Monday, June 20, 2005
Bauer tries to play it both ways on policy for naming of schools
The Seminole County School Board will continue its pursuit of adopting revised rules and policies at its Tuesday afternoon meeting. The Board held its first public hearing on the revisions on June 7, at which time it revised certain proposed changes in response to public input.
Among revisions receiving further revision were the policies for the naming of schools. The Board had originally changed the policy from an extensive number of steps to a one-line statement that basically said the Board could do whatever it wanted on the matter.
However, at the June 7 public hearing, a member of the public became engaged in a give-and-take over the issue with Board Chairman Jeanne Morris, who apparently had a change of position as a result, leading to a rather convoluted series of actions at the end of the public hearing that confused board members as much as it did attending members of the public.
District 1 member Diane Bauer sought to remove the naming policy from the overall revisions, which were to be adopted en masse by the Board. Bauer wanted the naming issue to be voted on separately. Her desire to do so stemmed from Paul J. Hagerty High School being in her district, where a number of residents have engaged the Board in a longstanding battle over their having named the school for the former District school superintendent.
Bauer, however, did not want to propose any alternate policy for the naming of the schools. She simply wanted it to be voted on separately, so she could vote against it and tell her constituents she had done so. It was clear that Bauer fully expected the motion to carry despite her opposition, thus allowing her to claim she opposed it at the same time that it became policy.
Morris, however, threw a fly into the ointment when she would not vote for the proposed naming policy, at which point the entire hearing disintegrated into mass confusion. Board member Dede Schaffner was for the revised one-line policy and appeared to be nursing a grudge the entire evening against public input, undoubtedly as a result of the public pressure that has been applied to the School Board recently on several fronts.
Bauer at one point exclaimed, "Ned knows what I'm trying to do," referring to School Board attorney Ned Julian's apparent prior knowledge of Bauer's intended maneuver to get herself off the hook with her district's constituency while still getting the proposed policy passed.
No one anticipated Morris' change of heart over the issue, which led to the naming policy being tabled until a future meeting, at which time Morris expressed hope that the policy could be revised to everyone's satisfaction.
A special thanks goes to the Seminole resident, wishing to be known only as Felt Coat, who supplied Slats this weekend with a copy of the video tape of the Board's public hearing (and for those of you who may be wondering, no, we did not meet in the parking garage of Florida Hospital for the exchange of the tape).
Slats would be remiss to not state a bit of disappointment in the turnout from the public for the June 7 public hearing, at which only four members of the public provided their views on the proposed policy revisions.
The four included Ken Bowles, Robert Bethel, Fred Moore and George Curcio.
Moore, you may recall, is the Longwood engineer whose children were not affected by the recent high school rezoning but who has nonetheless since exemplified the meaning of community spirit and concern through his continued participation in School Board matters, all stemming from his initial dissatisfaction with the manner in which the high school rezoning was handled by the Board.
Given the history of the matter over the past year, and its focus on School Board application of its policy and procedure, it seems more members of the public would have attended the hearing to give input on the proposed revision of those policies and procedures.
The poor turnout casts some doubt on the parents' claims that they will hold the Board accountable in the 2006 elections for what transpired during the rezoning controversy.
Among revisions receiving further revision were the policies for the naming of schools. The Board had originally changed the policy from an extensive number of steps to a one-line statement that basically said the Board could do whatever it wanted on the matter.
However, at the June 7 public hearing, a member of the public became engaged in a give-and-take over the issue with Board Chairman Jeanne Morris, who apparently had a change of position as a result, leading to a rather convoluted series of actions at the end of the public hearing that confused board members as much as it did attending members of the public.
District 1 member Diane Bauer sought to remove the naming policy from the overall revisions, which were to be adopted en masse by the Board. Bauer wanted the naming issue to be voted on separately. Her desire to do so stemmed from Paul J. Hagerty High School being in her district, where a number of residents have engaged the Board in a longstanding battle over their having named the school for the former District school superintendent.
Bauer, however, did not want to propose any alternate policy for the naming of the schools. She simply wanted it to be voted on separately, so she could vote against it and tell her constituents she had done so. It was clear that Bauer fully expected the motion to carry despite her opposition, thus allowing her to claim she opposed it at the same time that it became policy.
Morris, however, threw a fly into the ointment when she would not vote for the proposed naming policy, at which point the entire hearing disintegrated into mass confusion. Board member Dede Schaffner was for the revised one-line policy and appeared to be nursing a grudge the entire evening against public input, undoubtedly as a result of the public pressure that has been applied to the School Board recently on several fronts.
Bauer at one point exclaimed, "Ned knows what I'm trying to do," referring to School Board attorney Ned Julian's apparent prior knowledge of Bauer's intended maneuver to get herself off the hook with her district's constituency while still getting the proposed policy passed.
No one anticipated Morris' change of heart over the issue, which led to the naming policy being tabled until a future meeting, at which time Morris expressed hope that the policy could be revised to everyone's satisfaction.
A special thanks goes to the Seminole resident, wishing to be known only as Felt Coat, who supplied Slats this weekend with a copy of the video tape of the Board's public hearing (and for those of you who may be wondering, no, we did not meet in the parking garage of Florida Hospital for the exchange of the tape).
Slats would be remiss to not state a bit of disappointment in the turnout from the public for the June 7 public hearing, at which only four members of the public provided their views on the proposed policy revisions.
The four included Ken Bowles, Robert Bethel, Fred Moore and George Curcio.
Moore, you may recall, is the Longwood engineer whose children were not affected by the recent high school rezoning but who has nonetheless since exemplified the meaning of community spirit and concern through his continued participation in School Board matters, all stemming from his initial dissatisfaction with the manner in which the high school rezoning was handled by the Board.
Given the history of the matter over the past year, and its focus on School Board application of its policy and procedure, it seems more members of the public would have attended the hearing to give input on the proposed revision of those policies and procedures.
The poor turnout casts some doubt on the parents' claims that they will hold the Board accountable in the 2006 elections for what transpired during the rezoning controversy.
hy