Hard to follow some big local stories

Supt. Monson

Man, we've had the East Side Park thing, the library matter, the nuisance issues with west side property, and now out of the blue: our school district. I was not prepared for a school-centered controversy or kerfuffle, I just wasn't. 

School matters can be a cauldron for strong feelings. I guess I know that having been involved with the newspaper's past, a past that becomes ever more long-ago. 

Word shot around town about the school thing thanks to the "Anonymous" Facebook site. In the old days we were supposed to rely on the newspaper and radio station. So is this a major change in our habits, our expectations? Is it good or does it have drawbacks? 

It's 1 p.m. Tuesday as I write this. Hey, I don't have to wait several days to see my writing appear in print. This is a very fresh topic, I guess a hot-button topic. The newspaper website "teased" us a couple weeks ago by having timely and decent coverage of the first city council closed-door meeting on the library matter. The problem with the "tease" is that it made many of us want to check the paper's site more often, thinking we'd find more fresh material. 

We're looking for some frank and blunt material with the premise that there are strong feelings involved. Of course the coverage should be balanced. It's so cotton pickin' hard to find new illuminations on the library matter. 

I went to library earlier today and did not see Anne. A very nice young employee brought out the new Morris paper for me to look at. I also checked the previous week's paper for the comments by two people on items of interest: 1) the library, and 2) the nuisance property or properties right next to Faith Lutheran Church. 

Yes, the cost of the city's "investigation" on the library should be made known. Two attorneys apparently battling it out? That accurate? And one of them represents the apparently-suspended librarian? What if the city's attorney loses? Taxpayers will have paid that individual. The whole matter seems so strange. If there was some wrongdoing, why don't we just see the punishment meted out? This might even involve termination. 

Library director, Anne

With so much time having gone by now, I'm having a harder time imagining Anne returning. And I'm sure the thing the city does not want to see is the librarian returning "in a blaze of glory" with a welcoming crowd, balloons etc. What on earth has gone on behind the scenes there? I'm at a loss to even speculate. Being in limbo is not good for the community. 

But the matter at hand now is the Morris school. Holy cow, can we rule out some sort of disruption with finances like what has happened with the BOLD school? Time for a rigorous audit? 

Everyone acting above board? 

I regret sounding like I might be over-talking things here, however I must express dismay over how the radio station website reports on the school board meeting last night (Monday). I'll elaborate: the station takes the path of least resistance - common in corporate media - by interviewing the superintendent. The super knows it all, right? But he is a supremely self-interested person. Of course he'll do anything to turn a fire hose on controversy to extinguish it. 

Back in the old days when I refused to accede to this, I'd end up with Howitzers pointed at me. I still lasted 27 years in the Morris commercial media. I covered more ground across the board than anyone else in Morris media history. I wrote for both the Morris and Hancock newspapers, sports and non-sports, countless photo captions. And now I sense Howitzers pointed at me again. 

The very courteous radio interviewer sits down with the super. Guy named "Monson." Haven't we had more than one "Monson?" I have never met the new one. I should compliment him on completely taking advantage of the radio guy to snow him with "happy talk" so syrupy and thick, I could have thrown up. 

Monson tells us everything is being handled so routinely. All things will pass. Most of all, everything will be fine. Well it's not as if I expect the Morris school to totally collapse. People need to do their work to get paid. A few months ago there was a steady parade of teachers appearing at school board meetings to - let's be frank - bitch about their pay. 

I stated at the time that school board meetings should be about what the school is doing for the kids, not what the school is doing for the teachers. I guess even the teachers' benefits came into the picture, so I wanted to cheer at the board member's remark about how teachers should practice "preventative health care." 

Yes the clinic gets ahold of you, gives you all sorts of tests and then you get prescriptions and follow-ups. And as our late newspaper cartoonist Del Holdgrafer would say, "be sure and straighten up at the desk when you leave." (When you pay your bill.) 

Bills, bills, money, money. The school district came at us with a referendum not long ago. Referendums have been passing like a breeze in the recent history of our Morris school. The most recent one did not pass so routinely. It really barely passed, so are we looking at a more skeptical public? 

And holy condescension Batman, listen to how Monson "educates" us on the difference between those funds and the operational funds. He noted that some people would see irony and find disappointment in how the referendum could only be applied to facilities whereas the major new cuts are in a different category. He implies that some of us are gullible or stupid. 

Well I know full well that the referendum was for physical plant only. But my rejoinder is this: money is money. Maybe if we all knew the scythe was coming for school staff, maybe we'd put the brakes on the physical plant spending and say "hey, let's apply money to staff instead." 

Sigh, so will the school come at us with a new referendum now? 

Monson let on in the radio interview that a bunch of people were at last night's school board meeting. To what extent was the turnout attributable to the "Anonymous" Facebook page? And did all these people just sit there like passive sheep? Any anger? We're talking about leadership for the kids in school activities. 

Monson did not share about the audience behavior - it is not his job to do so. His job totally is to put a happy face on school operations. "Nothing to see here," as Leslie Nielsen as "Frank Drebin" said in a "Police Squad" movie. Yawn. We'll just move forward, right? 

We need a more diligent local news media, a media that can get its hands dirty. The radio station got totally out of the way for the super to "sell" things, as superintendents always do. Call them out on this.

 

Mike Odello

Addendum: The special election for school board surely cost money. And a source tells me that if Mike Odello had resigned from the board just one day earlier than he did, the election would not have been required. And now Odello's teaching position is on chopping block? After he resigned from board to accept it? Can he increase his hours for UMM music? But I think there's budget austerity there too. Look at how DOGE is attacking Dept. of Education in Washington. It's dripping down to local levels. And UMM looks as though it will continue with "DEI." Well, we'll see.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com