INAUGURATION DAY

It’s official now. Last night (1/04/2011), we took our oath of office. I would like to first thank God for blessing me with this opportunity to serve the citizens of Morehouse Parish School Board (MPSB) District 6. I am a steadfast believer in MPSB’s motto “Obtaining Excellence in Education Through Quality Teaching”.  Accountability at every level in our public education system is the foundation upon which “excellence in education” can be achieved and all the stakeholders must know and understand their roles and responsibilities. These stakeholders include the Parents, the Community, the School Board, the Superintendent, and the Teachers.

At our meeting last night, we elected as Board President, Jeff Churchwell and yours truly, Board Vice President (both by a unanimous vote). The official journal of MPSB reported on its front page today (1/5/2011) a summary of the business that we handled at our inaugural meeting. However, I would like to caution those who have read or will read this article about its content because the narrative therein was not what actually transpired at the meeting.

For the record, I did not question the merits of using buses for field trips. I inquired about whether the Board had established guidelines that governed the approval of these trips. Why would I question this? Everything about these trips benefits the kids. And at the end of the day, that’s why we are in this “arena”.

Moreover, I did not direct any questions to the Testing Coordinator about the new testing security policy because I had just received the document moments before the meeting began. In fact, I explained my no vote prior to making the motion to approve it. I clearly stated that I believe in President Regan’s philosophy…“trust but verify” and that I didn’t want my “ no” vote to be construed as me not supporting testing security; rather, it should construed “I am not going to vote for something that I haven’t read”

You’re probably wondering, “why the different accounts of the meeting?” My answer is “just look who wrote the article”.  I’m not going to be used to sell newspapers, so there will be no written reply from me to the newspaper.  I’m just going to prepare a written statement to be included in the official minutes correcting the misrepresentations at our next meeting only because this newspaper is our official journal.

I will use this blog to communicate to the voters in my district as well as a quarterly newsletter that I plan to circulate. As President Theodore Roosevelt famously and in my opinion accurately said:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”