When Did Democracy In America Become Wrong?

I generally avoid commenting on anything I read in the Patch because of the disturbing level of misinformation and venom spewed from its columns. I have read articles from bloggers and commentators here that compare the Board President and Democratic members to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Not only are their comments mean-spirited and unproductive, they cheapen the stories of the tens of millions of people who suffered at the hands of the Nazis. I am compelled to respond today because a fellow Board member, a person I respected for her passion and service to the Board, has invoked my name in ominious shadows in her blog in this publication. I pledge to stick to the real facts here and not cloak my opinions in junk science, misleading statistics, shameful historical references and blatant misinformation. Considering all the talk about the dictatorial Board President and Democratic majority, you should know the following. The three most powerful committees of the Board are controlled by minority parties. Minority party members hold the chairmanships and/or majority on the Finance, Policy and Curriculum committees. That means that minority parties “control” those committees and, largely, their agendas. The matters addressed during televised public board meetings are often filtered up unchanged from those committees. The minority parties on the Windsor Board in fact have a disproportionate share of the power relative to their membership and electoral support. Finally, it’ll probably surprise Patch readers, but the President of the Board gave them that disproportionate power as she decides committee membership and chairmanships. The much vilified Equity Study was passed by a bipartisan majority of the Board. Although Mrs. Santos voted against the study, she repeated publically on several occasions that she was in favor of the study but felt the Board failed to follow proper procedures. She and her fellow Republicans stated their objections with such passion and eloquence that the Board voted 8:1 to reconsider its vote in favor of the study and it instructed its legal counsel to review and opine on the procedures followed. Imagine my disappointment when the 3 members of the board refused to accept the legal opinion and the second favorable vote. Imagine further the damage done to good faith and Board relations when they filed ethics complaints against the Board President and Superintendent. The Town Ethics committee ruled unanimously that 3 members failed to even jump the lowest hurdle and establish a prima facie case of ethics violations. Finally, imagine the blow to civility when a minority party board member suggested during a televised session that the President of the Board may accept bribes and kickbacks from the Equity Study fee if it goes forward. Finally, as to my role on the policy committee, Mrs. Santos is correct that I believe where we cannot agree, a majority of members should decide the board’s agenda. I take my direction from nearly all of American political history. It’s an opinion, but I believe majority rule is written into the DNA of American political and civic institutions. I respect Mrs. Santos’ opinion if she does not so believe. Further, neither Mrs. Santos, Mr. Panos, Mrs. DiJore nor I was able to produce a single example of the current President or majority refusing to place an item on the agenda requested by even one board member. Said another way, the minority has had complete access to forming the Board’s agenda. What she failed to mention was that the committee was discussing Bylaw 9323 because it’s confusing as written and could be a source of future acrimony. Believe it or not, some of us want to avoid confusion and acrimony and want to continue the business of educating our children.