We see that it's not the exact occurrences that keep repeating: JFK will never be president again, but there are presidents like Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) who are Kennedyesque, evoking memories of JFK. Napoleon will never again be defeated by the Russian winter, but Hitler went and tried just to be sure.
So where am I going with this? Well, I'm going to apply my crystal ball and soothsaying skills to see how the next four years are going to turn out.
A) Paging Dr. Yonson: I apologize that you came to work in a school district with erratic elected officials. Like several of your predecessors, I see the superintendent's chair again being vacant. Note for the new board: There is a reason why George Steinbrenner has not written a book on management. Repeated firing and hiring is not an accepted way to foster faith and trust. The John Gould witch hunt was farcical and I can hardly wait to see who is going to spearhead the jihad against Dr. Yonson. (BTW: Anyone know the outcome of the John Gould lawsuit against Councilman and school board spouse Worob?) UPDATED Nov 25: Sorry for the delay, but this was obtained from a cracked crystal ball. Dr Yonson received a new five year contract, despite the opposition from the NSNs.
Issue: Superintendent's new contract
Vote: Approved 6-3 with Heater, Radosti and Worob opposed
Impact: Salary will be $130,000 for the first year of the new, five-year contract, effective July 1.
B) Karma: What goes around, comes around. You reap what you sow. Do you remember how Sandy Gibson ran on a ticket with the NSNs four years ago? When she looked at the facts and the studies, and came to the realization that building a new school was a regrettable, but necessary move, the NSNs began a virtual jihad against her. And now the bogey-woman is gone. She and all her "minions" have been removed. (Sounds like all the Jedi Knights have just been killed, doesn't it? Should we cue the Vader march?)
But let's look six months down the line. What happens to one of the more thoughtful NSNs (I'm assuming a lot, but work with me, OK?) when they reach the realization that
C) The Hubbert Peak: What does something about oil depletion have to do with the school board? Plenty. Simply stated, this theory charts oil depletion saying that the first 50% of oil extracted from the ground is the easiest to take and the best quality available. We can debate the merits of the argument of oil reserves, but the theory itself is fairly reasonable.
I am sure that they can find something to cut that will be able to be endured and/or accepted without major hardship to students, staff, or physical plant. I'm guesstimating that most of the cuts that can be made "painlessly" have been made, or will be made shortly by the new regime. That's the first 50%, the "easy" 50%...But then comes the question:
"What's Next?" ™
Here is where Captain Algebra and the No Sports League come to the rescue, slashing the math department, gutting the history department, eradicating the athletics department, doubling the price of lunches, and whatever else they can do to cut costs and raise money. Maybe charge the kids for each hall pass? "Sorry, Bobby. You were absent yesterday. Thank you for your note, but you forgot the five dollar fee to process it." Yes, this is an absurd list of things, but let's ask what actually IS on their list?
I have this fantasy wish, that I could be in the room when the seven NSN board members are sitting there and the Oh-No Second hits. That's been variously described as the infinitesimal fraction of time between slamming the door and remembering the car keys are inside, or the time you hit "send" on the private message but realise you really hit "reply all." This will be the time that they realise that governing is harder than campaigning and that they are in a very deep swamp of doo-doo. Which leads to...
D) Depletion. Before the year 2008 is over, at least one of these NSNs will resign because they couldn't take it. It will mean nothing because a willing lackey will be put in their place. But it's on my list of predictions.
Anyone out there care to add to the list?
7 comments:
My crystal ball says Business Administrator Reba Dunford is toast - but don't worry, Bill Hellmann CPA will whip those school finances into shape lickety-split.
Mr. Kelly, Esq. is out too, for expressing too much intolerance for NSN shenanigans. I predict they'll replace him with that guy (Sugarman?) who represented the NSN's so ably in their 3 losing challenges to the school bond issuance. (Rewarding incompetence is in vogue these days - "you're doing a heck of job, Brownie!").
