We the people

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• 1    Ben Stephenson // Jan 29, 2009 at 12:21 am

  This school bored meeting was really my first, hands-on look into local politics. Having recently discussed the amazing and history-altering constitutional conventions in government, I experienced great disappointment with triviality of the meeting. I didn’t expect anything ground-breaking, but I did expect a certain amount of argument and discussion of issues that would affect the people represented by the board members. Sadly, this was not the case. The pace of the meeting was established very early on as the actual meeting started fifteen minutes late. After the start, the committee concerned itself with, in my opinion, quite trivial tasks. They spent ten minutes recognizing band and orchestra members. Then the board members read cards, which commended the school board for their services, from all the elementary and middle schools. The board then passed the cards around for the others to see. Other memorable event included learning about how the hand driers in the girls restroom at Eanes Elementary protruded four inches beyond the wall (a violation of a state regulation), and learning that the handle on a fire extinguisher at Cedar Creek was 53” above the ground, when it really should have been 54”. Also the board decided to send a thank you card to the Westlake police department. I’m not saying commending and thanking people isn’t a good thing, I just figured the board could have bigger fish to fry.
  There were some valuable lessons that I learned however. I learned that politics is a slow process and often not exciting. We only hear and learn about the exciting and important parts of politics in American history. We hear about Roe vs. Wade, Marbury vs. Madison, the Great Compromise and the 19th amendment. What we need to remember, however, if that for every one of these decisions of remarkable significance, there are thousands of decisions like making hand driers a maximum of three inches from a wall, or write a thank you card, or remove sound panels from the choir hall to add acoustic resonance.

• 2    Celina Artusi // Feb 11, 2009 at 1:39 am

  The Eanes board meeting was an interesting experience in that it was both formal and informal. The setup of the meeting was quite formal: board members (president, vice president, superintendant, secretary, treasurer, etc.) sat at the front of the room, while the general public was seated facing the panel. Personnel matters were discussed in a closed session before the meeting was opened to the general public. This closed session is similar to the meetings held by our own government, in that many issues are discussed in private before being released to the public for open debate and discussion. In some cases, matters are discussed and voted on in a private assembly without ever being run by members.
  Roberts’ Rules of Order was used throughout the meeting. For example, everyone was asked to give their name when they spoke, people were encouraged to have a say, but discouraged from rambling on, and members only talked when called on by the chair and not across the meeting. Jim Strickland, the President, was very good at reading out motions and amendments when proposed and reading them out again before a vote was taken and he summed up what had been decided after a discussion or at the end of the meeting.
  The most interesting part of the meeting was when Mr. Poole was called to speak about the progress of the Fine Arts facility. He went to a podium before the board to update them on the advancement of the FAF and also to ask them to consider replacing one of the technical systems to a more modern one. I didn’t understand most of what he said, simply because it was very detailed and very technologically specific. Judging by the faces of the board members, they didn’t really understand what he was saying either. Mr. Strickland asked him to explain some of the technical jargon for the members. Mr. Poole then asked the board to consider approving funding the purchase of a new system. Mr. Poole was very savvy in that he reminded the board that the FAF project was most likely going to come in under budget and therefore there would be some extra money for such a purchase. He also explained that if they didn’t do it now, they would have to destroy things in a few years anyways when the old system failed in order to replace it. He claimed it was in the school’s best interest to replace the system now.

• 3    Celina Artusi // Mar 30, 2009 at 10:06 pm

  The board meeting held on February 25 was probably the most interesting and intense meeting I have attended thus far. The first issue called to order was under Personnel Matters and included discussion on the hiring of a new Westlake High School Head Football Coach to replace Derek Long. Most interesting was the large number of football boys (current and alumni) and their parents, as well as many Westlake faculty members. Mike Walker and David Germann approached the podium and discussed the nature of the Westlake football team and the qualities they believed important for a coach to possess. They believed John Ramsey to be the most qualified person for the position. The boys discussed that Westlake thrives on tradition and that no one could understand that better than Coach Ramsey, an active and passionate member of the school’s staff. A person from out-of-district they argued would not understand the players or the tradition that they believe to be so vital to the game. Most impressive was the support shown by Westlake graduates that had participated in the football program. Matt Nader came to represent that group. Nader spoke of Ramsey’s love of the game and his love for the players. The boys truly respect Ramsey as a coach, but more so, as a person.
  Nola Wellman acknowledged and thanked the boys for their time and interest in the subject. And then immediately nominated Darren Allman for the position. The board unanimously voted in favor and Allman was declared the new head football coach. There was absolutely no opposition or discussion. It was as though the boys’ speeches and efforts had been completely ignored and the board feared voting against Dr. Wellman. It was obvious that the decision had been made before the board meeting had even taken place. Allman was allowed to bring his posse with him to fill the other coaching positions, kicking out the previous coaching staff. Most irritating was the fact that Wellman had not asked for Derek Long’s opinion in the hiring of a new coach, which would have been wise considering she has no football coaching experience. It was not lost on the people present at the meeting the fact that Allman and Wellman come from the same small Texas town. Oh the politics…

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