Let’s Talk about That Charter School

At last Tuesday’s board meeting, a woman demanded to know if Ms. Horn told some of the teachers there had been talk of a charter school among The Four board members. The question was presented as a gotcha, like she was the one behind all the "rumors." Ms. Horn said yes, she'd shared what she heard. My thought was, “Was she supposed to keep it a secret?”

In 2021, John Palmer posted this on Facebook: (It’s still on his feed, so go look if you don’t believe me.)

John Palmer FB Oct. 28, 2021

Want to ask a hypothetical question to all of you parents, please share this with other parents also. If an alternative school was offered in the Onaway area, be it Christian based or other, would you consider removing your child or children, from the Onaway public system?

In September of 2022, several people running for school board met with some outsiders about the future of our school. Here’s a picture of one such meeting, along with a post that followed. Two current board members are visible.

There were other meetings. When I asked a board member privately about them, I was assured they were "nothing." Though long dismissed by The Four board members as a rumor, the meetings were held to discuss the group's vision for our school's future.

This isn't new information, but my question is this: Why won't they admit to it? Why not say, yes, we talked about a charter school but it didn’t work out because…whatever.

Why do they keep denying it and getting so angry when someone brings it up?

Shooting Down the Rumors

I was talking with someone yesterday who spoke of “stories” as the best way to convince people to believe a certain way. We can provide facts, numbers, graphs, testimony, whatever, but people who know nothing about a subject except a story they heard will often reject the truth and cling to the narrative. As a former English teacher, I understand the power of the story to hold the listener's heart, even when the story’s proven wrong. Stories are fun to tell and way more exciting than, “I mowed the lawn yesterday.” When people pass shocking tales along, their listeners react with wide eyes and surprised exclamations. For some folks, “I heard that—” seems to excuse the most malicious gossip, no matter how outlandish it might be. An engaging story beats court documents, police reports, and scholarly research, because those things lack the story-telling spirit we enjoy. I love stories. I read stories. I write stories. But I also understand that we need to apply logic to the stori

What Is Education?

I once had a student chastise me—gently, but sincerely—for telling my class that Richard the Lionheart might have been homosexual. It isn’t a big deal, except it’s one explanation for why he left no heirs, despite having a lovely bride. It meant we got his half-crazed brother John as king when Richard died. Hence the Magna Carta. The student stayed after class to share her opinion that kids (in this case 10 th graders) should only be told “good things” about famous people. History should be uplifting, she maintained, showing us how to be the best we can be. Knowing that came straight from her father’s mouth, I didn’t argue, but thanked her for her input. Too many are sliding into that mindset these days. According to some, it’s bad to admit that our country has faults. It makes students feel “ashamed” of their race and their heritage. I have issues with that mindset. First, truth is truth , no matter how much we might dislike it. I admired Bill Clinton as a President, but wh

Policy Committee Meeting 9/20/23

I sat through two-thirds of the policy committee's meeting on Wednesday, and here's what I took away. They had asked the school's law firm to send an attorney to answer questions. The man was polite and helpful, despite long, circular discussions that went on and on. He told the board some things that should clear up controversies that should never have happened. *They cannot go into classrooms and look at teachers' grade books. That information is available in other places, so they don't even need to. *They cannot wander the school halls looking for violations of the handbook. They should not consider themselves one-person investigators of any situation. *They should not take parent/citizen complaints that have not already been made to involved staff. Chain of command is important and works efficiently in most cases. *They can name a school board member to hiring committees. I'm thinking that question came in reaction to the football coaching job. *They can as

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