when it isn't about the kids

We have some BIG stuff going on in our county.  The big city has a school district. The county has its own school district.  Complicated funding formulas, crazy districting lines, annexation, taxation, etc, etc, etc, are all supporting players in what is turning out to be one major drama. The city has voted, both the school board and the city council, to drop their school charter and force a merge with the county. A referendum will be held and the city residents will get to vote on this surrender. The county residents do not get to vote on this.

The county is left holding the bag as a school system of 100,000 plus kids is merged into a system half that size. But, even though the city surrendered, they will still want input and representation and jobs.

I've been reading. I've been watching. Bottom line is this....it isn't about the kids. It's about the adults.  The fear in the county. The anger in the city. They talk about doing right for the city kids. They talk about protecting the county kids.

It isn't about the kids. It never has been. It is about money and power and ego. It is about control. It is about race...but no one will admit that.

The city schools, on whole, are a mess. The adults in charge have failed those children. The adults in the homes and the adults in the school corporation....have failed those children for generations.

One newspaper columnist said it was time to take a wrecking ball to the city schools and start over. The wrecking ball is set to swing March 8. In the meantime the adults will be arguing and posturing and preaching.  And I hope some of them begin planning.

The kids are here. They need to be educated. Bottom line.  And when you have a school system where a student had to petition the school board so he and his classmates could have books to study, books that were sitting in a warehouse and not on a classroom shelf, lots of planning is needed.

The vote will happen. The surrender will pass. The consolidation will be approved. Some folks will turn to private schools. Others will wait and see. The rhetoric will continue on both sides.

But at the end of the day, the kids still need to be taught. And having books to learn from would be nice too.