Donna Wilson's out as drill team coach, 'cuz Marlys Mihok said at Wed.'s board mtg that she gets paid $1,000 to coach 4 kids, 2 of which are Donna's own daughters. Never mind that Gayle Haug immediately corrected her and said Donna Wilson has 2 sons - like Bush/Cheney, the NSN's create their own reality.
Heads will roll in the maintenance staff too, 'cuz obviously they're to blame for the dilapidated conditions in the schools, even though it was really NSN board members that diverted capital $$ away from maintenance.
The guy with the Halloweentime yard sign that asked "what's the bigger joke, the new school or the football coaches?" (uh, I'm going to go off the board and say YOU!) gets hired as football coach.
Unfortunately, I don't think the "oh no" moment will happen with the new NSN board members - I don't believe any of them have enough of a conscience about this to care. I think they're all way too self-righteous to ever admit a mistake, and they'll simply blame all failures on someone else (can you say "Sandy Gibson & her minions"). Reminds me of Steve Worob, who blamed losing $110,000 in John Gould's slander per se suit against him on everything but the real reason - he had a fool for a lawyer. That was a softball question, wasn't it?
I predict that the savings from everything that "Capt. Algebra & the No Sports League" cut will pale in comparison to the long-term energy savings a new K-12 campus would achieve with oil @ $100/barrel.
The NSN's will treat the new NSN board members with kid gloves - because they represent the real, true, salt-of-the-earth Morrisvillian, they'll be able to make incredible blunders with little or no repurcussions. After all, their failures would be THEIR failures, and none of them seem to be able to admit mistakes.
Keep up the great work with this blog. I don't know how many are out there tuning in, but I for one really appreciate it!
I am so excited to hear that we will soon have better building conditions and a lower tax bill! I don't know why I didn't think of trying that. How could I have possibly voted again and again for an expensive new green building when this was an option before me? I look forward to all of the wonderful things the Stop the School candidates have promised to do and Morrisville holding them to it.
"(BTW: Anyone know the outcome of the John Gould lawsuit against Councilman and school board spouse Worob?)"
Here's the scoop on THAT story.
Dr. Gould sued Steve Worob for slander, because Worob called Gould a thief and claimed he stole money from the district.
Worob, accomanied by Buckman and Visloski, defended himself for several days in a Doylestown court, but in the end the judge found that Worob did, in fact, falsely claim Gould was a thief. Worob was fined mucho dinero (don't know how much, somewhere around $120,000, suffice it to say, it hurt) and Worob never appealed.
I bet you $10 you can't get Worob to say one bad thing in public about Gould anymore.
Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Glinda said to the Wicked Witch "Begone, before someone drops a house on you!"
Worob has that same look of fear in his eyes...
Speaking of dropping a house, I heard Worob had to sell one of his rental properties on Bridge St. to pay off the slander suit.
Give the man time. There's no way he can contain himself forever. It might have had a temporary chilling effect on this self-described community watchdog, but you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"UPDATED Nov 25: Sorry for the delay, but this was obtained from a cracked crystal ball. Dr Yonson received a new five year contract, despite the opposition from the NSNs."
Don't be so quick to throw that crystal ball away. It may just be more far-seeing than you imagine. I remember another series of predictions about a past board that said the solicitor, business manager and superintendant would be gone. That board settled right in, appearing to "try" to work with those three and dispell the predictions. Within 6 months all were gone!
Just because Yonson has a nice five year contract doesn't mean that the new board won't find a way to drive her out. The economical way would be to make her life so miserable that she would leave without settlement. The alternative is costly to the taxpayers (ala Dr. Gould) whereby the board would have to buy out the remainder of the contract in order to see her go.
The crystal ball's fine. The new board will 1st try the "make life miserable" route w/Yonson, then buy her out at taxpayer expense if that doesn't work. When you're infected with self-righteousness, you can merely blame everything on the previous board, "our hands were tied", etc.
But don't worry, plenty of other balls will get busted before the NSN's are through.
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