My thoughts too. I am still very upset about the
waste of selling Lincoln and now the expense of doing all this.
Linda Fort
[Winona Online Democracy]
I couldn't have said it better, Ed! I agree with
you on this wholeheartedly.
Kathy Seifert
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 1:58
PM
Subject: Re: [Winona] Offices at High
School
[Winona Online Democracy]
At 12:43 PM 2/3/05 -0600, Roy N wrote:
Before
I note the current high school battle, I think it is important to comment
on Ed Thompson�s views of the attacks on the location decision since they
go to the heart of citizenship in a democracy. One can sympathize with his
dislike of uninformed criticism of governmental decisions. The criticism
may be messy, unfair, even vicious. It certainly frustrates policy-makers
who have studied issues and who have invested their own ideology in their
proposals. Nevertheless, it can indicate to them problems that may need
further attention.
An ideal citizen should have knowledge of all
issues. But of course the ideal citizen doesn�t exist. Just look at the
dismal results of surveys of citizens� understanding of national and
international affairs, even though the issues may be of paramount
importance to their lives. In local affairs, despite the current attention
to community involvement, the situation seems to be worse; just look at
the decline of voting by actual voters as you go down the ballot from
national to state to local (and, I might add, school levies). Only if
voters perceive a policy as impacting them personally will they give it
much attention. For many issues, however, the general lack of interest
results in the famous �iron law of oligarchy,� which seems to prevail
under all forms of government, even the most democratic, in which most
policies are structured by the active and the interested. Often the
results are beneficial to everyone. Sometimes they are not.
Although an
increase in citizen knowledge certainly would foster more fairness and
intelligence in decisions, there are limits to what can be known. Hundreds
of policy decisions are made that affect people. It would be impossible
for them to become knowledgeable about all the subjects they must approve
or disapprove. In fact, even policy-makers who are expert in one area may
show complete ignorance in other areas. Thus, for those who are interested
in particular policies, dependence on the knowledge and fairness of the
policy presenters must be paramount if the policy is to be accepted. If
complete substantiation of proposals is not given, people should be ready
to question validity, even if they do not have great expertise or have
solutions. Newspapers ideally have a responsibility to perform this
questioning too. It is unhealthy to believe everything the official
planners present. It is unhealthy not to consider the impact of past
policies as indicators of the feasibility of current proposals. Without
questioning, the iron law of oligarchy would grow even tighter.
In the
case of the decision to put the administrative offices in the high school,
the tightening is evident. Here, many people who were knowledgeable�the
principals and staff of the high school�evidently were ignored and not
given information. Should anyone be surprised that these people and others
associated with the high school, including parents and students, would
protest? In most facilities planning, it is highly unusual for plans to be
advanced without close involvement of those in the buildings concerned. (I
have been on such planning committees at various educational levels as
both an �inside� and an �outside� member.) So the situation here is not a
case of decisions being made because of lack of interest or understanding
elsewhere. It is a case of bypassing people whose knowledge should be
indispensable to any planning, regardless of the additional static they
may produce in meetings.
Administrative offices in the high school may
very well be the most functional for the district. But before the exact
location is settled, the views of the high school people should receive
consideration.
Roy is
correct. Healthy democracy depends on people's continued involvement,
but issues become so complex that it is impractical to expect everyone to
stay fully informed of every issue. That is why we have a
representative democracy rather than a direct democracy, depending on a
small number of people to put in the full effort. However, that only
works if the public and the people they elect to represent them trust each
other.
That is no longer the case in most aspects of
government in Winona, and both sides can give ample reasons for the
breakdown. The school board (in this case) is not blameless in pushing
agendas and being selective on what information they choose to believe, but
the public equally shares the blame because we do exactly the same things to
them.
We need to break this vicious cycle of distrust. All of
us - school board and public alike - have the obligation to quit picking
fights and start pulling together to solve problems; to accept that mistakes
have been make (and will certainly continue to be made) and then refocus on
finding solutions; to put aside personal agendas and personal interests for
the welfare of the entire community.
The Winona community will
continue to decline as long as we continue to square off against each other
and as long as our focus is on complaints and accusations instead of
solutions. None of us want that.
Ed
Thompson
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