If it was coming from anyone but Todd, I would take this as a threat;
Thoelke also wants to keep the current school board intact.
“I feel like the five of us are cohesive … I don’t know that it’s time for a new person to dive in there,” he said.
Wow. That’s some good encouragement for the democratic process.
‘Please, don’t bother running because you would just over turn the apple cart if you won.’
First off, Mickelson is fairly new, and secondly I’m not sure that Parker is running again. Either way, I think NOW is the perfect time for new blood. I think the School Board has become a group of elitists, this of course wasn’t by accident. We saw this by how the last school board election was conducted (super precincts with none in the entire North side of the city) and Mickelson spending $6 a vote.
With the possibility of one of the largest opt-outs in the school district’s history coming this year or early 2019, NOW is the time to get some debate and discussion between school board members when it comes to property taxes and building new schools.
A rubberstamp school board will certainly not take the stand needed to balance property tax fairness with properly funding public education. I have contended all along that the district could pay for bonds out of their current budget but that would mean cutting some fat, and I’m not talking about teachers or support staff, I’m talking about at the top.
The fact that the School Board clings onto this “Super Precinct” concept is absolutely disgraceful. You would think that the governing institution with the greatest potential or elements of enlightenment would also be the institution that would be the most democratic as well, but apparently not.
The School Board needs to be split up into internal districts to assure that citizens from all parts of town are on the Board. Right now, the School Board resembles the Parks Board, or should we say “McKennan Park Board?”
The school board Mafia is a few tyrants with control and monetary reward. Meanwhile, teachers are lowest paid in the nation and your kids are lucky if they one day achieve shift manager at McDonalds.
The School Board must open up neighborhood schools to be voting locations. The very act of being a voting location helps school children understand the process of being a citizen.
Thoelke also wants to keep the current school board intact.
“I feel like the five of us are cohesive … I don’t know that it’s time for a new person to dive in there,†he said.
This, coming, from someone who is running for
his FOURTH term on the School Board!
Thank you for your NINE years of public service, now, it’s time for someone else to represent taxpayers on this very influential board.
If ever there was a time for new ideas, it is now with an impending bond issue which will most likely be very costly to taxpayers.
Thoelke is running for his third term, not his fourth.