[Vision2020] debbie, jack, wayne

Wed Mar 29 19:01:21 PST 2006

Keely,

 My point Keely, in case you missed it;  is it was  wrong of you to accuse Jack of caring more about buildings than  children, not that you have friends with an opposing viewpoint. You can  dance around it all you want.

 The slogan "Say 'Yes' to Kids"  is an another example of slapping those that disagree with you in the  face. The idea that this slogan is offensive to many  does not  bother you, yet you wonder why you do not reach 66.7% of the vote. 

  _DJA

keely emerinemix <kjajmix1 at msn.com> wrote:  You might want to refer to the 58,000 public posts I've made, Donovan, where 
I express my heartfelt conviction that plenty of really good people happen 
to disagree with me over the bond and are no less wonderful for believing as 
they do.  Barring that, you can ask my many friends who disagreed with me on 
the bond and yet still hang around with me.

Or you can just continue as you are.

Yes, Jack is a good person who has served his community in a lot of ways.  
On this issue, though, I disagree with his position and I also take 
exception to what he calls "pragmatism."  Frankly, I've sensed less 
pragmatism and more insistence on one particular outcome than you do.  
That's the way it is, I guess.

keely

From: Donovan Arnold 
To: keely emerinemix , vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] debbie, jack, wayne
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 17:47:38 -0800 (PST)

Keely,

  I must take exception to your public statements that  Jack Porter cares 
more about "historicity, architecture, and walkable  neighborhoods" before 
"schoolchildren". That is a horrible, hostile  thing to say about someone, 
especially when you know that is not true.

   Just because someone disagrees with your plan does not mean they hate  
children. This is precisely the attitude that gets good people to turn  
against the bond. When people accuse members of our community of being  
against kids because they do not support bad policy and waste it only  
further angers them.

  You are not the sole judge of what is morally superior and anyone that  
opposes you is not wrong or morally inept for it.

   Jack Porter is a good person. He is a community activist. I know he has  
the respect of many people in our community. Although I do not agree  with 
him 100% of the time, I know that he believes what he believes  because he 
thinks it is what is best for the community, not because he  is evil or 
hates schoolchildren.

   _DJA

keely emerinemix  wrote:
Dear Debbie, Jack, Wayne, et al --

I'm sitting here fuming because the long, detailed, passionate reply I just
wrote to all of you disappeared off my screen in an MSN server glitch and
now I'm left with only vague memories of arguments and perspectives that I
had lain out.  I don't have the time to put that much work into it again,
but I'll try to touch on the main points.

Debbie, I agree with you that the survey results might well have been
different if the alt school piece were left off of the options.  However,
the content of the options means that only Option 1, remodeling WP and
Russell and then trying to find another place for PCRHS, could exist with
the alternative school element excised from it.  And since most of the
people who would urge us to drop the alt school piece are those who want
bond money going only for WP and Russell, I have to assume that there's more
to that cry than sheer pragmatism.  You appear to understand that the survey
didn't give us a clear "green light," and I appreciate the tone of your
comments.  I would remind you and all others that last year I was more than
a little enthusiastic about putting money into WP and R in the context of a
larger bond that, in providing a new four-year high school, also alleviated
congestion in all of our elementaries by moving sixth grade to a middle
school.  That plan also allowed for staging the kids during construction at
the former HS building; the option 1 presented now has them attending
classes for a year on an active construction site, and not with the K-5 the
bond would have given us, but with a K-6 configuration.  I think I have
demonstrated that I  can compromise to give the most benefit, as I see it,
to the most people -- but my support of remodeling those two schools last
year was because of the reduction in student numbers and the provision of a
safe staging place during construction.  Lacking those now, I have my
doubts.  I don't, however, doubt that you have given the issue a lot of
thought, and I sense from you that you not only want a real, longterm
solution but also understand how difficult it is to come up with one.  I
hope we can talk further.

