If several candidates for the BH Board of Education are going to usurp their blogging privileges to market their BH Board of Education candidacies, I might as well join the fun.
What I really want to do is comment on Jenny’s latest (Oct 23) blog. Since comments apparently aren’t allowed, I’ll use this forum to accomplish the task.
Jenny, I need some answers to a few questions….
First of all, why do you talk about “back to education”? When did you leave it? I never have.
Secondly, you blog that you have been “defeated several times.” Why do you think that happened?
Thirdly, you say that “our district is no where near its former level of respectability…” What is that level and when were we there?
“Who supports public education?” you ask.
I’ll answer this one. People who understand that your view of education minus the visual, fine and performing arts, as well as athletics, is a very narrow view of what “education” should be. True education must involve both sides of the brain (right and left). That is where music and art enter the picture.
Don’t get me wrong. Math and science, languages, history and literature all have their rightful and valued place in a comprehensive curriculum. To include music, art and athletics does not take away from the importance of what you call “academics,” it just guarantees that our graduates will forge ahead into lives that are marketable, successful and fulfilling because we have educated the whole child, or as the Greeks would say, body (athletics) , mind (math, science) and spirit (literature and the arts).
The following, which appears in an article I wrote on my website (www.berndt4bloomfield.com), is appropriate to quote from here, because the new high school we are building addresses most all of the needs of our comprehensive curriculum, including a competitive swimming pool and a performing arts facility along with both traditional and 21st century learning spaces.
“21st century learning requires us to keep the core educational values we have always valued, but address them in a different way. Project based learning, blended learning, virtual learning—all these may seem strange to those of us brought up in the 20th century, but today’s technological society has changed the way we learn facts and how we use all the knowledge available, literally at the push of a finger on a smartphone.”
“With emphasis on math and the sciences, we not only keep pace with the rapid advance of technology, but we teach the scientific process, which is key to the discovery of knowledge. Through music and fine arts we teach the student to exercise the other side of the human brain that works creatively and innovatively. Through athletics and the performing arts, we instill healthier behaviors and teach students how to function as a team.”
By the way, colleges and universities today are on the same page in terms of project based learning, using critical thinking skills to solve problems, and blended learning.
“Jobs, Careers. A future” you say—yes, indeed, and those are addressed most successfully by guaranteeing the breadth and depth of curriculum I just discussed.
We do need a better Board of Education, one that is composed of trustees who understand that a comprehensive education is paramount to preparing our kids for a successful future.
And I would submit, we need a trustee who has spent a lifetime devoted to teaching children, who understands what true education is, who values that which we have now and seeks to preserve and improve it, not denigrate and deny a major part of the total experience every child should have. Therefore, you need to vote to return me to the Board to finish the term to which I was appointed!
Or, to mimic Marcia’s mantras, “I’m voting for Joan Berndt for the school board. I’m voting for Joan Berndt for the school board. I’m voting for Joan Berndt…..”
Who is Rob Herner? Can he post his own words and ideas to the public about his qualifications and positions about the school district? Ingrid Day has also been silent on the Patch site. Why? As the current school board president, but still a candidate in this Nov. 6 election, why can't she post here about her qualifications? The board appointed safe group think candidates vs other well qualified candidates to fill the two mid-term vacancies. Now, an election must take place. A lingering question in my mind.... why did Ms. Berndt and Mr. Herner, both current "appointed" school board trustees choose to run for the SAME two year position? One didn't really want the job? Which one? Both? Why not one seeks the six year term and one seeks the two year term? Were they told by the board they already had a different candidate in mind for the six year term? Then, surprise! Vic Moigis put his name in for the six year term and Jenny Greenwell put her name in for the two year term. Independent, fiscal conservatives that are concerned with the education of the students. What a nice change. You need to VOTE for that change. The time is now to ELECT these qualified candidates to the school board. Time to VOTE for Jenny Greenwell and Vic Moigis. I did.
I'm sure the Patch is not the definitive forum for community outreach. And, yes, their willingness to talk to taxpayers one-on-one is extraordinary. Ms. Day, in particular, has spent long hours talking and listening to those who claim not to have a voice.
I can't say that much about reading Patch on the BHSD school board has been fun but Ms. Robovitsky's charitable suggestion to end some nastiness and watch the Tigers lightened my usually dark mood. Looking at goofy pseudonyms actually cheers me up. As fate would have it, we all have tics or what poker players would call "tells (sp?") in our prose styles. In short, some habitually string prepositional phrases together linked by to be verbs, others can't not create a comma splice, some like 4 dots for ellipses instead of 3 -- more thematically, some fancy themselves orators, some think they have a knack for parody...you get the idea. That is, there is more in our writing than our most common emotion (some just can't type without releasing anger). It isn't finger printing and, to borrow some wisdom from JG, it isn't an exact science (although some like Donald Foster try), but you can get pretty close with enough prose to work with. Also, you were once a 14 year old boy like I was; I suspect you were kinder than I was. But if you think like a 14 year old boy again -- one who thinks himself clever and funny and skilled and so on -- much comes in to focus.
BTW, your posts on the impact of the Oxford Group and how the people in Lansing are involved with education are really insightful. Much food for thought. Thank you.
