Rowe Elections (old discussion, partially restored)

Rowe Elections
Thread startersoulcyclemom
Start dateLater today at 10:26 AM
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soulcyclemom
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Later today at 10:26 AM

#1
we just got our ballots in the mail, and are wondering who are the best candidates to vote for. we can choose 3 of them. another mom sent me an email about the guy who is running and he was making the school employees feel threatened, swearing in front of the kids and wants to fire the administration! i don’t want that guy in charge of my daughters’ school. so that leaves 6 others, to consider. does anybody have any thoughts?

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ptrubey
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Later today at 2:27 PM

#2
soulcyclemom said:
we just got our ballots in the mail, and are wondering who are the best candidates to vote for. we can choose 3 of them. another mom sent me an email about the guy who is running and he was making the school employees feel threatened, swearing in front of the kids and wants to fire the administration! i don’t want that guy in charge of my daughters’ school. so that leaves 6 others, to consider. does anybody have any thoughts?
So, three candidates so far have written bios/articles here on RSF Post. It would be good to read those. Also, the zoom forum that asked live questions of each candidate was recorded, so you can watch that too.

ptrubey
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Later today at 8:24 PM

#3
Teacher/Student Advocate said:
I am familiar with the letter someone has “leaked” from the school administration or a school board member. These are the only people who should or would have access to this type of confidential information. So, somebody is acting in poor faith by putting it out for public consumption. It also could put the school in a potential lawsuit, as this is proprietary issue not meant for public consumption.
It would behoove all of us to not jump to conclusions. First, the three of us are tiptoeing around potentially damaging information by not naming candidates, which is fine, more than one candidate could have dirty laundry.

Second, I have seen exactly how the letter in question (if it is the same letter) was obtained. It was obtained by an official California Public Records Act Request. It was above board and any voter could also obtain the letter from official channels if they knew how to do it.

Last edited: Later today at 8:45 PM

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Later today at 8:49 PM

#4
ptrubey said:
It would behoove all of us to not jump to conclusions. First, the three of us are tiptoeing around potentially damaging information by not naming candidates, which is fine. But we all could be talking about different candidates! Just keep that in mind.

Second, I have seen exactly how the letter in question (if it is the same letter) was obtained. It was obtained by an official California Public Records Act Request. It was above board and any voter could also obtain the letter from official channels if they knew how to do it.
My comments are not slanderous or meant to hurt a potential candidate from winning a seat. Especially with information that is neither accurate, nor telling the complete story.

We very well could be talking about two different letters. Or perhaps two separate candidates? With all due respect, the school and school board isn’t something you have spent much time covering or writing about on the RSF Post. You do not have children attending the school, nor have you ever had children who attended the school. You have no first hand knowledge with any of the administration, staff, or more than a small handful of the parent community.

I enjoy reading your columns about The Association and Art Jury issues. I also appreciate your insight on Race communications. You have spent a lot of time and effort attending those board meetings and studying the technology of our new fiber optic cable. This is your area of expertise. Not the inner workings of R. Roger Rowe.

Have you attended any Rowe School Board meetings or have any familiarity with the tone, morale, or political issues the school is facing, or has been facing? What about newly adopted curriculum and how it will be implemented and by whom? What about the fact that the school, the summer after the lay offs (2019) had to call every single teacher who was pink slipped trying to offer them their job back to fill in all the holes and gaps left open? Or how about replacing teachers who are out on maternity leave for the majority of the school year with $180 a day substitute teachers out of the sub pool?

When it comes to community issues, Roger Rowe is the one community asset you are the least familiar with. There are some of us out here who are much more familiar with what is happening internally than you.

The school is where we choose to direct our interest and time learning about and wanting to improve. Personally, I am more concerned about the education the school provides, than the bickering between The Association and Art Jury, or whether or not our bathrooms are as nicely appointed as those at Fairbanks Ranch. Thus, you won’t see me chiming in on those matters.

Last edited: Later today at 10:21 PM

ptrubey
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Later today at 8:57 PM

#5
Teacher/Student Advocate said:
Then we are talking about two different letters. Or perhaps two separate candidates? With all due respect, the school and school board isn’t something you have spent much time covering. You do not have children attending the school, nor are you familiar with any of the administration, staff, or more than a handful of the parent community.

