Stay on Track

Thirteen days to the primary election.

I do not think anyone needs the services of the departed Pennsylvania Avenue psychic to know who I might be supporting in the primary.

Stay on track: It implies safety and stability, organization and capability, plan and purpose.

For anyone who read through that last line and was able to envision any of Hellmann's Heroes as exemplars of those qualities, my hat's off to you.

Where's the plan? Those were Ed Frankenfield's last public words, while he was shouted down and berated from the audience by a borough councilman (and school board spouse) no less. There's no shame in wanting a plan. We're still waiting for something. Anything. [Check the "Frankenfield" and "Frankenfield Question" links to the left.]

Save the School: Building a new school would have been preferable to the mess we have right now. But that's gone. The bond was sold in the dark of night by the Emperor acting alone for $2.5 million dollars. Even some of the board members did not know those details. Shame on them for not asking for the details. Shame on the Emperor for acting alone. Shame on the board for enabling this behavior. [Check the "defeasement" links to the left.]

Reality check time people: The new school is dead, buried, done, gone, shiva is over, the black bunting is placed away, the flag's back at full mast, the grave marker is placed, the flowers have wilted, Jack Kevorkian has left town, and there's no corpse to deep freeze and place next to Ted Williams and Walt Disney. I'm not sure how many more metaphors I can use to describe the lack of life here. Any sort of expenditure like that is not possible without a town-wide referendum.

Pride, Integrity, and Accountability: Pride as in "I will not invest in this town and will advise my clients not to invest in this town." Integrity as in "Whose house will we have the next secret meeting at? I can bring the donuts!" Accountability as in "This is what we stand for and you can double check because we left a visible paper trail. NOT!" [Check the "accountability" and "leadership" links to the left]

I'm having a hard time dealing with the "accountability" issue. Each time I turn around, I'm told that someone or other is behind on municipal payments of one type or another. [Complete deniability: I do not know for certain of ANYONE who is or is not behind and I am not naming any names based on rumor. But you know who you are and you know your current situation. Let the glass houses rule apply.] In March, the board of education denied an appeal to remove the tax penalties of someone who paid one day late. Let's hope everyone who is running for school board and borough offices is paid up on their taxes and municipal bills. Especially if they vote to deny any sort of tax relief for someone else.

Stay on track means there's a starting point, a defined course, and a defined destination. Imagine the track missing somewhere along the way: That's a derailment. Imagine no stations along the way: There's no way to gauge progress (or the lack of it.) Our track so far is made up of the whims and caprices of the Lord High Emperor of Education as aided by the hard-core members of the Board of Accomplices.

Before you say "That's not true!", let's look at Sandy Gibson and Robin Reithmeyer for just a moment. Each were elected with the "stop the school but don't ask too many details" groups of their day. Each was duly seated and started the hard work of doing what they are there to do: look, keep an open mind, consider the options, and use their best judgment to achieve the best decision possible for the broadest group possible.

They strayed from the orthodoxy that got them elected. Heretics! Burn them at the metaphorical stake! And so they were. Their "friends" have dropped them like last month's refrigerator science experiment leftovers. There's a lot of old stop the school campaign shirts out there with the Reithmeyer name crossed out in big, bold strokes and worn like badges of honor.

Badges, yes. Honor, um, not so much.

This all shows the closed mindedness of this band. They cannot allow open examination of their aims or goals because it exposes the fallacies and ill-conceived notions that govern the Bizzaro world where they live. The only problem with this is now it's the Bizzaro world where you live too.

The links to your left are filled with day to day information on nearly two years of shenanigans. I humbly ask you to take a look through the pages collected. If you can look through there and still believe that staying on track is the wisest course, then I thank you for your time and ask that you please vote your conscience.

If, however, you can see a brighter future where the borough council can work with the school directors, where the school directors will work with the public, parents, teachers, and staff in a fair and open manner, then you need to look for Pride, Respect, and Responsibility.

Beck, Miller, Jenkins, and Stoneburner for Morrisville School Board