Walton Co. School Board Meets about Blithe Spirit!!

[questor]

Could you further explain the last comment? It seems I get lost easily on some of these threads.

Gladly.
The students are MOST affected by the decisons yet they have NO (ZERO!) voice in the School Board's decision. Back to the old rule that brought about the war for independence; the American Revolution:
government without representation.
I am sure the at there are plenty of schools where the student body is at least "asked" and might even have a "student advisor" who could offer some of the students' input.
Here the "Good Ole Boys" decide amongst themselves who will be their leader and guide the direction of their decisions. Mark Davis was under a lot of stress and he has my admiration for being able to stand up for the rights of those he represents. He is a glimmer of light in darkness of repression.
It was easy to see he was under a lot of stress and I feel sorry for him. On the other hand Mr. Darrill Barnhill made NO effort to hide the fact that he would BAN the whole Drama department if it was left up to him. He was practically gloating over what he would cut out.
JMHO!
It is a sad day for Freedom in Walton County. The luntatics are in charge of the asylum as they say. Look for more "heavy handed edicts" to be handed down from the powers that be.

My signature lines say it all

I stay in touch with many friends and business associates across the county. When I tell them he story of the Play that Won't BE Told" at first they think I am joking.

But when I tell them it is for REAL, they are all glad they don't live here. I am sure the publicity is doing a LOT to bring new people to our area. NOT!The first thing than ANY new family with children looks at is the quality of the schools available. When they see this, they won't stay.

I am sure this is going to make SOME people happy but next time you see a drop in new home sales and less poeple moving in to the area, give it a thought. Would YOU move in an area where the shools board is a totalitarian regime?
There are ALWAYS consequences to repression of expression. And none of them are good.

 

[questor]

I am confused on this. I thought the School Board was an appeal body that decided to ultimately NOT ban the material. The system is broke in that the play was disrupted while all of the appeals were happening. But it seemed to me that the system actually worked.

If the system had worked, the play WOULD have been performed.
PERIOD!
This had been checked by many people (including myself) who have taken the time to call the schools who DID present the play. NO problems.
NO protests. No weirdos. They are amazed that I even asked!

No one at the school board WANTED this fight. There were AFRAID of the opposition.

Much easier to give up. Yes, it WAS approved to be "left in the school curriculum". DO me a favor and look up that important words.

Curriculum definition: To keep it short:
" In formal education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School"]school[/ame]...referring to the course of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeds"]deeds[/ame] and experiences through which [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children"]children[/ame] grow and mature in becoming [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adults"]adults[/ame]."

PERIOD. Now tell me HOW a teacher can TEACH this PLAY without performing it? The two people who decided to take the law into their own hands are the end culprits here. THEY will NOT ALLOW it. So, what kind of signal does that send to our kids?

The laws are rules of our society are meant to be obeyed ONLY if you want to! AND there are no punishments for doing otherwise. They saw this "True Review of Governent" live and in person.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Questor, I have a question. If the play has been left in the curriculum, can't it be taught in the classroom? I understand that the school has a set curriculum to be taught, but let's say an English teacher choses it for a Jr. level class and she had 5 sections. He/She would be reaching a large amount of students with this work. Heck, a teacher could offer it as an extra credit reading to their students.

I also wonder if the real truth of why this debacle began in the first place will ever see the public? Things aren't always as they seem...just like in "Blithe Spirit".

 

[wrobert]

Gladly.
Here the "Good Ole Boys" decide amongst themselves who will be their leader and guide the direction of their decisions. Mark Davis was under a lot of stress and he has my admiration for being able to stand up for the rights of those he represents. He is a glimmer of light in darkness of repression.
It was easy to see he was under a lot of stress and I feel sorry for him. On the other hand Mr. Darrill Barnhill made NO effort to hide the fact that he would BAN the whole Drama department if it was left up to him. He was practically gloating over what he would cut out.
JMHO!
It is a sad day for Freedom in Walton County. The luntatics are in charge of the asylum as they say. Look for more "heavy handed edicts" to be handed down from the powers that be.

Elected officials tend to listen to those that show up. I went to the SW meeting from 5:10 to 5:45. Had to be at another meeting at the annex so I had to go. I was amazed, after reading all the comments on this board, the one sided turnout at the meeting. 275 people of which it seemed to me that 75% were clearly against the play. It did take a lot of political courage for Davis, Wilkerson, and Laird to vote the way they did. Historically, mob rule takes place with that type of turnout.

But if people want meaningful change, then why is it they are not at all of the other meetings. Constant complaints are heard about school taxes yet at the budget hearings there is myself and a member of the WCTA present asking for relief. Constant comments are made about the dress code yet at the public hearings there are two parents, a grandparent, and a room stacked with school administrators that are certainly going to have opinions inline with administration. Government is participatory. The citizens of Walton County appear to be getting what they want, since they rarely participate.

