Slats Murphy, Senior SCW columnist

Somehow it seems more than appropriate that our nation is reliving its Watergate experience at the same time the Seminole County School Board is revising its policies.

Never mind that they are far apart in terms of time, geography and governmental hierarchy.  There is still something central and common to both Watergate and our local School Board. 

No matter what else is involved, it all boils down to who actually controls our government.

Just as that was really the central question surrounding the events of the scandal eventually known simply as Watergate, it is also the central question surrounding the scandal commonly known simply as the Seminole County School Board.

The central question begets others.  Is the School Board in control of itself as a governmental entity, or is accountable to an outside power?  If deemed accountable, then the question is to whom? 

Ultimately, the question becomes whether the School Board is accountable to the residents whom it is presumed to serve, or are the residents accountable to the School Board and its presumptive sense of power?

In theory, we all know the answer that our civics class lessons once would have provided.  You know how it goes.  In our form of government, the power is ultimately held by the people.  Or something like that.

The triumph of Watergate was the triumph of the people.  Politics and parties aside, we were reassured that no one person or group of persons were bigger than the public welfare with which they are entrusted.  Anyone who thought they were would learn otherwise, even a President of the United States with an overwhelming electoral victory.

The rules still applied, for the good of society, to the most powerful man in the nation and those whose loyalty to preserving his power led them to cross the line into forbidden territory.

That is essentially the scenario that has been playing out surrounding the Seminole County School Board and its actions of the past year.  The School Board members and their selected superintendent have been involved in a battle of control. 

On the School Board's side has been the presumptive arrogance of power that they hold as a decision-making body.  On the other side have been various groups of parents who have acted in response to adverse School Board actions that have been taken in violation of clearly-stated rules and policies of the School Board.

The School Board, acting in the manner of an imperialist president, states they can take whatever actions they desire because they are the ultimate authority.

The parents, acting in defense of their democracy, state the rules and policies of the School Board are analogously tantamount to the United States Constitution and are not subject to transgression simply at the whim of a self-infused group of elected officials.

The similarities are there, but there is also a major difference.  Somehow that also seems appropriate, as a sign of the times.  Whereas the people may have prevailed in Watergate, they have not done so with the Seminole County School Board.

This will be driven home ever more clearly this Tuesday evening, when the School Board revises its policies and procedures to give itself supreme and ultimate authority to do whatever it desires.

The School Board will no longer have to concern itself with rules for the rezoning process that mandate community awareness and involvement.  They will ensure from this point on that a pesky group of adversely-affected parents will never again have the authority to question their decision.

The School Board will no longer have to concern itself with rules for the naming of schools.  They will ensure from this point on that a pesky group of adversely-affected parents will never again have the authority to question their decision.

In perhaps the most ironic power-play of all, the School Board will adopt these new rules without having to explain or defend to anyone.  They will hold the requisite "public hearing" and allow the citizens of Seminole to say their piece.  Once the citizens have done so, the School Board will do as they like, and adopt the rules, without having to answer to anyone.

Somehow this seems appropriate for the American society in which we live today.  We have created an America in which everything comes down to an ideological choice, and we defend or attack governmental action based not on what is right and proper, but on what best fits our own personal political ideology.

We have given up the middle ground of American politics, the area where all can come together and seek consensus based on common concern for the common good. 

We have drawn lines in the political sand and declared anyone on other ideological sides to be our enemy, to be mocked and scorned, and most of all disrespected, for what they believe.

Now, in a cruel twist of fate, the School Board has done the same to us.

Send an email to Slats Murphy

Check out Slats' Slants, Slats Murphy's daily blog