I'm pulling my soapbox back out. So just know that this post is not fluffy or fun. We are gonna get down to business...
*ahem*
This weekend, Teen Boy's speech & debate squad was to be helping run a district-wide, state qualifying tournament with another school, within the school district, due to some coach sharing from crazy chess playing of teachers & admin within the school district. So, the kids from my son's high school missed a day of school while taking the day to set up everything at the other school to be ready to welcome in squads from many other schools in the state.
Our squad had been prepping for quite some time for this, as well as prepping their own pieces to try to win over judges so they could increase their chances of getting a bid for state, and maybe even nationals. For them to help host this tournament, which is a required tournament to have, is a big deal.
They took the day to get set, find rooms, welcome schools, get tab rooms set up with computers for helping, judges, missing lunch (because they were going to eat right before the official start of the tournament), and much, much more. Imagine our shock when our son called, at the end time of the regular school day, to say the entire tournament was cancelled just minutes before called.
Wait...WHAT??
*****
Remember a few weeks ago when I TOLD YOU ABOUT OUR SUPERINTENDENT? It just keeps escalating. Nothing to redeem himself to soften the blow of any of these decisions. Just a seemingly power-hungry guy who took the position from inside the district when the last guy left to take a position just across the state line. Red flags were going up, but we were willing to give this new-to-the-position guy a chance.
There are several things I could go into right now about a lot of this. But I won't. Instead, I will just say again that he has done "nothing to redeem himself to soften the blow of any of [his] decisions."
*****
That being said, and with the reminder from just a few weeks ago, he has struck again.
With schools already showing up to check in for the tournament, even some on charter busses that had obviously come far enough that they were probably staying the night for this tournament, were told to get back on their busses, turn around & go home.
See, it's Missouri. We have weird weather. We know know this. Our winter has been very strange this year. When all the big snows were being called for, they fizzled out quickly & became nearly nothing. But call for "a few flurries," and we get an inch of accumulated snow. Figures.
As it was being called for this weekend, there was supposed to be some pretty nasty stuff maybe starting on Friday night & on Saturday. When Friday morning hit, all the predictions calmed way down. There might be some stuff overnight on Friday into Saturday, but it wasn't the "event" they first thought. So, even with some possible nasty weather overnight on Friday, the tournament could still happen, and the school was ready to possibly cancel/postpone Saturday's events. No big deal...
...but then they got word that our almighty superintendent decided they needed to cancel ALL extracurricular activities for the weekend due to impending weather. Everyone was to close shop and go home! Except...
...my son's high school courtwarming basketball game was the same night. Guess what got to keep going. Ugh. And, according to an tweeted answer to my hubby's frustrated question to the superintendent was that the speech & debate tourney could be rescheduled, but the basketball game could not. Yes...he said that...out in the open, on Twitter.
If absolutely ALL events had been cancelled, it would still be frustrating, but understood. That whole "looking out for the wellbeing of the kids" thing. But...that wasn't really it. It was a publicity stunt. Well, that's how it appears. All the work the kids put in the entire day was a wash. They were told that all the work they'd put in all day had to be taken down as quickly as possible & to find a way home.
When we went to pick our son up from the other school, we were shocked by the hoards of highschoolers leaving to board busses...even the charter busses...and it was obvious they were there for the tournament. Why? They were all in suits & dress wearing letterman jackets from other schools, grouped together by the same school colors. And as quickly as they were leaving, and we were watching the kids from our own squad walking out with steam shooting out of their ears, we began to find out there was the serious problem of the basketball game NOT being called off.
So, as usual, our superintendent was having to deal with a firestorm of tweets. Why do I keep bringing up the tweets? Well...it's the only way it seems he has chosen to communicate with anyone, if he hasn't already blocked them.
My hubby, as I said, sent a tweet to him wanting to know why events like the speech & debate tournament could be cancelled but not the game. Sadly the response said the tourney could be rescheduled & the game could not. He'd also told folks that only one bus would be in danger of the weather instead of several.
*face palm*
If you are in charge of canceling activities because of impending weather so no one will be in danger, but you allow a high-profile game, that makes money, so only a few will be put in danger is such a hypocritical statement to make. If activities need to be cancelled...then cancel ALL activities! The suspicion of sports taking precedence over any other activity became fact in one-fell-swoop of a decision.
Oh, you better know I tweeted him a major thread to him about how he looks to many right now. Our kids, our squads, our faculty were all thrown under the bus (pun honestly NOT intended) in a hurry.
Oh yes...I said all of that. And I know he read it since he followed my twitter feed as I was tweeting like crazy. However, even though I received no response, I know he was done reading my thread by promptly unfollowing me. He couldn't tow the company line with this like he did with with my hubby & many others.
Now then, remember that all of these events were cancelled for the weekend due to the weather. The weather didn't turn out to be much. Some slick spots, but it got above freezing very quickly. Heck, my hubby & I both went for a run in the beautiful sunshine. I'm not kidding.
I would like to point out there has been a lot of frustrated tweets going out with the positive hashtag of #isdstrong. So, of course, this hashtag has been used with much sarcasm.
This hashtag has been used for both positive & negative messages, depending on where you fall in this debacle. So I checked the hashtag results today. Guess what! My son's activities director tweeted the hashtag to let everyone know that the courtwarming dance was still a go for tonight & to have fun when you show up.
Do you feel frustrations rising? What made it worse was the fact that the school's STUCO replied to it saying:
Oh yes, folks...the dance can still happen. But nothing else could. Amm-i-rite?
We all know this could have been rescheduled. I'm all about high school rite-of-passage memories, but they are not set in stone. These can be rescheduled, like most everything else.
So, of course, I had to respond to this and bring in the almighty:
As you can bet, none have responded to me. This all looks so bad right now.
We have national qualifiers, for the school, in the speech & debate squad. These tournaments have many more life skills for these young men & women as they enter their adult life. If you want to look to the futures, the district needs to rearrange their priorities. Theater, DECA, Choir, Band...just to name a few, have much more impact on a larger group of high schoolers dealing with preparing their futures thru these & the competitions involved. Sports do the same, but all focus is put on the sports part. And it's deafening to all the kids being shoved to the side.
So, it's bad enough that the decision to cancel all of this stuff was already made before honestly checking the latest updates of wether, but to shove all to the side for their "safety" but to say the courtwarming game AND dance may commence is a giant slap in the overall district's face.
This is not the sign of a leader. And it's terribly disappointing.
Tax money...tax money...ego...TV face time...ego...tax money...tax money...
And for those who say I should run for school board to help cover this, there's reasons I cannot, and I cannot go into those reasons here. Also, I do volunteer within the schools when I can & stay quite active. Trust me, I'm not the only one who sees this stuff happening. There could be an uprising from this part of the state.
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica
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