Saturday, March 06, 2010

Money buys change, and trumps reason, again

I'm not surprised that the main financial backers of many of the new Wake County School Board members are themselves in the business of running private schools.

Seems, times aren't changing at all - money buys change and trumps reason again.

From the ISS report (each number is a link to supporting information):
Rank of Art Pope -- primary Civitas benefactor and director of Americans for Prosperity, the group behind the Tea Party anti-tax protests -- among individual contributors to the anti-diversity candidates' campaigns: 2
Rank of Robert Luddy, current chair of Civitas and operator of a chain of private and charter schools: 1
Year in which Luddy founded Thales Academy, a chain of private K-8 schools in Wake County:2007
Year in which the chain opened an academy in Apex, N.C., with current Wake School Board Chair Ron Margiotta serving as a trustee: 2008
I sigh in Wake County's general direction.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:48 AM

    I'm glad I have one son in college and one a sophomore and high school and don't have to worry about any of this. My thoughts go out to parents of children in schools who have to deal with this difficult school issue.

    -Mike

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  2. Anonymous7:15 PM

    The previous board felt invulnerable and became condescending to legitimate concerns from the community. When this happens in a democracy, people get voted out. Sadly, for our children, the replacements weren't so good.

    I put the blame for anything the current board does squarely at the feet of the previous board. If they had shown a little bit more deference to their constituents, they wouldn't have been voted out to begin with.

    I feel strongly that the early-release Wednesday plan was the straw that broke the community's back. It also represents the complete disconnect from reality into which the previous board had slipped.

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  3. Wray Coble11:26 PM

    The good citizens of Wake County have a decision to make: to simply roll over and let the destruction of a nationally respected public school system proceed under the guidance of people who are committed to a right-wing ideological mission or to press hard and loud against this outrage.

    The other decision is to work to make public schools work for everyone!

    Wray Coble

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  4. I put the blame for this board's actions squarely on this board-- they're reactionary and not forward thinking.

    Terribly sad...

    ReplyDelete