More Advice to Unit 4

Kudos to Greg Novak for his commentary in today's (Sunday April 2) News-Gazette on the failed Unit 4 bond referendum.

Excerpts (my comments in italics):

"The real answer is that Champaign Unit 4 lacks, and has lacked, a long-term plan of where it is going and how it is to fit within our community. Sections and bits and pieces are addressed from time to time, but never the district and the community as a whole."

[History would indicate that it has been one fire drill after another for this body, rather than pursuit of a cohesive long term plan.]

"The solution that I see is not to dash forward and something for the sake of doing something, but rather one of stepping back and taking a moment to reflect. . . .

"A back door referendum or other attempt to circumvent the will of the people or the public can, in my opinion, only backfire and cause the general public to further lose faith in Champaign schools . . .

"The school system needs to reverse the tide, and to do that it must present a clear course for the future. That course will not be pain-free, nor acceptable to all stakeholders in all matters, but until that course is plotted and the public has a belief that it will be followed, Unit 4 will not retain the public trust."

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Cheers also to Dan McCollum: "A wish list is not a plan. I want to support the schools, but I want to see a reasoned, cost-efficient plan before I will vote for a bond issue."

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I respectfully disagree with Thom Moore, who urged gathering information from the great unwashed as to what would compel them to vote "yes" on the next bond issue.

Sure, I want to be listened to, but I wonder if the package which was just defeated went down in large measure due to the apparent attempt to buy votes from various cohorts of the electorate . . . similar to the US Congress and its frequent pork barrel legislation.

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Jeers to Julia Johnson O'Connor, whose piece suggested that the bond referendum failed because the committees behind it were not "multiracial, multineighborhood, and multi-income" enough. Toss in some other gem phrases, such as "systematic oppression" and her suggestion that the "focal point" of facilities planning should be "northside children," and you are left with the impression that racism was part of the demise of the bond referendum. Not true, not helpful. The last 10 years have been all about helping that very cohort, more than anyone else.