I think it would be a great idea to have some sort of student participation at the board meetings. Maybe a duplicate board made up of the student council presidents from each high school? Would we not then be cutting out middle and elementary school students? Do we need to allow Pre-K to have a seat at the table?

It is pretty common for the various boards to choose their chairperson. Because it does involve additional work it is usually rotated among those that express an interest.

 

[wrobert]

Questor, I have a question. If the play has been left in the curriculum, can't it be taught in the classroom? I understand that the school has a set curriculum to be taught, but let's say an English teacher choses it for a Jr. level class and she had 5 sections. He/She would be reaching a large amount of students with this work. Heck, a teacher could offer it as an extra credit reading to their students.

I also wonder if the real truth of why this debacle began in the first place will ever see the public? Things aren't always as they seem...just like in "Blithe Spirit".

I was told that the whole hearing was moot because the principal had stated that he would not allow the play, or any like it, to be held at his school.

I tell you one that really got me. One of the Pastors stated at the hearing that the play was perfectly fine to be performed at the college level. But was inappropriate at the high school level. I had never realized how much difference a year made in maturity until that night. And another kept referring to a school district in California that must have been taken over by witches and goblins after they did something similar. Do not remember the name of the district but if someone does I would appreciate a post about it. Wanted to see what it was he was talking about.

 

[Jdarg]

Elected officials tend to listen to those that show up. I went to the SW meeting from 5:10 to 5:45. Had to be at another meeting at the annex so I had to go. I was amazed, after reading all the comments on this board, the one sided turnout at the meeting. 275 people of which it seemed to me that 75% were clearly against the play. It did take a lot of political courage for Davis, Wilkerson, and Laird to vote the way they did. Historically, mob rule takes place with that type of turnout.

But if people want meaningful change, then why is it they are not at all of the other meetings. Constant complaints are heard about school taxes yet at the budget hearings there is myself and a member of the WCTA present asking for relief. Constant comments are made about the dress code yet at the public hearings there are two parents, a grandparent, and a room stacked with school administrators that are certainly going to have opinions inline with administration. Government is participatory. The citizens of Walton County appear to be getting what they want, since they rarely participate.

I think it would be a great idea to have some sort of student participation at the board meetings. Maybe a duplicate board made up of the student council presidents from each high school? Would we not then be cutting out middle and elementary school students? Do we need to allow Pre-K to have a seat at the table?

It is pretty common for the various boards to choose their chairperson. Because it does involve additional work it is usually rotated among those that express an interest.

Your comments are excellent.

Of course more parents would have been at the meeting if they had known about the meeting. The school did not notify the parents of the issue at our school, in fact, I received a heads up from a friend by e-mail. This is something we will be working on- making sure SWHS parents are aware of issues and events at our school.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Wasn't mead more from the Vikings than the Bible? (I've only read about wine in the Bible...)

Since the alcohol doesn't really advance the plot in any way, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. Most public high schools I work with tend to do the same sort of subtle editing.
...

Maybe you are right. I'm sure you recall that story in Genesis 19: 30-38, so you know that drinking leads to incest, which leads to daughters getting pregnant, then those children grow up and become rulers of nations.

The next thing you know, they'll be sanitizing the Bible so that it is clean enough to use for Christians. Oh, wait, the Catholic Church already edited it a few times.

 

[NoHall]

Maybe you are right. I'm sure you recall that story in Genesis 19: 30-38, so you know that drinking leads to incest, which leads to daughters getting pregnant, then those children grow up and become rulers of nations.

You sound like someone who grew up on the Georgia-Alabama line!

I just finished a musical that was based on a very loose version of Genesis, and I kept yelling up out of the pit to the gorgeous kid who played Noah: "Where's the scene where you're drunk and nekkid in your tent? I wanna watch that part!" (Maybe there's more than one reason that they put me under the stage...)

As for the alcohol on stage, around here I think it has to do with the drug/tobacco/alcohol-free campus issues. There are usually pretty serious consequences for possession (by anyone, but particularly students) on campus, and the temptation can be too great for the kids to have realistic "props" and then say, "But it was for a play I'm doing!"

 

[Smiling JOe]

Yeah, right JDarg. Happy Thanksgiving while you can. That man might even ban it next! And watchout for Santa Claus. His days are numbered in more way than how many shopping days left till....
The Walton County School Board is getting a bad reputation. Mark Davis was the best man (person) on it!
Why is it that the people most affected BY the School Board have NO say in it?:angry:

The next thing you know, they'll ban school. Another example of Whitey trying to hold a brotha down. (reference from "The Jerk") (Whitey being gov't and brotha being the people.)

 

[Smiling JOe]

I am confused on this. I thought the School Board was an appeal body that decided to ultimately NOT ban the material. The system is broke in that the play was disrupted while all of the appeals were happening. But it seemed to me that the system actually worked.

Did the system really work? Maybe the process of gov't worked, but it seems to me that two things really happened here. 1) The kids lost out on their education in performance arts, and 2) The kids got a lesson in Local Gov't. Maybe #2 outweighs #1.