[Vision2020] School District Math

Wed May 30 16:08:53 PDT 2007

Saundra and others;

Dr. Weitz, from what I was told, NEVER ONCE met with Dr. D or the school 
board outside of a brief albeit, hog-like appearance before the MSD School 
Board in Feb during a hearing that was held before the regular MSD Monthly 
Meeting.  There was ONE other meeting with Jim (from Furniture Center) and 
Dr. D followed by an immediate letter to Dr. D by Jim's attorney, who just 
happens to belong to Christ Church.  Dr. Weitz has since been screaming and 
throwing tantrums and Jim and a couple of others have been writing letters 
to the effect that the MSD and/or School Board are unwilling to co-operate 
with the GMA in setting up a program in the schools to their liking.

(By the way, why isn't Dr. Weitz screaming or suing Dougie-Boy and his 
schools for THEIR lack of vocational education courses?!!!)

In my opinion, this is just another attempt by a small group of people to 
run things in Moscow the way they feel it should be done, the rest of us be 
damned.

So, to Dr. Weitz, et al, I have a few questions:

1.  EXACTLY when did you meet with the School District, Board and/or 
Superintendent to make your "concerns" known?  And just how many, EXACTLY, 
meetings have there been or were there BEFORE you decided to sue?

2.  What EXACTLY was the outcome of that/those meetings?

3.  What EXACTLY are your concerns and what EXACTLY did/do you want the MSD 
to do to resolve them?

4.  Where, EXACTLY, do you anticipate the money to come from to pay for the 
program(s) you want the MSD to start running?

5.  Where, EXACTLY, do you want them to run those program(s)?  The Tidyman's 
Building?  The MSD buildings?  Where?

6.  In reference to the State of Idaho Department of Education Regulations, 
how is it that the MSD is NOT following those or should not be following 
them?

7.  Since the vote during the MSD meeting that put forth and passed in 
regards to levys being used to help fund the MSD schools, Dr. Weitz not only 
VOTED FOR THEIR PASSAGE, but authored some of the language of that 
regulation and since Dr. Weitz had 40! days after the passage of said 
regulation, BACK IN 1992!!!, why is it that it took Dr. Weitz this many (15) 
years for him to all of a sudden cry "Foul!" and decide to sue?

8.  Isn't it the duty of all negotiations to be entered into with a fair and 
equal or level playing field with the point to resolve not create more 
problems and for the spending of monies not in the coffer to be wasted in 
the effort?

Dr. Weitz, you need to take a serious look at what shame you have brought on 
the GMA, Moscow, your reputation and the utter pain you have caused a great 
many people in this community.  I would and do strongly suggest you hang 
your head until the blood rushes back to it and allows your brain to do some 
real "soul searching" - what is the TRUE motive behind all this any way?  I 
can not and do not believe it is for the sake of the children since it is 
they you are hurting the most with this selfish and childish 
tantrum-throwing you have engaged in.

Surely there is a more productive and positive way you can affect this 
community without it tearing so many people's lives apart in the effort to 
gain yourself a name.

Is your 15minutes up yet?!

J  :]

