[Winona Online Democracy] Hello WOD,
I want to reply to Cherisa and Joliene's posts. I am not commenting on the main points directly but I wanted to add two other issues that relate to the problem. 1. I do think the School Board members have thought, and continue, to think this problem out. Some of them are the most long term thinkers we have had on the School Board in a long time. Let's not assume that just because we may not understand their line of thinking that there is not one. Also, people who appear to stand up for Central School are not doing so for simple "turf war" reasons. There are very good educational and financial reasons for doing so. I feel they are getting unfairly singled out and picked on. 2. A point was made about not having enough money and there will not be more money. I respectfully disagree with that assumption. The budget shortfall that the School Board faces is what "no new (state) taxes" looks like. We seem to be easily fooled and led by our noses by the no new tax crowd. There could be more money for valuable public programs that help kids if more people got mad about the situation and decided to actually do something about it. We need the nice but quiet and shy people to get involved, or more involved, in the democratic process. Simply put, we need to either encourage the current Governor and leadership in St. Paul of the moral and economic importance of school funding or we need to vote them out. This persistent budget crisis is not inevitable or an accident. We have to wake up to an ugly reality of our world. There are some people who want to "starve government so it can be taken to the bath tub and drowned for good" (qoute from a National Republican Party leader on television). That is not a nice thought but we have to realize there are others who feel that way and who also have the money and power to make it happen. Most people who feel that way would not be that open and honest about it. Not all Republicans feel that way. We heard from many former Republican Governors who mildly or strongly disagreed with the current Governor and leadership of the Republicans in the State Legislature. The issue of relocating the EFCE programs is a complicated problem but let's not forget the underlying politics that are driving so many of these problems. There are people who want to reverse most of the public gains of the 1900's and return to the late 1800's. The next elections are less than 14 months away. Dwayne Voegeli ================== >Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: "Joliene Olson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Online Democracy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 16:37:31 -0500 >Status: > >I simply do not understand the reasoning of a couple of our present school >board members thought process. As Cherisa Templeton explains so well in >her recent posting, there is a lot more to making decisions then making >decisions without thinking through the outcomes and ramifications of the >decision. > >ECF and the related programs are effective because of the tremendous >parental involvement. This is, after all, what we want through out the >district. The best level for making change is at the beginning levels of >education which are the early ages of the children. It is practically to >late to involve parents if you wait till they are in elementary school and >the odds of getting good involvement from a lot of parents gets worse at >middle school and high school. > >Parents who learn how to participate in their children's education early >on will develop patterns that can be fostered as the child grows. We must >keep the parents involved. We must respect that involvement and we must >develop, not destroy the confidence of these parents in the district. > >When are the school board members going to put the children first and not >the political concerns of the parents. The children will do fine with >change. It is the parents who can't deal with it. I submit that a well >run and fully developed program of educational options is much more >important than which building they are educated in. > >Fortunately, this town is small enough that EVERY school is a really a >neighborhood school. This is especially true when you compare our >district to the huge districts in our state and other states where >children are being educated. Isn't a well designed educational curriculum >with current technology, up to date books and one that is available to >every child, regardless of the school they go to, more important in >getting them prepared to succeed in the world as it is now? > >We don't have the money folks! We aren't going to get more money folks! >We need to make some tough decisions. I know, some of you wonder why I and >other former board members didn't make the tough decisions before! Well, >it was for the same reason that it is hard now. We tried to hard to >listen to the politics and still give the kids what they needed. And, >when we did make some tough decisions, some people are still mad. >Joliene Olson > > > >--- >Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. >Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 10/9/03 ><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> ><HTML><HEAD> ><META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"><BASE >href=file://C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\Stationery\> ><META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> ><BODY >style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: >url(http://skins.hotbar.com/skins/mailskins/sk/0223Df/0223Dfall2.jpg); >MARGIN: 133px 0px 0px; COLOR: #000000; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-x; >FONT-FAMILY: Arial" >bgColor=#ffffff stationery_tag_mark hbtype="st" hmark="hotbar_element"> ><DIV>I simply do not understand the reasoning of a couple of our present >school >board members thought process. As Cherisa Templeton explains so well in >her recent posting, there is a lot more to making decisions then making >decisions without thinking through the outcomes and ramifications of the >decision.</DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV>ECF and the related programs are effective <STRONG>because</STRONG> >of the >tremendous parental involvement. This is, after all, what we want >through out the district. The best level for making change is at the >beginning levels of education which are the early ages of the >children. It is practically to late to involve parents if you wait till >they are in elementary school and the odds of getting good involvement from a >lot of parents gets worse at middle school and high school. </DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV>Parents who learn how to participate in their children's education >early on >will develop patterns that can be fostered as the child grows. We must >keep the parents involved. We must respect that involvement and we must >develop, not destroy the confidence of these parents in the >district.</DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV>When are the school board members going to put the children >first and >not the political concerns of the parents. The children will do fine >with >change. It is the parents who can't deal with it. I submit that a >well run and fully developed program of educational options is much more >important than which building they are educated in. </DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV>Fortunately, this town is small enough that EVERY school is a really >a neighborhood school. This is especially true when you >compare our district to the huge districts in our state and other states where >children are being educated. Isn't a well designed educational >curriculum >with current technology, up to date books and one that is available to >every child, regardless of the school they go to, more important in >getting them >prepared to succeed in the world as it is now? </DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV>We don't have the money folks! We aren't going to get more money >folks! We need to make some tough decisions. I know, some of you wonder >why I and other former board members didn't make the tough decisions >before! Well, it was for the same reason that it is hard now. We >tried to hard to listen to the politics and still give the kids what they >needed. And, when we did make some tough decisions, some people are >still >mad.</DIV> ><DIV>Joliene Olson</DIV> ><DIV><!--mail_content--><SPAN id=hotbar_element_used >stationery_tag_mark></SPAN></DIV> ><DIV> </DIV> ><DIV><SPAN stationery_tag_mark><BR>---<BR>Outgoing mail is certified Virus >Free.<BR>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (<A >href="http://www.grisoft.com";>http://www.grisoft.com</A>).<BR>Version: >6.0.525 / >Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 10/9/03</SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML> > ------------ Dwayne Voegeli Winona County Commissioner, District #2 (507) 453-9012 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 359 Pleasant Hill Dr. Winona, MN 55987 ------------ _______________________________________________ This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy All messages must be signed by the senders actual name. No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list. To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona Any problems or suggestions can be directed to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org
