What it Would Look Like if We Put Students First

Words are cheap; lawyers and high-level administrators … not so much.

-Ekin Najarian

Yesterday Ms. Stanley went on a social media parade on behalf of the BOE majority, pretending to recruit new BOE members. As per usual, Ms. Stanley did not use a disclaimer that the thoughts, opinions, and inherent attacks on residents sharing their own personal thoughts, were her own, but continued to speak on behalf of the Board. Based on a few sources, “they” already have a slate of candidates selected, and Mr. Cianculli and Ms. Young will also run along some ballot position fail-safes, but that’s beside the point.

I want to examine Ms. “Vote to Restrict the ability of BOE Members to speak on social media” Stanley’s statement that BOE Candidates should put students first. The post did not go over well for her, but we are glad Ms. Stanley has finally seen the light, (I hope) we’ve been saying this all along.

Let’s see what that would mean.

It could start with Ms. Stanley and her improper use of District dollars to fund ethics investigations against political enemies and to ask Dr. Varley to reimburse the District for what it spent defending a nepotism violation she has already admitted to.

Ms. Stanley could also assist Dr. Foregger and Ms. Khanna in reducing central administration. This of course, would mean admitting that Dr. Foregger and Ms. Khanna were right, and we know how things roll with her group – cliques and petty personal vendettas trump reason. But what if Ms. Stanley followed through and “put students first?” What would that look like?

Well, it would start with a near $60,000 total savings on legal costs (if we were to cut legal spending in line with the six other comparable Districts surrounding us resulting or putting back $24 per student to their actual academic studies). We would also save about $286,000 if we brought our administrative costs to the average based on these six same schools (that’s another $110 per student, going back into classrooms for materials and ensuring their success – not assistants for assistants so the Superintendent can job hunt across the country.

Ms. Stanley and her group have so entrenched themselves in justifying their positions and the need for attorneys to defend their unethical and unjust acts that it would be almost impossible for her to admit these truths. Doing so would put her in the utterly uncomfortable (for her) position of having to recognize and admit that you should probably be careful to support anyone she or her group supports.

So yes, Ms. Stanley, let’s put students first. But that won’t happen with cheerleading posts on social media and crying “wolf” when people stand up to you because it’s about time our voices were heard and you understood that your support and the support of your clique is in a downward spiral.

Ms. Stanley, you can start by influencing your friends on the BOE and their machine within the community to go beyond platitudes and take action that benefits our students.

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