School board meetings

SuperMatt

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School board meetings have become really crazy lately. The craziest people in town show up to rant about something they saw on TV or Facebook. When did this start happening? I remember as a kid, I was required to go to a school board meeting for social studies class. It was very boring. Today, I don’t think anybody would send kids to a school board meeting because they might get killed at it!

I saw an op-ed in the NY Times about this. This quote stuck out to me:

School boards are super local, highly accessible public entities on which citizens can focus their rage and frustration. Fed up with the coronavirus pandemic disrupting normal life? What easier target than the low-level officials struggling to keep area schools on track? It can be tough for an individual or a small band of people to command the attention of a member of Congress or a state lawmaker. But school board members are right there in the community — with meetings open to all! — just waiting to be screamed at. Think of it as open-mic night for the disgruntled.

So, are people hoping their rant will get posted on social media and they will get 15 seconds of fame? Do they just need a place to vent? Either way, the things they are ranting about are NOT going to be solved by the local school board.

 

Herdfan

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The good I see coming from all this is that people might start paying better attention to these elections.
 

SuperMatt

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The good I see coming from all this is that people might start paying better attention to these elections.
I see no good coming from this. These seats have long been non-partisan, and people who want the best for their community step forward to run for the school board. With them becoming politicized in terms of Democrat vs Republican, you could end up with aspiring extremists from those political parties running for school boards.
 

Herdfan

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I see no good coming from this. These seats have long been non-partisan, and people who want the best for their community step forward to run for the school board. With them becoming politicized in terms of Democrat vs Republican, you could end up with aspiring extremists from those political parties running for school boards.

I am a bit more cynical. I see it as people who want some control over the way their kids are taught.

It is really easy for extremists in both parties to get elected. So an informed electorate is a better electorate.

But I understand you not wanting conservatives having a voice in this.
 

SuperMatt

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But I understand you not wanting conservatives having a voice in this.
I didn’t say that. I specifically said extremists from both parties.

It feels like you are just tossing accusations based on your prejudice towards me, since they’re clearly not based on what I just posted.

Just like your “people on the left don’t care about bad stuff in China” thread.

Your posts are laden with prejudice, including against other posters here.

You started here with “why do ppl think I’m a racist - I want to learn.” And then proceed to ignore everybody trying to explain it to you, and accuse them of things they never said.

I think school boards are better off staying away from Dem/Rep politics. That’s what I said. You then accuse me of saying something else. This is not an honest discussion you’re having.
 

Thomas Veil

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The crazies showing up at school board meetings to yell and threaten people are going to do to school boards what they did to state health departments: make people throw up their hands and say, "It's not worth it."

But that's the intent: to scare off reasonable people who want kids to learn. Then the crazies run themselves, so they can make sure kids learn things like
  • conspiracy theories have validity
  • alternate facts are just as good as real ones
  • racism no longer exists
 

JayMysteri0

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I thought I posted it earlier, but don't buy any of this. Random people suddenly motivated to attend school board meetings that they didn't give a crap for before is NOT the norm. It's in some parts orchestrated.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1434868940946161665/

It's an effort that was started even earlier

 

Herdfan

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I didn’t say that. I specifically said extremists from both parties.

It feels like you are just tossing accusations based on your prejudice towards me, since they’re clearly not based on what I just posted.

Just like your “people on the left don’t care about bad stuff in China” thread.

Your posts are laden with prejudice, including against other posters here.

You started here with “why do ppl think I’m a racist - I want to learn.” And then proceed to ignore everybody trying to explain it to you, and accuse them of things they never said.

I think school boards are better off staying away from Dem/Rep politics. That’s what I said. You then accuse me of saying something else. This is not an honest discussion you’re having.

Then I apologize for assuming.........
 

SuperMatt

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https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1434868940946161665/

Nice implied threat of violence.

If I’m chairing that meeting, I’m gonna make damn sure there’s police presence there. 😠
The extremists taking over school board meetings is a serious problem. The fact that it’s coordinated is even more worrisome. They are working people into a frenzy, and now violence at these meetings is more and more common. People should be ashamed.
 
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