Doesn't ridiculous deserve ridcule?
At the most recent Geneva school board forum, after much audience input, including mine, a board member responded, "Ridicule never gets anyone anywhere."
I wonder. For more than a year, the board has dismissed virtually every suggestion from members of the watchdog group FACTS (For Accountable Controlled Tax Spending (taxfacts.info) requesting better transparency, accountability and frugality.
Issues the board initially ignored - disclosure of District 304 credit card expenditures; videotaped board meetings; and detailed disclosure of the $500,000 Brundige Road construction.
Issues continued to be denied are forming a community finance advisory committee; school budget surveys; detailed analysis of the bus buyback program; and "give-and-take" public forums every two months.
For example, the board acceded to putting various financial data on its Web site due only to the doggedness of FACTS founder Bob McQuillan, who finally resorted to FOIA requests.
Board member Bill Wilson shrugged off thousands of dollars spent by district personnel on food and entertainment, declaring 99 percent of the credit card charges legitimate. Two minutes later, board President Mary Stith announced 90 percent legitimate. It's this blasé attitude that rankles; only Mark Grosso consistently challenges budget increases and questionable spending habits.
And would Dr. Mutchler have dropped his $2,000 holiday gala if FACTS hadn't reminded him of Genevans struggling with property tax and mortgage payments, salary cuts and job losses?
Finally, in the latest District 304 newsletter, Ms. Stith praises the board's public access, citing videotaped meetings. In fact, FACTS member Rich Hayhurst requested TV/Internet access numerous times before recording the meetings himself, making them available to residents on a self-financed Web server. Only then did the board act.
To constructive ideas, the board responds, "There are 24,000 other Geneva residents," its rationale for inaction, with no intention to survey those 24,000 others.
Doesn't ridiculous deserve ridicule?
Richard Holinger
Geneva