Of Cats and Kids
Democracy in action
Posted by: Carol Lombardi
Friday, March 17, 2006 12:00 AM
Civics classes in the Unit 4 schools must be riveting.Judging by the recent news, here is how the democratic process works: Citizens (i.e. "taxpayers") of Champaign elect a school board, through a majority vote, to represent them. The elected school board votes, using the same majority vote concept, to take a particular action. A handful of unelected people (i.e. representing only themselves) don't like the decision. The board, which is supposed to be representing the people who elected them, UNVOTES in response to the unhappy few and REVOTES in order to make the selected handful happier.
Wow. And they wonder why people don't bother to vote.
Comments
The school board was charged with following mandates and legal instructions for setting a location for a new school. While they technically did so, the new school location is undesirable to a large number of people, not just those families covered by the consent decree.
For a typical north side family(white or black), the Boulder Ridge school location is just as far as any other school. The point of the consent decree was to relieve the minority community of busing issues.
Unti 4 showed the 'business as usual' way of doing things- deciding something without asking the people it would effect most.
I'm glad those people didn't sit still for it.
Posted by Hoov on March 17, 2006 at 1:12 PM
Carol, this blog post is confusing and factually incorrect. The school board never "unvoted" anything. Last Monday the school board voted to choose the Boulder Ridge location, and on Friday night it confirmed its original decision. There was no deviation or change from its decision on Monday.
The school board's decision has obviously generated a lot of controversy, and good arguments can be heard from many sides. But whether it was the right choice or not, the school board made a choice and stuck to it. Please don't suggest otherwise.
Posted by u4excellence on March 19, 2006 at 2:39 PM
