You ever get the feeling that everyone and their dog is out to piss you off? I’m sure I’m not the only one to have those kinds of days on occasion. Well, several days over the last couple of weeks have gone that way for me.
To start things out, the administration and board of Scottsbluff Public Schools seem to have recently inserted their heads squarely into their butts. I understand that times are tough and schools have to reign-in spending and all of that garbage. Still, cutting positions on the front line of education (i.e. teachers) doesn’t seem to make sense.
Scottsbluff Public Schools is the only school district in the panhandle of Nebraska to offer an orchestra program. Well, it looks like the school administration plans on cutting that program. There has been a full-time orchestra teacher in the program for years, and the program has been available to kids beginning in 4th grade. The teaching position is being cut to part-time, is only available to those in middle school or higher, and they are considering getting rid of concerts for the students completely. Okay, so by cutting out the 4th and 5th grade participation, they are cutting off feeding the program. By cutting out the concerts, they will be cutting back on interest from students, parents and the community. Administration will not admit it, and they think we are too stupid to figure it our for ourselves, but it seems obvious that the orchestra program is being phased out. Just too darn expensive. Did I mention that our superintendent of schools makes $160,000/year? This is almost the same pay that the superintendent of the North Platte Public Schools makes, and North Platte has a much larger student and staff population to manage. I can’t figure out what exactly makes our school district so difficult that we would have to pay a superintendent the same as someone managing a much larger district in the same state. I have my own opinions about why it sucks around here, but none of the reasons have much to do with the schools. I guess it must have something to do with how much it just sucks to live here. We gotta pay top dollar just to get someone to live here. The last superintendent, upon retiring, immediately moved the hell away from the panhandle. He apparently hated it here and we had to pay out the wazoo to keep him while we could. He was kind of a pompous ass anyway (which seems to be the status quo for school superintendents), so the community is probably better off with his departure.
The second (more severe) cut that is really pissing me off is the board and administration screwing up the HALs program. HALs stands for High Ability Learners and is a program for students who aren’t challenged enough with regular classroom learning. We have had a coordinator for our HALs program and she has done an outstanding job. Her name is Merry Witzki, and she is not a normal “teacher”. Merry knows how kids learn. Her focus hasn’t been only on math, science and language arts (which seems to comprise the focus of our education system). Merry mentors the kids (high ability, normal ability, and low ability) she works with and focuses on creative thinking skills. She challenges the kids to think outside the box and the kids gain skills that will actually help them create a positive impact on the workforce once they join. I mean, it’s great to know that a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and a single atom of oxygen, but how many people are going to have a career where that information is relevant. Good basic knowledge, but critical thinking skills and learning how to lead and be part of a team and all of the other things that Mrs. Witzki focused on were real-world skills that the kids weren’t getting anywhere else. Well, apparently the school district doesn’t believe real-world skills are important. Mrs. Witzki’s position has been eliminated. She will be a grade teacher. The HALs program will still be in place, but it doesn’t sound like the HALs kids will meet with their peers anymore for monthly workshops and yearly conferences. Instead, they will be assigned a “special teacher” who will visit them in their existing classrooms and make sure they are being challenged in their classes. What, make sure they are getting a little harder math homework in their math class than the other students are taking home? That isn’t going to encourage the HAL students. It may challenge, but it won’t encourage. What a crock of crap! The National Association of Gifted Students recommends this protocol, but our school district doesn’t want to follow this advice. The HALs program has been something that the HALs students look forward to: a fun and creative experience that helps them grow. I have a strong feeling that the HALs program is about to take a nosedive straight into the toilet. But whatever. At least the superintendent is still making $160,000/year. Hmmm… I wonder if the HALs program could still have a coordinator if the superintendent made what the average superintendent in a school district our size makes? Or if we didn’t decide that we need to hire a teacher to teach the Chinese language? Well, I guess since the US is pretty much owned by the Chinese now, we should probably start teaching our future national language.
One thing that really kills me is how the school board defends some of the stupid decisions it makes with, “If parents really cared more and came to the school board meetings, they could make their voices heard before we make decisions.” The school board meets normally once a month on Monday. Does the school board have any idea how many other groups meet on Monday night? My wife is on a booster club for an elementary school, and they meet on Mondays. I am at Boy Scout troop meetings every Monday throughout the school year. I guess if we all stopped volunteering in the community, we could monitor the school board that we put in office to help them make the decisions that we elected them to make in our students’ best interests. I know that I’m probably being a little hard on the school board, but I cannot for the life of me grasp why a group of educated adults would make a decision that is going to potentially have such a negative impact on our brightest students. I guess, for some children, being left behind is acceptable…
Alright, so those in power on school boards and school administration piss me off, but they aren’t the only ones. Other people with perceptions of power and authority piss me off as well. I know I have discussed my aversion to local politicians (especially small town mayors) before, but I keep coming back, don’t I? You know the types: county commissioners whose asses everyone kisses because of the hellfire of economic ruin said commissioners will rain down upon those who openly oppose them (or who don’t hook them up with free crap just because they are commissioners). Also, higher-ups in economic development-type organizations can be real jerks. Some of these people see themselves as “elite”, and I’m getting too far along in age to be talked down to by some jerk on a power trip. What really gets me is that the people who are supposed to be all about developing the local economy are the people you never see out supporting local businesses. If they actually do support local businesses, they constantly throw in your face how much your service “sucks” and how much better off they would be going with a non-local business, but they are supporting your business so you better do whatever in the hell they want you to do to make them happy. They are the kind of people who call in to complain that their toaster stopped working… and your business has nothing to do with the sale or service of toasters… and they want you to fix their broken toaster, because, “all of my smart friends tell me that I need to buy my products or get my service from someone other than you, but I keep my money going to you, so you better get someone out here to fix my toaster!” And, of course, you fix the stinking toaster.
I have never really held a position with any kind of real power, and I probably never will. People in positions of power will always talk down to me and make decisions that affect me or those I care about directly, and these decisions will continue to piss me off. There really isn’t anything I can do about any of this. Oh sure, I could always come up with an elaborate, diabolical plan to remove these pains-in-the-ass people from my realm of existence, but that sounds kind of messy. Besides, with my luck, I’d get caught. I have a feeling that the people on power trips in prison might make my life noticeably more miserable than the elitist jerks I have to deal with on the “outside”. Intimate relations with a tattooed child molester named Bubba, or a similar relationship with local people of “power”. I guess the figurative is better that the literal in this situation…