolies don't like to do that. Thank god for freedom. You want our support, then listen to our voice. Democracy means not having it all your way. Alan Shilepsky a mourner for the common school, who believes that instead of being stonewalled, vouchers should have been seen as a opportunity as well as a need to negotiate necessary reforms in public schools (accountability, standards, compensation for performance). You could say that the uncompromising ideologues and careerists undermined the credibility of the city public school system and undercut the good will and support it needs to prosper. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