I enjoy reading your columns about The Association and Art Jury issues. I also enjoy your insight on Race communications. You have spent a lot of time and effort attending these board meetings and studying the technology of fiber optic cable. This is your area of expertise. Not Roger Rowe.

Have you attended any Rowe School Board meetings or have any familiarity with the tone, morale, or political issues the school is facing?

When it comes to community issues, Roger Rowe is the one community asset you are the least familiar with. There might be some of us out here who are more familiar with what is happening than you. Many of us are more concerned about the school than bickering between The Association and Art Jury. Thus, you won’t see me chiming in on those matters.
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I agree! Which is why I didn’t say anything else. I just pointed out that the letter I saw was obtained through official channels contra your assertion. And since neither of us knows who the other is talking about … maybe we should just leave it there.

By the way, I am looking for someone to attend school board meetings and write about what is going on on the main RSF Post site. Volunteers welcome.
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Later today at 9:45 AM

#6
ptrubey said:
So, three candidates so far have written bios/articles here on RSF Post. It would be good to read those. Also, the zoom forum that asked live questions of each candidate was recorded, so you can watch that too.
i like the three who wrote the articles, and they did a good job in that forum too. thanks for the information. many parents at the school are also talking about these three.
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Later today at 9:51 AM

#7
Teacher/Student Advocate said:
I think it’s bizarre certain outgoing board members, their allies, and besties find it necessary to leak a largely untruthful negative claim about a candidate. This is a volunteer position for the school board! Are we running full background checks on the candidates? Nobody should be making a concerted effort to bring down any of these seven candidates. Personally, I think it’s a pretty impressive group, who all have something unique they could bring to the table. Why use so much time, effort, and low blows to make such a strong push to usher in certain board members who will continue the status quo guaranteeing current school government and policies will go unchanged, unchecked, with no accountability? There seems to be a lot of fear?

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a change. The last four years were an unmitigated disaster. I think it would be a breath of fresh air to have a candidate(s), in an open board meeting, openly acknowledge where Rowe is thriving and where Rowe is falling behind and needs improving. The school is not all rainbows and roses. Can we start getting honest with ourselves, roll up our sleeves and fix the glaring issues? Isn’t this the exact same reason RSF overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016? Why not elect someone who tells it like it is? Someone who has pride for the community, is truly transparent, and cares more about the well being of the kids than PR optics or sugarcoating problems?

Stop with the dirty politicking, stealing signs, and airing out our neighbors dirty laundry in an attempt to stifle other points of view.

Truth be told, there are some candidates running for school board who have a lot more to hide than this particular candidate. Let’s stop this nastiness right now before we sink to an all time low. Can we discuss and focus on what benefits the kids and only the kids?

This election has turned into ego, power, political games, friend groups, and unethical behavior.

We are better than this.
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the school has been great for our family. my girls love it. it seems that this guy promised to fire the superintendent and now he is following through on that promise. people are telling me that he stood up at administration meetings saying she should be fired and cussing at board members and now he wants to be one. i don’t want that kind of anger running the school, so i will agree to disagree.
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soulcyclemom
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Later today at 11:12 AM

#8
i was filling out my ballot and watched part of the debate.
the part where they asked who attended board meetings at about 1:30:00 in the video. it seems the only engaged people are rosemarie, john and annette. the others attended only a couple meetings and seemed to not even know what the issues are. one candidate said he works 60 hours a week and cannot go to meetings, which are all on zoom! how can he even have time to be a board member. he doesn’t come across as authentic to me. he is way too slick.

thanks phil for the links, i will be casting my vote for those three.
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Later today at 8:06 AM

#9
ITE
soulcyclemom said:
i was filling out my ballot and watched part of the debate.
the part where they asked who attended board meetings at about 1:30:00 in the video. it seems the only engaged people are rosemarie, john and annette. the others attended only a couple meetings and seemed to not even know what the issues are. one candidate said he works 60 hours a week and cannot go to meetings, which are all on zoom! how can he even have time to be a board member. he doesn’t come across as authentic to me. he is way too slick.

thanks phil for the links, i will be casting my vote for those three.
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Interesting that’s exactly how the results played out – Rosemarie, John, and Annette won