Hey Shark, it sounds like you have less than four years to move over here to Mercer Island. You can rent a million dollar house for less than $3000 a month and your wife can play with the bubble boys' trophy wives and the old money's daughters in law. But you can then be 10 minutes from downtown Seattle, be allowed to use the diamond lane to drive home alone, and your son will attend the finest public schools I have ever seen in the world. Traffic, what traffic? We don't have any.

To me at least, it's worth the trade-off. Our congressperson is conservative Jennifer Dunn while yours is that nutjob Jim McDermott. Think about it.

By the way, a few years ago, when I still lived in Florida, I remember how we threw out that ethical and competence-challenged school superintendent. I was completely shocked when they hired her in Seattle. But then, I don't live in Seattle. Just ten minutes away, though.

By remaining in Seattle, Shark Blog is in position to mercilessly illuminate the actions of the School Board - which our oblivious papers will not. I'm hoping he stays.

Shark: I don't know enough about the circumstances/logistics of your life, but have you considered home-schooling? We have an almost-two, and it's on the table for us.

What is sad about the loonies taking over is that poor children do not have the option of moving to Mercer Island. Their chance of getting a decent education and succeding has been greatly reduced.

Pack your bags. I saw the teachers elect the school board where I live 25 years ago. The schools were less than good then and now they are horrible. Caring parents moved out as fast as they could go.

Larry, I can only guess that you are not a parent of young children. The only children in the world that I care about today are my own. I tried to save the world a couple decades ago, and failed. God willing, I'll try again later. But luck gave me a family late in life and today all I can say is thank God I afford (barely) to live where my own children can have the best chance. The rest of the world's children are not my problem right now.

Don't hate me, Larry. Some day, when you have your own children, you may find out just how much love it is possible to have for another person, when that person is your own spawn. It's instinctive. I live in Mercer Island for the same reason that the Lemmings run over the cliff.

Meanwhile, let's get back to some truth here. I just read that a two bedroom apartment in Seattle is almost $1100 now. You could do that here as well. I live in a big house for my own reasons. It is not a necessity if your only goal is to access the best schools in the state. Some other, slightly less convenient communities around here also have really great schools. America is a great country, but it is the parent's responsibility to make the choices. For me, access to a crack house or some other drain on my family's resources is not important. One of my son's friends father is one of the most wealthy men in the world. Another friend lives (on Mercer Island) just above the poverty line. I don't cry for the children because they don't have a lot of money. I cry for the children with parents whose priorities don't put their children first

Michael,
I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying. I live in San Francisco and have two children in private school who I want the best for. What I am really saying is that I would like all children (not just mine) to have the chance to get a good education. Children in poor families are more reliant on the state area in which they live and have fewer options (or at least less ability to use the options that are available). There are educational techniques that work with these children (i.e. phonics) and could improve their lives. Unfortunately, school boards that promote PC values and ignore or worse slander, techniques that could actually help poor children escape povery or jail are doing evil even if they think they have the best of intentions. I think the only real solution is to to make school choice easy and educate parents what the options are.

I agree, except I believe that school choice is pretty easy if the parents care enough. They could vote with their feet if they cared enough. I can't help those children; it's their parent's fault, not yours or mine. Society doesn't care about those children either, because their cause is hijacked by single interest charlatans who manipulate the votes of voters who don't bother to educate themselves enough, or fall for a pretty line.

I don't buy that the public is stupid, but I really wonder about their priorities. But is is possible for ANY American to relocate into a community where their children can get an education. Unlike you, I don't believe that we can solve everybody's problem. Parents who live in lousy neighborhoods have a choice, and they have made that choice perfectly clear.

ALL children? In statistics I learned that every result of any set is a bell curve, and therefore someone has to be on the wrong end of the bell. It is up to the individual to take responsibility for his own actions, and take their own children to the promised land. The teacher unions crave the status quo, and the status quo in big cities, especially S.F. and Seattle, really sucks.

In the 50s, I frequently looked at educational blunders in the U.S.A., and felt relieved that here in N.S.W., [Australia] we had a statewide public education system which worked effectively, and as we could see which approaches in America which didn't work, we'd never adopt them here. How wrong I was.
Our public school system wasn't perfect, of course; humans rarely manage perfection --- but it worked remarkably well. Despite growing up in a working class ghetto, my brother and I received an education which left us far more literate and analytical than we'd be if we were coming through now. No one made excuses for us coming from a single parent home; no one said, "We mustn't impose our middle class register of language and values on these children." They simply educated us --- and our teachers were literate. My brother dropped out in Year 8 high School; but he's way ahead of what currently passes for a teacher.
Australia is yet to reach the more insane depths reported in some U.S. schools; but 50 years on I've learnt to never look at ideas which are clearly failing in America, and assume we won't copy them there.

Shark - GREAT posting. I love how well you researched the members' wacky ideas. You are much more optimistic, and level-headed, than I would be in such a situation.

In case you don't have trackback, I've linked to you here:

http://www.kimberlyswygert.com/archives/001567.html

Keep up the GREAT work, and keep a close eye on those board members!

It's not easy being a school board member! In fact, I'm half finished with "99 Reasons To Never, Ever Again Run For School Board." Check it out at http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/35900/35850.pdf You may be able to add a reason or two. Here's what the National School Board Association had to say: "Board members share reasons NOT to run for school board. Okay, so maybe that's not a sentiment you'd expect from NSBA, but when Gary Lister, a rookie school board member from Georgia, shared his humorous e-book "99 Reasons to Never, Ever Again Run for School Board" with other board members on NSBA's School Board of Tomorrow e-mail list, we just had to do the same. It's a very funny work-in-progress that is looking for more school board members to share their experiences. Gary hopes to collect a reason from every state ... be sure to check out the Alaskan submission. Gary says to other board members, "We've all been in circumstances that made us question the sanity of seeking to serve. We can vent a bit, preserve for posterity, and perhaps prepare those who follow for service." Want to add a reason? Just send it to us and we'll be sure to pass it on to Mr. Lister in Georgia."

Since Shark seems unable to provide a reason why school board member Irene Stewart is a bad choice, other than her endorsement by the teacher's union, I wonder why he has included Stewart with the other three candidates. It is true that Butler-Wall, Soriano, and Flynn are fairly far to the left, but Shark should not be including sensible school board candidates like Stewart in the same group.