But make no mistake.....Jenny is my candidate.
Thanks for pointing that out! Yes, your candidate has a shot if the two year votes are split between the serious candidates (Berndt and Herner); if Mr. Roach can convince enough folks that Mr. Baron is running on a slate when he isn't, thus linking votes to Mr. Baron's good citizenship; and if Mr. Fellin's PAC can generate enough money for the "fiscally conservative" and "independent" Mr. Moigis to post enough signs and expensive postcards to confuse folks who this senior citizen will save them money. A little strategic "plunking" and throw in JG's constant and inaccurate attacks on people for trying to help their community and you have a heckuva campaign -- for a schoolboard! This would be some win wouldn't it for kids and people in BHSD???!! I see how you can only glimpse the "moral high ground." The Oxford Group may make the whole sad story of 2020 last years moot.
It is interesting to see that when Mr. Moigis filed his Statement of Organization Form with Oakland County, he checked the box asking to be waived from filing Campaign Finance Reports. If Mr. Moigis were truly as independent as you claim, why would he do this from the very onset of his attempt to be elected? It implies of course that he isn't independent, and that he knew he would have the full support of your latest PAC-- Back to Education. This is also true for Mrs. Greenwell. When she filed to be a candidate on the day of the filing deadline of August 14th, she checked the same box to be waived from filing campaign statements. Why would she do this? Back to Education, your newest PAC didn't file a Statement of Organization until 8/28/12. Once the required campaign finance forms are filed it will be public record who contributed to BTE. I am fairly confident that it will be many of the same people who contributed to Bloomfield 20/20, Bloomfield 20/20-2010, Bloomfield Voice, Bloomfield Taxpayers for a Reasonable Plan, and to Mrs. Greenwell’s past attempts to be elected.
Having an appointed trustee is done so that board can continue to do "business". The law reads that the board is supposed to fill the seat until the next regular election at which time the public is then supposed to vote for who they would like for the remaining two years. This is democracy in action. Mr. Herner and Mrs. Berndt filed with Oakland County to be candidates for this election before the deadline. JG on the other hand didn't file until the last filing date possible of August 14th. Couple that fact with her "constant and inaccurate" attacks on people and for me it creates a question as to her true intent in attempting to be elected to the school board.
Sera - Who cares when someone filed? How is that at all important? It isn't cogent to the discussion at all. If your candidates were late filers you would endorse it. I suspect we wouldn't be having any 2 year term discussions if terms were a more manageable 4 years and we didn't have so many resignations and appointments and elections were only held in November of even years
From Oakland County website: http://www.mertsplus.com/mertsuserguide/index.php?n=MANUALS.AppendixC "To become eligible for a reporting waiver, the committee must check Item 10 on its Statement of Organization. This tells the filing official that the committee does not expect to receive or spend more than $1,000.00 in the calendar year or election as is applicable. " " A Candidate Committee or Ballot Question Committee that does not expect to receive or spend more than $1,000.00 in an election is eligible for a Reporting Waiver. A committee that qualifies for, and receives, a Reporting Waiver is exempt from filing detailed Campaign Statements until it exceeds $1,000.00 in receipts, expenditures or debt." So, I assume they did not expect to receive or spend more than $1000 when they filed. As to the Chris Fellin PAC, of course you will find supporters of both Jenny Greenwell and Vic Moigis as contributors. Just as you will find supporters of the other candidates giving donations to their committees. Mr. Fellin started his PAC two weeks after the candidates filed. It was his decision to support these candidates in his own way. Surely, Ms. Greenwell and Mr. Moigis have appreciated that support and those that donated to that PAC. Ms. Greenwell and Mr. Moigis may also receive money or in-kind donations to their own Candidate committee...not exceeding $1000...as they originally stated, or they must file a report.
Thank you for supplying the entirety of the wording. I won’t dance around the point which is that based on the actions of both of the candidates, Moigis and Greenwell, it is my belief that they went in to the campaign full well knowing that their funding would be funneled through Mr. Fellin’s PAC and hence the reason they checked the box. Mr. Fellin’s claim that they are “independent” therefore lacks veracity. Mrs. Greenwell from her vast experience of campaigning full well knows the cost of signs, flyers, and postage. It doesn’t matter that Mr. Fellin filed on August 28th. It is interesting to observe that when looking at the filings of the various “NO” PAC’s as well as the filings of the various “anti” candidates since 2004, that there is no independence. The same people who contributed money to the “anti” candidates like Jenny Greenwell are the same people who contributed to the “NO” PAC’s. This includes Jenny Greenwell.
An interesting observation was that the treasurers of these various “NO” PAC’s are people who have time and again posted here on the Patch supporting her candidacy. This would be another reason not to label her an “Independent Candidate”. There isn’t anything independent about her candidacy. The “new” names who have come on and spoken are just posters who have “renamed” themselves. It was curious to see where Bloomfield 20-20 took a donation from Bloomfield Voice, which then had to be returned since that isn’t allowed. Would anyone like to know the names of the two treasurers of those PAC’s at the time the mistake occurred? And yes, I have looked at the finance filings of the “yes” candidates and the “positive” PACs.