School board needs to take responsibility
A wise voice once said that the opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s apathy.
If that’s true, then perhaps the St. Joseph Board of Education can find something redeeming in a "special" meeting called to discuss a potential change in board leadership. Getting people off the couch is half the battle, even if the 90-minute verbal smackdown serves to deflate and distract from what should be an exciting time for those in the business of educating children.
There was no apathy on display from those who came to the microphone in support of LaTonya Williams continuing as BOE president. There was no indifference among those board members who questioned what they saw as Williams’ lack of support for the superintendent.
As it stands now, Williams remains the BOE president. Certainly, a case can be made that now is not the time for a change and that Williams, as the top vote-getter in the most recent election, should be board president as a matter of precedent.
What was striking about the meeting is that so few of the board president’s supporters actually made that case. Those who spoke in her favor played the race card, the private school resentment card or the anti-Herzog card. At the same time, many voiced a litany of problems that the board faces: test scores, accreditation, staff morale, lack of cooperation among board members and the huge miss on the district’s reserve fund.
The implication is that the board, faced with these problems, has bigger priorities than a leadership change right now. That’s one way of looking at it.
Here’s another perspective: If you’re in leadership and these kinds of issues occur on your watch, then maybe you bear some responsibility.
The reorganization meeting was more focused on blame than on responsibility or solutions. This doesn’t serve anyone, including the large number of taxpayers and district families that didn’t show up to voice an opinion. Board members should recognize that the vast majority who stayed home aren’t necessarily apathetic.
They want a school system they can be proud of and a board that functions so well it’s almost boring. Right now, they aren’t getting either.
Grocery reality check
Kansas City lavished $18 million in taxpayer money to bring a grocery store to 31st Street and Prospect Avenue. The Sun Fresh store still closed.
That should serve as a wake-up call for those who dream of bringing a grocery store to downtown St. Joseph. Even a generous subsidy isn’t enough to overcome the economic and demographic challenges of expanding grocery options in a neighborhood like downtown St. Joseph.
If you build it, it will come. But if the margins aren’t there, it will leave.
