Trust me, I almost threw up laughing. They decided to robo-call all of the parents in the District and email them the same message about tomorrow’s election;
From:Â “DeeAnn Konrad” <noreply-sf@k12.sd.us>
Date:Â April 13, 2015 at 6:45:01 PM CDT
To:Â “Undisclosed Recipients” <“DeeAnn Konrad” <noreply-sf@k12.sd.us>>
Subject:Election ReminderHello Sioux Falls School District Families. We are calling to remind you about tomorrow’s school board and calendar referendum vote. You have three choices for two open spots on the school board. Candidates are Randy Dobberpuhl, Kate Parker and Todd Thoelke. The calendar issue asks if you wish to uphold the School Board’s decision to begin school in August or if you wish to begin school after Labor Day. A “yes†vote upholds the School Board’s decision. A “no†vote means school will start the Tuesday after the first Monday in September – September 8th this fall. Voters can stop at any one of the thirteen vote centers listed below. Remember to bring your photo ID. Thank you.
Really?! School District elections have the worst turn-outs EVAH! Now all of sudden you care if people vote? Yet, I cannot recall if this kind of ‘informative’ robo-call has been done in the past? The stakes must be high this time? Glad to see our school administration is involved in gambling, too bad those (video lottery) revenues don’t fund you.
My sometime gf got the call. I listened via speaker. Sounds of despiration. Named prefered candidates. Maybe this election counts. Good entertainment for my evening glass of wine. Sure beats the usual Algerian princes with wealth if you send them bailout money.
Considering the appalling turnout for school board elections, it’s nice that at least someone makes an effort to get people to the polls.
Wouldn’t a little more wisdom on the part of state leaders require school districts to hold regularly scheduled elections in conjunction with other local units of government in the spring, or on a fall ballot with state and federal offices? This is how most of the rest of the civilized world does it. Regardless of the outcome, who in their right mind thinks that elections with three percent turnout are an appropriate way to measure public sentiment?
How can the school district employees DeeAnn Konrad and Pam Homan think using government property to “turnout” the vote be legal after their prior interference was uncovered?
Why is it all of a sudden a legal idea to use the school district’s government owned emergency / information phone call system for turning out the vote? The legally protected confidential telephone numbers are intended to be used only for official business between parents and the school. Was this system made available to the “NO” ballot issue people to also use? I would think it also is a no.
Now consider the use of government employee DeeAnn Konrad’s government owned email address to blast messages to the confidential email addresses located on the government owned email servers. Were these email addresses and equipment made available to all groups involved in this election? Once again I think not.
Add to this how odd it is considering the school district has always striven to keep turnout very low to protect their incumbents.
Has the district also done any polling to understand what is going on in the public mood?
Because of this arrogance of power, I now hope the public will be replacing at least one of the board members and voting NO to all in the name of accountability.
It is also interesting the school district decides to use the official communication process to select the voters for this election. Think about it, no matter which way the election turns the school district administration chose to select who their voters were going to be.
How many families did they link up to to make sure there was a voter turnout?
Did they send to every parent?
Did they decide to send only to High School parents who might be more likely to vote with their view??
There are many reasons why the government is only in the business of running elections. They should not be selecting and controlling who can show up to vote.
“Why is it all of a sudden a legal idea to use the school district’s government owned emergency / information phone call system for turning out the vote? The legally protected confidential telephone numbers are intended to be used only for official business between parents and the school. Was this system made available to the “NO†ballot issue people to also use? I would think it also is a no.”
There’s no advocacy in the message, just statements of fact. A reasonable person can easily construe that encouraging parents of students to participate in an election that affects school policy is a matter of official business.
And just because you, Voter, infer that parents of children in school might be more likely to support the yes position does not make the school district’s act advocacy. The district is merely encouraging parents to vote. It’s not encouraging them to vote for certain positions or candidates.
Besides, I’d hazard that the school district probably ran this message by its legal counsel, which is one more attorney than you likely consulted before forming an opinion. 😉
I just voted at IPC (2:00). They are running @ a 25% turnout at IPC. The election worker said it is running @ about 6% turnout citywide.
What gets me, is this morning in the Argus there was a letter to the editor signed by a fifth grader, but the wording of the letter sounded a lot older. He was in favor of leaving things the way they currently are. I just don’t think the wording in the letter was his own. He might have wrote the letter, but the thinking didn’t sound like a fifth grader.
Selecting voters to skew turnout is a form of election fraud. What a legacy for Pam Homan to retire with.
Is there any tinfoil left at the grocery stores, Voter, or do you buy it all to make your hats?
Troy Jones at Dakotawarcollege wrote a great article about this today;
http://dakotawarcollege.com/i-dont-take-this-as-somebody-teaching-me-a-lesson-kent-alberty-president-of-the-sioux-falls-school-board/
just wait until they find out school won’t get over until a week or two after memorial day.
Has HG’s move to Twin Cities has goooone to his head and ability to see reason?
Has HG spent too many years as part of subsidized “non” profits to skew his ability to understand events and trends?
Has the entrenched bureaucracy controlling and subsidizing HG’s existence removed any understanding of election laws, rules and tradition?
These questions and more will be available in the next message from the Twin Cities…