Saturday Detention: Part 1 of a Long, Hot Remedial Summer

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June 04, 2005

Saturday Detention: Part 1 of a Long, Hot Remedial Summer

I have had a category called "Education" on this blog for a while, and it has been sorely neglected -- if one measures its entries against my valuation of Education.

Today, then, I decide to write about Education, just after most pupils have been given their annual reprieve from it. (I'm not known for having keen timing -- just ask the drummers with whom I play.) Perhaps, though, we can have some discussions over the Summer that will lead toward synthesized community goals for upcoming school sessions.

I'm going to start by "sentencing" a few public figures to "detention" -- and likely open up big #10 cans of worms by doing so. That's okay, as anglers and gardeners can use the worms. These are in no particular order.

Fred Skillern -- Commissioner Skillern gets detention for continuing the whining about state funding for Hamilton County schools. I'm not saying that the BEP is totally fair, but surely Mr. Skillern knows that the state doesn't just "have money," as their funding comes from taxpayers just like county funding does. So is he really saying that struggling taxpayers in poorer counties should pony up more to send over to Hamilton County, one of the most affluent in the state, instead of helping their own schools, while rich Hamilton County residents continue to evade that responsibility?

Rhonda Thurman -- gods forbid one's choice being between a "Skiles ejucashun" and none at all. I could go on for days about the scrappy little hairdresser from Soddy who seemingly hates educated people yet inexplicably was elected to the Board of Education, but she gets sent to detention this week specifically for her obstreperous disruptions of Board business by reacting, as if singled out, to a mass mailing that simply outlined school successes. One would hope that an elected School Board member (or a County Commission Education Committee Chair, for that matter) would be on the side of touting success, even while being watchful for improvement opportunities.

Charles Love -- speaking of disrupting school business, and trying to sell it to his clients for personal gain, here's a situation that calls for something a bit stronger than detention (or simply being removed as chairman of the School Facilities Committee). I "second" Board Chairman Baker's request for Mr. Love's resignation.

Ward Crutchfield -- okay, the Clem/James debate on the presumed innocence of the indicted plays here, so I am not yet decided on whether Senator Crutchfield should be relieved of his duties as attorney-of-record for the HCDE; but he gets detention for failing to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Oh, and naturally he won't be allowed to sit next to Mr. Love while in detention, given their interwoven circumstances.

William Cotton -- Commissioner Cotton needs some remedial math as well as detention, because he thinks that saddling his already-overburdened constituents with an even higher sales tax (never mind that the absolute maximum that could be added under state law is 0.50%) will provide the necessary funding for school repairs, supplies, adequate salaries, etc. Given that the extremely regressive sales tax already unfairly milks the lowest economic strata and has no real exemptions for food and other necessities (how many places actually implemented that measly 1% difference?), one would think that asking those you represent to vote a higher rate in would be a guarantee for un-election come 2006. But perhaps Mr. Cotton feels invincible after his highly-suspect victory in 2002.

While these few are sitting in detention, they can study this cartoon.

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