Candidates for four seats on the West Lafayette school board walked a fine line as they discussed the past, present and future … and how they’d deal with each of those
All of these candidates are professionally qualified and bring significant experience to the table. For me, the difficulty with Yin as a board member is that she is ever equivocating. Her claims shift after her vote so she is somehow both in favor of and against everything always. A vote scoped to a specific thing is somehow actually about something else, over here, she says. Or an unpopular vote is revised in a Facebook post the next day. It’s a weird strategy with serious rhetorical limits, but she continues to command a lot of support regardless, for ultimately positioning herself in solid alignment with the most openly resentful board member in recent memory, Mumford, who has yet to coherently articulate why a school district that is nationally recognized for excellence requires this much scrutiny and drama.
Does anyone really believe the rancor is just perception? It seems pretty obvious. It's obvious every time process squabbles stretch a meeting to three hours. It was obvious when someone leaked the name of the superintendent finalists in violation of their promised confidentiality, undermining trust within the board. It was obvious when the votes took place for the recent principal hire. It's obvious whenever Mumford publishes her opinions about her fellow board members, and it was obvious after the board responded with a censure process after Mumford published personal information about people who signed candidates' paperwork in order to foster anger within her Facebook campaign group. None of this seems debatable, the rancor is very real.
Thank you, Dave Bangert, for writing a thorough report. I also appreciate Dr. Sanders for organizing the forum to keep our community informed. I am grateful to all the participants for attending the meeting during dinner time. These efforts are critical for democracy to work well.
Regarding the board function, I did not have enough time to say more. Here are my additional thoughts on this important issue. Things are not all bad. 😃 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/kRGrTQ6fxu7hkbNH/
All of these candidates are professionally qualified and bring significant experience to the table. For me, the difficulty with Yin as a board member is that she is ever equivocating. Her claims shift after her vote so she is somehow both in favor of and against everything always. A vote scoped to a specific thing is somehow actually about something else, over here, she says. Or an unpopular vote is revised in a Facebook post the next day. It’s a weird strategy with serious rhetorical limits, but she continues to command a lot of support regardless, for ultimately positioning herself in solid alignment with the most openly resentful board member in recent memory, Mumford, who has yet to coherently articulate why a school district that is nationally recognized for excellence requires this much scrutiny and drama.
Does anyone really believe the rancor is just perception? It seems pretty obvious. It's obvious every time process squabbles stretch a meeting to three hours. It was obvious when someone leaked the name of the superintendent finalists in violation of their promised confidentiality, undermining trust within the board. It was obvious when the votes took place for the recent principal hire. It's obvious whenever Mumford publishes her opinions about her fellow board members, and it was obvious after the board responded with a censure process after Mumford published personal information about people who signed candidates' paperwork in order to foster anger within her Facebook campaign group. None of this seems debatable, the rancor is very real.
Thanks Dave for excellent reporting
Thank you, Dave Bangert, for writing a thorough report. I also appreciate Dr. Sanders for organizing the forum to keep our community informed. I am grateful to all the participants for attending the meeting during dinner time. These efforts are critical for democracy to work well.
Regarding the board function, I did not have enough time to say more. Here are my additional thoughts on this important issue. Things are not all bad. 😃 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/kRGrTQ6fxu7hkbNH/