Onteora: Vote For Change
So here we are… yet another pivotal Onteora vote with two slates lined up against each other pointing towards diametrically-opposed directions in which to take the school district. On one side is an incumbent board sticking by its tough decisions; on the other a set of challengers riding a wave of passion. Key issues include the maintenance of certain Onteora attributes many feel are key to the district’s, and their communities’ character; tax equity; and questions about how far we go in pursuit of quality education for our kids. Look familiar?
We are sick and tired of Onteora’s decision-making process always coming to this, as well as the tenor of this year’s race... which has recently included threats from one block against me and the rest of the media. The district has had little peace since the late-1990s, when the mascot issue unveiled vast schisms within it and many started trying to silence those voters who actually had kids in the district via larger, “taxpayer” concerns. In the best of all worlds, we would ask that voters pick candidates based solely on individual merits and educational vision… endorsing one of the incumbents, two of the challenging slate to create a better geographic mix on the board, and the kid… because we strongly believe youth needs a say in the giant school decisions underway. But unfortunately the issues at hand are too contentious to allow for such choices. We’ve heard it all summed up as being logic versus emotion… but in such cases where community and kids are involved, we side with emotion because our communities aren’t logical… never have been and hopefully never will be. Because that’s simply not American.
We do feel the manner in which the current redistricting plan has been researched, presented, discussed, and decided upon is faulted. You don’t limit discussion of such monumental changes. You don’t set up shared-decision making teams and then ignore them. If the redistricting plan is as good as its supporters believe it to be, it will last through another round of debate. If it isn’t, it shouldn’t be forced down everyone’s throats or we will see parents educating their kids by other means.
We also don’t like the way so many district decisions have been made reliant on the support of a single block of voters, Olive Matters. Because the current incumbents feel so supported by these folks, they aren’t working with constituencies they disagree with, including other communities’ parents, and trying to build new consensus. We feel this is divisive to such a degree that, despite our aversion to slate voting, there is no choice but to vote them out. Which is a shame, because they are good people.
We have to remember this is about the quality of our community’s education, and not just taxes. And we have to get beyond allowing one block of voters to decide all Onteora matters, especially when they start to threaten all who don’t agree with them..
. PS