Slats Murphy, Senior SCW columnist

Colleague Darren Glaude recently made some very astute observations on lessons to be learned from the recent controversies regarding our Seminole County School Board.

Faithful to his nature, Darren takes the gentle and instructive approach in his comments.  He needs to stop being so nice.

Here's the truth, straight and simple, to the parents in Longwood, Oviedo and citizens elsewhere who feel disappointed in their elected officials:  you get the government you deserve.

The School Board provides an easy example of this.  There were no real surprises in the way the Seminole County School Board approached high school rezoning or any other issue.  Their actions are totally consistent with the action they have always taken, as is their attitude.

The School Board is a fiefdom.  They issue the decrees and verdicts, and the electorate follows along.  They step on a toe there, twist a nose here, and poke someone in the eye over there, giving a cut-rate Three Stooges performance in the process.  Regardless, they are returned to office in the next election.

They are returned to office by an electorate that does not pay attention, because it has not been their nose that was twisted or their eye that was poked.  When it is done to others, it is ignored, because we have more important concerns, such as which big-screen TV to buy with our low-interest credit card.

Then, suddenly, when it happens to us, we start paying attention, trying to rally support from others.  When others do not care, we are further outraged by their indifference.  "How can they not care?" we bellow.  "Can't they see what is being done?  Where is their sense of justice?"

Most likely, it is where everyone else's was the last time it happened to someone, and no one cared, other than those being affected.

Here's a simple example.  Consider this letter that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on March 3, 1996, regarding the elementary school rezoning process that had just been completed by the Seminole County School Board:

Rezoning our two subdivisions will isolate our children from others on Country Club Road with whom they play and who live within walking distance. Our children can't play with children from Highlands Elementary without transportation, which is not an option for many. Also, our children can walk or ride their bikes if they miss the bus to Lake Mary, but not Highlands - it's too far away.

Sound familiar?  The arguments are the same that the parents have been making in the current rezoning brouhaha. 

It gets better.  That letter was from a parent in Longwood, who also noted that School Board member "Sandy Robinson told residents that she is the 'rezoning queen'.''

The parent noted that while other Board members kept an open mind, Robinson's refusal to do so meant Roninson needed to "get down from her throne and listen to what her 'subjects,' the rezoning committee and fellow board members have been telling her."

Sandy Robinson has since been returned to office twice, and is now doing to parents in Longwood and Oviedo the same as she did almost a decade ago.  She has sat on the School Board since 1990, and, truth be told, will likely be reelected for as long into the future as she desires, including next year, when she and two other School Board members are up for reelection.

Parents in Longwood and Oviedo are angry because their eyes have been poked and their noses twisted by Sandy Robinson and her fellow stooges.  But unless the affected parents and the rest of us start caring beyond what we can see at the end of our noses, nothing will ever change.

That is the lesson of the recent School Board controversies:  complain as we might, we nonetheless get the government we deserve, whether we are parents in Longwood and Oviedo or citizens elsewhere in Seminole County.

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