In defense of a colleague
If I were going to make a list of all the conscientious people I know - people who are constantly worried about the impact of their actions or inactions on the rest of the world (and I know a lot of these people), Paul Spoelhof would be very, very high on the list. (I can't say top of the list, because then all of the other conscientious people I know would start worrying that they weren't conscientious enough, and I cannot be responsible for giving these folks any more to worry about.) Paul is a GOOD GUY who cares more about other people than about himself.
But yet, to read the paper, you'd think he was Huey Long or something.
Background for people who missed it:
Paul is a city planner and a parent of two young children. Paul was appointed, as was I, to the Yellow Ribbon Task Force which is supposed to figure out how to fix our aging school buildings while not bankrupting our property tax base.
Paul is very passionate about our public schools. We need more people like him involved in local government - smart, reasonable people who listen to all sides of a situation. Last year he started a political action committee to raise money for school board candidates; some of the contributors to this PAC were construction companies. This was entirely legal, by the way, and is very common. (Remember, all FWCS construction projects are publicly and openly bid, so please do not think that if Construction Company X gives money to a school board candidate that there is even a realistic opportunity for that company to be given any special treatment.)
Back to the issue: the Task Force and the public have all had a lot of sticker shock when we saw the cost options. And sticker shock, like most surprises, tends to generate anger, and anger tends to generate the desire to blame someone. This must be someone's fault! Blame previous school boards! Blame previous superintendents! Blame current FWCS administration! Blame parents, teachers, or students for bad test scores!
It's a natural response, I think. But let's not let this get in the way of figuring out the best, most responsible way to move forward. And the sad fact is, when most of your 53 buildings are 30-40 years old, you've got a lot of basic infrastructure that needs to be replaced - if not today, then you need to be planning to do so over the next few years. And on top of that the way schools were built 40 years ago doesn't necessarily meet the educational needs of kids today (special ed and computers being 2 examples.) I applaud Wendy Robinson for recognizing that this is not a "one building at a time" situation - it requires a long term plan, and that is what is being developed.
So back to Paul. He was drafted by the other Task Force members to be our chair. He didn't seek this out. He views his role as directing the process, not directing the conclusion. Paul is running this as a very open group where everyone's opinions are sought out and heard.
It may be tempting to decide that we should blame Paul here - that somehow, if Paul hadn't been active in the democratic process, that our northern Indiana climate wouldn't require us to fix roofs. We might like to blame Paul rather than recognize that schools in the 21st century have different building needs than they did in the mid-20th. It might make us feel better to believe that Paul is the problem here and tell him he has to resign from the task force.
Just for the sake of argument, let us summarize the results of this approach:
1. We kick a passionate, articulate, honest, open person out of local civic life.
2. We show other similar people that as soon as they say something we don't want to hear, then we will similarly kick them around and out.
3. We still have to figure out what to do about our schools.
If I didn't know Paul personally, I might not be writing this post. But then shame on me, because this really isn't about Paul, it is about how we as a community deal with our problems.
Don't like the numbers? I don't either. So punch a pillow or sing along REALLY LOUD with Tom Petty (personally, I find the latter to be more effective than the former) and then let's return to addressing the issue at hand. And that issue is schools - it's not my friend Paul Spoelhof.
But yet, to read the paper, you'd think he was Huey Long or something.
Background for people who missed it:
Paul is a city planner and a parent of two young children. Paul was appointed, as was I, to the Yellow Ribbon Task Force which is supposed to figure out how to fix our aging school buildings while not bankrupting our property tax base.
Paul is very passionate about our public schools. We need more people like him involved in local government - smart, reasonable people who listen to all sides of a situation. Last year he started a political action committee to raise money for school board candidates; some of the contributors to this PAC were construction companies. This was entirely legal, by the way, and is very common. (Remember, all FWCS construction projects are publicly and openly bid, so please do not think that if Construction Company X gives money to a school board candidate that there is even a realistic opportunity for that company to be given any special treatment.)
Back to the issue: the Task Force and the public have all had a lot of sticker shock when we saw the cost options. And sticker shock, like most surprises, tends to generate anger, and anger tends to generate the desire to blame someone. This must be someone's fault! Blame previous school boards! Blame previous superintendents! Blame current FWCS administration! Blame parents, teachers, or students for bad test scores!
It's a natural response, I think. But let's not let this get in the way of figuring out the best, most responsible way to move forward. And the sad fact is, when most of your 53 buildings are 30-40 years old, you've got a lot of basic infrastructure that needs to be replaced - if not today, then you need to be planning to do so over the next few years. And on top of that the way schools were built 40 years ago doesn't necessarily meet the educational needs of kids today (special ed and computers being 2 examples.) I applaud Wendy Robinson for recognizing that this is not a "one building at a time" situation - it requires a long term plan, and that is what is being developed.
So back to Paul. He was drafted by the other Task Force members to be our chair. He didn't seek this out. He views his role as directing the process, not directing the conclusion. Paul is running this as a very open group where everyone's opinions are sought out and heard.
It may be tempting to decide that we should blame Paul here - that somehow, if Paul hadn't been active in the democratic process, that our northern Indiana climate wouldn't require us to fix roofs. We might like to blame Paul rather than recognize that schools in the 21st century have different building needs than they did in the mid-20th. It might make us feel better to believe that Paul is the problem here and tell him he has to resign from the task force.
Just for the sake of argument, let us summarize the results of this approach:
1. We kick a passionate, articulate, honest, open person out of local civic life.
2. We show other similar people that as soon as they say something we don't want to hear, then we will similarly kick them around and out.
3. We still have to figure out what to do about our schools.
If I didn't know Paul personally, I might not be writing this post. But then shame on me, because this really isn't about Paul, it is about how we as a community deal with our problems.
Don't like the numbers? I don't either. So punch a pillow or sing along REALLY LOUD with Tom Petty (personally, I find the latter to be more effective than the former) and then let's return to addressing the issue at hand. And that issue is schools - it's not my friend Paul Spoelhof.
posted by Karen Goldner at 1:59 PM
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