>From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at roadrunner.com>
>To: "'Sue Hovey'" <suehovey at moscow.com>, <vision2020 at moscow.com>,        
>"'Donovan Arnold'" <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School District Math
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 10:28:33 -0700
>
>Hi Sue & Other Visionaries:
>
>Well, I hesitate to toss my opinions into the mix.  First, Donovan & I 
>might
>both keel over from the shock of publicly almost agreeing with each other
>;-)
>
>Second, and perhaps most importantly, I'm not particularly well-informed
>about some of these things, and I don't have the answers.
>
>OTOH, by tossing my opinions out there, I might get an education through 
>the
>feedback  :-)
>
>I'm not happy with Dr. Weitz's & his GMA buddies' lawsuit.  I think it was 
>a
>destructive & divisive thing for them to do, and I would like to think that
>there was some better way for Dr. Weitz to accomplish his purpose, whatever
>it was.  However, I'm not privy to what other, if any, attempts he may or
>may not have made prior to filing suit.
>
>That said, I am *incredibly* disappointed with the school district.  There
>is no excuse, IMHO, for having such an incredibly anemic pro-tech (or
>whatever the current word is for what used to be vo-tech) ed program  :-(((
>It's absolutely unconscionable, IMHO.
>
>I've told these two anecdotes before, but for those who weren't here back
>then . . .
>
>First, when my daughter was at MJHS, we were told that if we wanted her to
>formally learn keyboarding (the modern equivalent to the typing I learned
>back in the Dark Ages), she *had* to take it at the junior high because it
>wasn't offered at the high school.  To me, that is one of the biggest loads
>of you-know-what -- I don't care what the excuse is, telling kids they have
>to take keyboarding before tenth grade or not at all is a huge disservice 
>to
>our students in this day & age.
>
>Second, I was one of those disgusting highly motivated, high achieving
>students who participated in lots of extracurricular activities back in the
>Dark Ages and who couldn't wait to get through high school and move onto
>college.  I went to summer school (another important thing this district is
>lacking, IMHO) every summer so I could take more electives and graduate
>early.  Which I did.
>
>HOWEVER,  the vo-tech training I took is what enabled me to progress 
>through
>higher education -- the skill I learned put me above minimum wage and 
>opened
>lots of opportunities for me to be able to work while going to college.
>Because my father didn't support my planned course of education, he 
>withheld
>my college funds.  Since I'd not applied for financial aid or scholarships
>because I thought it better to leave those for young adults who wouldn't be
>able to go to school without them, I wouldn't have been able to *afford* to
>go to college were it not for the skills I got from vo-tech.
>
>I think it's a HUGE mistake to think that the pro-tech education this
>district is sorely lacking would only be of benefit to non-college bound
>students.  Regardless of the actual stats of district college-bound 
>students
>vs non-college-bound students, it's inexcusable, IMHO, that our district
>doesn't offer a real pro-tech program to *all* it's high school students.  
>I
>don't know how we got to this point, but it's wrong, Wrong, WRONG.
>
>So, while I strongly disagree with Dr. Weitz's course of action, I also
>strongly support his efforts to get this district into the 21st century 
>with
>pro-tech education for *all* our high school students . . . and I strongly
>disagree with the district's refusal to make progress in this area.
>
>Oh, and as an aside to Donovan, while I'm not qualified to discuss the
>nutritional status of our school breakfasts & lunches, I will say I'm not
>happy with them.  Try being the parent of a vegetarian student, and no, my
>daughter isn't the only vegetarian at the high school!  In our family, we
>(well, maybe not my husband) used to really Friday nights as Pizza nights,
>but since that's reportedly just about the *only* vegetarian choice at
>lunch, the bloom is *definitely* off that rose for my daughter after eating
>it day in & day out for just about two years now.
>
>
>JMHO,
>Saundra Lund
>Moscow, ID
>
>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
>nothing.
>- Edmund Burke
>
>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2007 through life 
>plus
>70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce 
>outside
>the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
>author.*****
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
>On Behalf Of Sue Hovey
>Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:19 AM
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com; Donovan Arnold
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School District Math
>
>     Donovan makes a comparison one hears only too often today regarding 
>the
>levy and its purpose.  That's the pull between vocational and other
>education.  His figure of 80% non college bound and 20% college bound is
>skewed for a number of reasons, but it isn't my purpose to mess with it.  I
>would simply ask:
>
>     What part of an academic education should those not college bound
>forego?  A good grounding in math?  So many vocational-technical careers 
>are
>based in mathematic principals.  Being a good writer--one who uses literary
>conventions (spelling, punctuation, grammar) correctly, in order to
>communicate effectively in an increasingly interactive world?  An
>introduction to good literature and the mental stimulation it provides?  A
>sound knowledge of basic scientific principles, and the theories on which
>they are based?  A knowledge of the history, not only of our country, but
>the history and cultural underpinnings of current nations and the
>governments which preceeded them?  Foreign language?  Art?  Music?  Are not
>all these offerings equally important and vital to the proper education of
>all our students, regardless of the career paths they choose, sometimes
>after heading down one path only to find they really want to be somewhere
>else?
>
>     It concerns me when people begin to make significant distinctions 
>among
>students and their intellectual needs, based on educational plans that 
>could
>tie them to lifetime career paths they may later find did not prepare them
>for the life they really want to lead.  The best education for students is
>one that gives them ample preparation to sieze the opportunities which
>appeal to them in their 20s and 30s and not be limited by the choices they
>made, or even worse, those that were made for them, when they were 15 or 
>16.
>
>
>Sue Hovey
>
>	----- Original Message -----
>	From: Donovan Arnold <mailto:donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
>	To: Glenn Schwaller <mailto:vpschwaller at gmail.com>  ;
>vision2020 at moscow.com
>	Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:36 PM
>	Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School District Math
>
>	Dr. Weitz is not only correct about the lawsuit because it is
>stealing from the public, but he is also correct in bring attention to the
>notion that the School District doesn't want to spend money and resources 
>on
>the 80% of students that will not be college graduates and will be working 
>a
>vocational job. Is it fair to spend 80% of the pie on 20% of the kids? I
>think not. MSD is practicing discrimination.
>
>	Best,
>
>	Donovan
>
>	PS. The poor nutritional value of school lunches are another example
>of poor decisions being made by the public school system to prepare 
>children
>for a quality life.
>
>
>
>
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