Make Up Your Mind

What a difference a year makes. About a year ago I wrote a post about the upcoming meeting between HCPSS and parents at Glenwood Middle School. In the post, this little gem:

Although I understand that there have been some efforts to paint these parents as troublemakers (some even going so far to say they are nothing more than a front for the teachers union?)

The rumor machine was hard at work even then. A front for the teachers union? I find that particularly hilarious because some of these same parents are now being targeted in a whisper campaign (by the very same people) as "dangerous Tea Party Republicans".

Make up your mind. It's an astonishing leap from a front for HCEA to dangerous Tea Party Republican. The labels say nothing about the parents themselves but a good deal about those who are generating them. It doesn't matter what labels you try to stick on those troublesome community members, just make them stick. Discredit the messengers.

This is where things stood one year ago:

I have my eye on this meeting tonight because, even at this late date, it provides an opportunity for the school system to "get right with" the community. Will they? That means taking responsibility. And taking responsibility means liability. And liability can be very expensive.

But the damage from this issue has already been extremely costly in terms of loss of community trust, bad publicity in the newspaper, on television, and on social media. Add to that the damage of sick children and staff, and it almost seems that transparency might have been less expensive.

Where are we today?