Thursday, June 11, 2020

Partisan Politics Allowed at Board Meeting

Is it appropriate for the superintendent, or any other official, to make partisan political statements at a school board meeting?

On Tuesday I thought I heard the superintendent do so toward the end of the June 9th board meeting. When the recording was published on YouTube this morning, I listened to his statement again. I had understood it correctly the first time.

Why didn't Chairman Manning interrupt him? Did he say anything to the superintendent after the meeting?

Supt. Davis said (at 44:50 in the YouTube recording), "Congratulations to our school board vice chairperson woman, Dr. .Teresa Holmes, on her election as a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention in August. The Democratic Party is scheduled to convene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to formally nominate the next president and vice-president of the United States."

Let me tell you to what, exactly, I object. The superintendent's wording as to just what the DNC will do at its convention. (For the record, I would be just as picky if he had referred to the RNC.)

The superintendent said that the Democratic Party will formally nominate "the next president and vice-present of the United States".

No, it won't. 

The DNC will nominate the Democratic Nominee for POTUS and VPOTUS. And that is substantially different.

Who else picked up on that careless but intentional reference by the superintendent? I say intentional, because the superintendent was reading his prepared remarks.

How do we teach students to be careful and exact in their words. We do it by Leading.

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