"Those who make the rules get to break the rules"

Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski answers questions from the press following Thursday night's Huntsville school board meeting. (The Huntsville Times/Michael Mercier)

Did the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education violate it's own naming policy, and does the local  news media even care?

If get all your news from AL.com, or the local television stations, you are aware of the J.O. Johnson High School closing/renaming controversy, and calls for the resignation of school board representative Laurie McCaulley.  If you've been reading this blog, or The Geek Pavaler's blog, you would know that in their haste to treat the taxpayers of District 1 like second class citizens, the HCS BOE violated it's own naming policy.

Last night the Huntsville City School Board of Education violated their own policy on the Selection of School, Facility, and/or Property Name (Policy 2.9, presented September 5, 2013) by concluding the process and voting on the new names approximately three weeks before they were allowed to do so.
On September 5, 2013, the board met and discussed during their work session a new policy entitled, “Selection of School, Facility, and/or Property Name” (Policy 2.9). This policy was necessary to ensure that the process of receiving new names for schools would be as open to the public as possible. Laurie McCaulley, who was at that time serving as the School Board President, assured the public present that evening that the public would have every opportunity to “have input on these changes.”

Now you would think this would be breaking, front page news, but there's not been a mumbling word about this in the mainstream media. I wonder why?  Usually the news media is all over it when students, principals,  parents , teachers,  coaches,  and  support personnel  violate HCS/ BOE Policies.

I  wonder why the media is silent when the school board violates it's own policy?

Culture of fear of reprisal develops in which teachers, principals, staff, even parents feel afraid to speak up against the policies of the district or the superintendent.

Ballooning of the central office at the same time superintendent makes painful cuts to schools and classrooms.

Superintendent attempts to sidestep labor laws and union contracts.

Superintendent lays off teachers for questionable reasons.

Your school board starts to show signs of Stockholm Syndrome. They vote in lockstep with the superintendent. Apparently lobotomized by periodic “school board retreat/Broad training” sessions headed by someone from Broad, your school board stops listening to parents and starts to treat them as the enemy. (If you still have a school board, that is — Broad ideally prefers no pesky democratically elected representatives to get in the way of their Supt's and agendas.)

 Local newspaper fails to report on much of this.

 Local newspaper never mentions the words “Broad Foundation.”

 Broad and Gates Foundations give money to local public radio stations which in turn become strangely silent about the presence and influence of the Broad and Gates Foundation in your school district.

 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
― Edmund Burke