Saturday, October 30, 2010

School Charter Commission follies

Here's some of the things going on in the field for the School Charter Commission campaigns.

Board member backs connected candidate
First, school board members are backing various Charter Commission candidates that are, well, connected to school board members ... which should really be no surprise, considering.
School Board member Jack Dunn was spotted in the South End leafleting yesterday for William Ardinger, the Ward 5, 6, 7, candidate for Charter Commission who happens to be married to Kass Ardinger, the school board president.
Interestingly, the person who saw Dunn leafleting struck up a conversation with him about the illegal activity by school board attorney John Teague and the collusion by Superintendent Chris Rath and Kass Ardinger to put the fix in on the Charter Commission.
Dunn reportedly said he was "100 percent" in support of the activity by all involved (I've emailed Dunn to give him the chance to clarify his statement). Jack's not a bad guy, in person. But if this is true, he's completely clueless and simply unsuited for public office.
Anyone - and I mean anyone - who thinks that illegal activity, collusion and backroom deals with public officials and school administrators to keep parents and taxpayers from having the electoral rights that virtually everyone else in the nation has is OK, is simply not fit for public office. I don't care what the outcome is. It's wrong, period.

Party for school insiders blocks streets
Other school board members, like Bill Glahn and Jennifer Patterson, were reportedly seen outside the home of former School Board member Meagan Devorsey, along with other insiders with leaflets and signs for Peter Ellinwood and Connie Boyles Lane recently.
According to a source, cars were parked all over the Cambridge Street neighborhood, making it difficult for residents to get into their driveways and access sidewalks. It was heard that everyone had a merry ole time.
The Ward has been hit hard for leaflets promoting Lane's campaign, according to residents in the area.

NEA backs candidates who don't understand the charter law
The NH-NEA, the local teachers union, reportedly endorsed a slate of candidates in its most recent newsletter.
Not surprisingly, the union endorsed candidates who seem to not really understand the law or the role of a charter commissioner. They also backed candidates who seemingly are most connected to the school system.
Interestingly as well, the newsletter seems to have been sent out before the Concord Taxpayers Association or the Concord Monitor posted surveys from the candidates, the only two known surveys to be circulated.
This would mean that the union either had an inside track on who to support, it questioned some of the candidates (some say they never received anything from the org.), or they just picked randomly (which is highly unlikely).
How much you want to bet, considering all that has gone on, that the NH-NEA was spoon-fed the people to support by either school board members or school administrators in order to do everything they can to fix this election too? You can almost hear the threats ... "If these people are elected, you may never get another raise ..." even though the truth is that most of the good candidates running believe more money should be spent on actual school operations, not wasted on new, large elementary schools that will be obsolete by the time they are built. Amazing.

1 comment:

Kathy said...

Tony as much as I appreciate your openness, my mentioning something in a casual conversation was not for posting. I love your passion and energy, but the posting was embellished. What wasn't printed, were my comments saying that people have every right to have signs, parties,etc. because that is politics. I prefer no signs in front of my house as I told you.That is my style. We agree on some things but not all.In addition, you should not have mentioned any names. I made it clear that I didn't know for sure who was in attendance, but it didn't make any difference. I respect their right to conduct political gatherings as they see fit. You should not have posted this. Kathy Conners