Speed Gibson: North by Northwest – The Venue

North by Northwest – The Venue

The April 2023 monthly ISD 482 School Board meeting was held Monday, April 17th, in the Middle School Media Center. It was scheduled for 5 to 6 PM, started on time, and ended about 6:15 PM. My first observation was: why 5 PM? Mondays at 5 PM is very convenient for the District staff, but what about the parents, many of whom are just now leaving work? Here in the Twin Cities, 6 pm, even 7 pm is more common.

As some perhaps expected, there was a large staff presence tonight, overcrowding the room. It was recorded, and I see that past meetings are indeed on a YouTube channel (LFCS.tv). I’ll be sampling these more fully later, but I can say now that those in the back could not hear several speakers and some of the staff reports. I sat near the front, but even I had trouble hearing a couple of the more soft-spoken speakers. This room might work for 20 to 30 people but no more if everyone is to be heard.

I’ll concede that this informal setting is probably adequate for most meetings. But it was certainly no surprise that several dozen District staff would be there. Per one of the many wearing an orange "Proud Educator" shirt, this was planned at least two weeks ago. There was certainly time to move the meeting to that school’s auditorium or gymnasium, if a proper "airing of grievances" was to be held. I think the Board should consider permanently moving these sessions to a larger, more suitable venue. If you’re going to sail the rolling seas of Twin Cities politics, "you’re gonna need a bigger boat."

Next: The Agenda

Editor's note: It feels great to publish Speed Gibson's reporting. Speed used to be considered the best school board blogger in MOB (Minnesota Organization of Blogs) history. I've had the privilege of maintaining my friendship with Speed throughout the years. Unlike Joe Biden, Speed hasn't lost anything off his fastball. Then again, it's well-established that Speed always had a fastball. We aren't certain that Joe ever did have a fastball. Finally, here's the video from Monday's LFSB meeting:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Joe Biden our Grifter-in-Chief?

Image
Apparently, Joe Biden doesn't care about the law or Supreme Court rulings. When asked about the ruling on his student loan bailout, Biden said that the Supreme Court misinterpreted the Constitution. He knows they didn't. That's just what he said to preserve the opportunity to introduce his next unconstitutional plan that will get rejected by the Supreme Court. This isn't about whether it's constitutional. It's about whether he can con enough young people into voting for him in 2024. Biden must've anticipated this ruling. Within an hour of the ruling, the Administration was out with this detailed fact sheet to replace the plan that he knew would fail. It opens with the same partisan attack as Democrats have mouthed. The fact sheet opens by saying "No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he’s not done yet. President Biden and Vice President Harris will not let Republican elected officials succeed in denying hard
Read more

Tim Walz's Confederate Flag Fiasco

Image
After Minnesota's Democrats shoved the most controversial progressive legislation down Minnesotans' throats, gossip started popping up about Gov. Walz being interested in running for president . That's died off but Gov. Walz is still making headlines, this time for all the wrong reasons. First, Gov. Walz isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Still, Gov. Walz is fighting against Minnesota's history. This Alpha News article quotes David Hann, the chairman of Minnesota's Republican Party, as saying " The flag the DFL has eliminated was a version of the historic flag our regiments fought under during the Civil War. Minnesota was the first state to offer troops to the Union cause in 1861 , beginning a long tradition of leading the nation in confronting injustice. The DFL quest to erase our history is repugnant and should be rejected." Gov. Walz, though, sees things differently. He's quoted as saying "Minnesota is a diverse state, it continue
Read more

Maria Bartiromo's interrogation of Gov. Ron DeSantis

Image
Yesterday, Maria Bartiromo interrogated Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday Morning Futures. The first half of the interview, Bartiromo asked policy questions. Gov. DeSantis showed his understanding of the issues and presented his solutions on everything from China, inflation and growing the economy. The first reply he had was to cut spending. His next reply was to open energy production. Third, he talked about the importance of increasing productivity, which he correctly said is the best way to eliminate inflation. A little over half the way through the interview, though, it turned into an attack. Bartiromo asked "I'm wondering what's going on with your campaign. There was a lot of optimism about you running for president earlier in the year but here's this weekend's headline from the Politico Playbook: Failure to launch. Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign to topple Donald Trump has stalled. We are way behind says a top DeSantis PAC official. What happened? Despite that bad
Read more