Jack, if you were offended by my comments earlier, please know that they
were made in the belief that you have amply and ably demonstrated your
concern for historicity, architecture, and walkable neighborhoods by
elevating them to a position I think they don't belong -- before
schoolchildren.  I apologize only if you have displayed an overarching
interest in meeting the real needs of schoolchildren today and in the future
in such a way that I have been unable to recognize it.  I'm not sure that
I'm able to count your professed concern that it's better to pass something,
pragmatically, rather than try to include the alternative school's needs
(idealistically?) as evidence of that concern.  I think perhaps the picture
would have been clearer to me and to others if you had recognized the
win-win compromise inherent in the last bond, rather than siding with and
giving legitimacy to the most vitriolic flamethrowers.  And you advocated,
in my opinion, a most unneighborly approach to facilities building --
namely, eminent domain -- that, coupled with your dire predictions of
student motor-vehicle slaughter on Mt. View and prisonlike conditions at a
new high school, makes me think that student needs ranked considerably lower
on your list than you'd like me to believe.  I would love to be proved
wrong.  I am in no way morally superior to you or to anyone else, but I
believe that the arguments set forth tend to demonstrate priorities, and I
think mine are different from yours.  As I am dedicated to strengthening
public schools, I'm sure you see why we'll have to disagree.

Sunil, thanks for your comments.  It makes sense that you would want to have
your daughter continue where she is, and I appreciate your having attended
our public hearing last month.  I hope you can trust that we're doing our
best, because it really matters to all of us that your daughter and all of
the kids in her class have the very best we can provide.

Wayne, right before I read your email, I had lunch with a prominent
progressive activist in Moscow, who told me that the school district needs
to stop "asking the same damned questions over and over again."  He said
that after awhile we've begun to lose credibility because rather than
looking informed, competent, and proactive, we tend to look dithering,
doddering, and do-nothing (my paraphrase).  Now you say we haven't been out
there enough soliciting ideas; in the middle, I guess, is the media
association in Boise's award to the facilities committee last year for
statewide excellence in public policy openness.  The fact is, during the two
years I was on the committee, we had numerous forums, hearings, workshops,
weekly meetings open to the public, a survey, and a flurry of printed
material, much of which I wrote.  I don't recall whether I saw you at any of
the forums or not, and that's not the point.  But what generally happens is
that the same half-dozen people attend, the same people write letters to the
editor, and yet -- everyone else wants it done differently.  That's really
the nature of public policy and public service, and I'm neither surprised
nor bitter.  We considered K-8, K-5/6-8/9-12, new construction, remodeling,
a combination of new AND remodeled, including sports fields and auditoriums
and not including sports fields and auditoriums, and we did it all as
publicly as is possible.  We've been slammed for being too into process and
raked over the coals for being dismissive of process, and yet a committee of
18 or so people still managed to whittle options down from innumerable to 8,
then to 3, then to 1.  At no time was the public left out, and a lot of us
knocked ourselves out trying to come up with creative ways to interest
people.  The committee meets next on April 10; I hope that you and many
others will be there to offer your point of view.

And for those of you who have hung in there 'til now, let me confess to a
rumor going around town -- that Keely has "strong views" on facilities.
Yes.  That's true.  But here's what they are:

1.  Let's never, ever forget the PCRHS kids or any other student, and let's
shoot for the best for each one of them.
2.  Let's not ignore or demonize people who have differing ideas, and let's
seek out those whose voices aren't often heard.
3.  Let's not marginalize or dismiss our administrators and staff who are on
the front lines every day, and whose expertise ought to be not just
considered, but sought out and respected.

There they are -- my strong views on facilities.  Notice that there isn't
one building- or plan-specific idea there.  True, I vigorously supported
last year's bond, but it wasn't the only thing that could have worked, and I
have demonstrated a willingness to consider and embrace other ideas as well.
   But on those three things, I won't budge.

And I don't think you'd really want me to.

keely

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