Petition

If you haven't seen it already, here is the Petition being circulated in regards to the Superintendent's contract renewal. It really speaks for itself. The authors of this petition don't want you to take their word for it. They have loaded it with documentation and they expect you to do the research and make up your own mind. So I encourage you to do just that.

Last night I had one of those head-exploding moments made possible by email and social media, when I received a letter addressed to undisclosed recipients which began,

Friends,

First, Happy Holidays and thank you for attending the Education Town Hall Meeting hosted by Delegates Frank Turner and Warren Miller on December 8th.

My immediate thought was that this was a follow up letter from the Howard County Delegation about the Town Hall meeting. There had been a sign-in sheet where one could give contact information. Okay, so far, so good.

The letter went on to be an impassioned advocacy piece encouraging people to sign the (above-mentioned) petition. Now...I'm confused.

1. Is this letter from the Delegtion?

2. Do they endorse the petition?

3. If it isn't from the Delegation, how did this person get my contact information?

4. Did someone else get access to the sign-in list?

Something just didn't feel right to me.

So I started asking around. I wasn't the only one concerned about the email. But, as one might expect, my inquiry at first turned up misinformation before I hit pay dirt. This is what I know now. The email I received:

• Wasn't from the delegation
• Wasn't from The People's Voice
• Didn't use the email list from the Town Hall Meeting

It appears to have been written by a concerned citizen who wanted to get the information out there as fast as possible but didn't want to reveal his own identity for fear of retribution. I understand fear of retribution with the way things are in the school system these days. I would respectfully suggest that this might not have been the best way to do things.

In the meantime, I could have done a much better job trying the get the information I wanted without splashing around quite so much on social media. Not one of my best efforts. In fact, pretty terrible, though well-intentioned. And you know what they say about the road to Hell...

Anyway, read the petition. See what you think. Make up your own mind. I can tell you I don't see anything false or even misleading in its content. If that concerns you, get involved. Signing a petition is one way. Attending Board Meetings and speaking out is another. Contacting the Howard County Delegation is also an option. Do your research about candidates for the Board of Education.

Do something. Don't think that someone else will do it. That's how we got in this mess in the first place.