No problem in googling it -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Sarto

And a rant from the other side - http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-carpentersville/

Board Mtgs & Back Room Board Mtgs

That video of a dysfunctional board meeting in Illinois shows what can be done with good camera work and very good audio capture.  Thus, the citizens of that community can see for themselves what transpires in “democratic” decision-making.

I’ve gone to a lot of school board meetings in different communities and what really bugs me is the farcical nature of these so-called “public” meetings.

Every time — what you see is the trustees filing out of another room into the public area.  Their preliminary meeting might have been controversial or interesting, but what the public sees afterwards is generally something already agreed upon and probably even rehearsed. 

The rules are that a school board is a corporate body, and acts as a corporation with a unified voice.  Divisions usually only appear in voting.  It is very much frowned upon for individual trustees, even if not in the governing party, to speak to the press.  Only once have I seen two trustees write an open letter to a newspaper expressing their dissent.

The discipline and “socialization” that occurs from when a whipper-snapper gets elected to the time they appear in public must be very efficient, intimidating and daunting.  Their wings get clipped.

I think the model of operating public schools through centralized regional boards is seriously outdated — too expensive, too bureaucratized, too self-serving of the industry itself — serving more the vested interests of the employees than the clients.

The way private schools operate with parents of the school on the board is the better way to yield accountability.

Trustees As Bobble-Heads

A recent Calgary story bolsters my position that public school trustees are no more than lap-dogs of the system.

This is the story of how a board lawyer asked trustees to sign a “gag” document to not talk to the press.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/school-board-chair-sheila-taylor-signs-gag-document-125048663.html

This was my opening line, after which I copied my above post:

This Calgary story just confirms my observation that trustees — regardless how well-intentioned they may start out — soon become tools of the education machine.  We could just as easily produce some $10.00 Bobble-Heads for each of them — then set them to rock back and forth from time to time.

Had to add to Tunya’s ‘Trustees as Bobble-Heads’.

Consensus methods which is real popular with the education set, always leads to bobble-heads and ceding your individual rights. Or in the case above, signing them away.

1. http://web.mit.edu/publicdisputes/practice/cbh_ch1.html

2. Consensus theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_theory

3. “Many meetings are being run by consensus.  When one understands the purpose of consensus, that it is intended to produce the Oneness of Mind necessary to dialectical materialism, one understands why it stands counter to the best interests of our country.  In the interests of preserving our freedom and sovereignty as a nation, we must return to open public forum meetings run via Robert’s Rules of Order.”
http://www.learn-usa.com/transformation_process/acf003.htm

Consensus methods are used often and directed at parents in cases of closing down schools. The decision is made in advance, all trustees are on board, and that attack method used, is to build consensus among the parents. Ergo, the school closes. There is ways to disrupt the consensus methods - in the last link - here to learn how to disrupt the Delphi Technique.

Note to parents: you are going to love the tips, especially if you have a battle on your hands at the infamous IEP meetings. “Remember…
always be charming,

stay focused, and

be persistent.”  http://www.learn-usa.com/transformation_process/acf002.htm

Don’t believe this one for a second - “Taylor was very vocal as a trustee on the last board, arguing for a more transparent budget and for holding fewer meetings behind closed doors.

But she said she felt intimidated and agreed to sign the “gag” document in a spirit of co-operation.”

Why? She was the chair! In consensus building, the chair leads the discussion of what will be and will not be. That said, if one studies the roots of consensus building, you will understand it is never in the best interests of the people who are being provided services, and in some cases, not in the best interests of the employees.