Reply to Are you able to watch the school board meeting live? Doesn't work??

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "Are you able to watch the school board meeting live? Doesn't work??"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Hynes practiced law for one year - insufficient time to understand the dduties of a public servant to conduct the public's business transparently and impartially.  Moon and Wilson practice law.

The process was not conducted in compliance with Regulation 8170.7. Technically, a Regulation is put in place by the Superintendent and applies to him and his staff.  Policies are statements by the Board.  So John Foster (counsel to the Board and to the Division - an unusual arrangement with possible conflicts of interest), determined something about the freedom of the Board to act outside of the constraints of the Regulation.  While possibly "legal", this is the kind of self-serving distinction that discredits the Board's oft-vaunted commitment to transparency and accountability - fidelity to process is the term that Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Derenak-Kaufax used.  Adherence to process is important.  The WaPo editorialized last week about the importance of adherence to process in lambasting the Trump administration.  Credibility and integrity and trust are lost when the Board acts without reliance on procedures and process.  This is the unfortunate outcome here.  Emotional appeals and assertions win the day - but we haven't seen a definition of "compelling need", we haven't seen what is "sufficient interest" and we don't know what "community" we should be listening to...  It was interesting to hear Mr. Hanson testify at the Board meeting against the name change - and he was the only "black person" to testify.

So we have a Board that does what it wants to, without restraint or logic or process.  As long as the outcome is aligned with your interests this seems to be good.  But when the tables turn, the lack of recourse, process and accountability leave you without recourse.  The rule of law is most important for those with little power - and they should be most careful, mindful, to ensure that it is strictly observed and honored.  The powerful will act without constraint if the rule of law doesn't operate.

So, Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Derenak-Kaufax were acting to protect the institution.  It is completely clear that the name would be changed in any event.  The only difference is that we now have a group of advocates who feel that they were cheated.  This will unnecessarily complicate the reconciliation process.

btw, any "influential" people in Fairfax who don't see the effort, the integrity and the good intent of Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Derenak -Kaufax are people who are not contributing to the good of our community.   It's easy to threaten, spout, assert - it's significantly harder to actually get in the game and contribute.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics