Thanks to a comment someone submitted yesterday evening, I found out that a high honor has been bestowed upon me and this blog.
We have been noticed (and linked to) by the reigning Queen of the Orange County blogosphere - Ruby Sinreich.
Ruby runs OrangePolitics.org, the blog of record for "progressive perspectives on Orange County" and those wanting to keep up on the latest uproar in Chapel Hill/Carrboro.
In the interest of full disclosure, I was an infrequent poster to OP before moving from Chapel Hill to Hillsborough about four years ago.
However, with the exception of a short thread on Dennis Whitling's recent troubles (I love Ruby's opening sentence: "Does anyone know this Dennis Whitling fellow?"), and a lengthy string of comments on the ASVAB controversy at Cedar Ridge High School, OP appears to have taken no notice of Orange County Schools in nearly four years. It is almost as if nothing of real note takes place north of I-40.
But now, Ruby has turned her bright light from southern Orange on the parents of Hillsborough Elementary School.
By titling her post, "Hillsborough parents get their way," Ruby seems to imply that HES parents, who have spent over 14 months fighting for the very survival of the only school their children have ever known, are little more than petulant children who whine until they "get their way."
Of course, it is entirely possible that I misinterpreted the meaning of her "get their way" comment.
If by that she meant that a group of diverse, informed, empowered citizens organized themselves to seek a redress of grievances from a democratically elected governmental body ultimately resulting in a less than ideal, but satisfactory, compromise, I guess she would be right.
Either way, I am honored to be noticed by the Queen. You can call me Sir Allan.
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19 comments:
Ruby is a total insult to all liberals like me with a brain.
I read the thread on OrangePolitics. Ruby and her husband (Brian Russell) refuse to give the issue legitimacy because they can't get over anonymous posters.
Ruby and Brian are quick to criticize others who posted on the thread while they, themselves, contribute nothing of value to the discussion at all. Apparently they are hypocrites and do not realize it.
I just posted an explanation to their blog regarding the reason HES parents feel the need to post anonymously. I hope it will bring light to many things, the least of which is the behavior of some board members.
But otherwise, I don't think their treatment of the issue has been too poor - especially given their willingness to post a very long (and very well done) post by HES parent Kirsten.
Hey Allan, no fair using the tags link, we've only had tags on the site for 3 months! But your point about coverage up there is fair. I've always wanted more stuff from north of I-85, but we can only write what we know...
I think it's amazing that people people continue to complain about anonymity and such when OP lets anyone who registers post comments no matter whether we agree with them, and I also approve lots of anonymous comments as long they are not totally childish or offensive (as some on this topic have been).
I think the site itself is a testament to how very many people disagree with me. ;-)
(Funny that I am the first non-anonymous comment this thread!)
Thanks for joining the discussion, Ruby. I have been a long-time reader of OP, and was a fairly regular commenter before moving to Hillsborough four years ago.
I think we struggle with a similar problem. Do we allow anonymous comments or stifle the discussion?
I have repeatedly asked people to reconsider posting anonymously - even refusing to engage anonymous posters in any kind of direct debate. (How can I know two separate comments come from the same person if they are both anonymous?)
But, while I am willing to put my name on everything I write, I understand why many want to keep their identities private - so I allow anonymous comments as long as I don't find them "childish or offensive." I have even removed comments that did not offend me, but were found offensive by others in the community.
I clearly have a specific point of view on the issue at hand (it is called Save HES after all), and this blog is an extension of my perspective. It started as a way to communicate up-to-date information to HES parents and to simply vent my frustration.
I attribute its ongoing success to the school board's continuous attacks on HES and its parents, and to the number of people who share my frustration.
Thanks again for visiting my blog. BTW, I have tried to re-register for OP, but seem unable to do so.
I understand your not wanting to post "childish or offensive" material and applaud that. I wonder why you choose to post comments about Liz Brown's car accident, though. It's not offenisve but certainly childish to bring up when it has absolutely nothing to do with saving HES! I'm no Liz Brown fan...far from it, but continuing to bash her personally is not productive to your cause and alienates folks like me.
I daresay it's not hypocrisy but ignorance. Unless you're here, experiencing the maddening feeling of having your child's fate being dictated by people who simply will not listen, how could you know or even comment in such a dismissive way as Ruby did on her blog?
Then again, being a liberal, Ruby knows this feeling all too well, in the USA, circa 200-2008. Ok, maybe there's a little hypocrisy in there too.
"I wonder why you choose to post comments about Liz Brown's car accident, though."
Probably because it's factually accurate. The truth can be childish, especially when a person like Liz, who refuses to listen to anyone, who must be right to support her own agenda, acts childish.
"Ruby is a total insult to all liberals like me with a brain."
That sort of thing is definitely childish. As is your rant about Ruby's post on OP. Ruby pretty well acknowledged here ignorance about this issue from the start.
The time you spend attacking Ruby does nothing to persuade anyone of the merits of your position re: HES.
Think about it.
I'm not participating in the conversation about public schools because I don't have a child in either system. I admit I'm woefully uninformed about the whole topic. So I'll save my comments for another time. One day we'll learn more and I bet you'll hear from me. :)
Personally I don't think Anonymous comments contribute to valuable discussion on blogs. If someone needs to blow a whistle or make a comment without fear of retribution then create a pseudonym, your own anonymous blog, or send an email to a blog owner. That way we can have some context. Trust in information is not built by anonymous attackers. More times than not the people who complain about my position on anonymous comments are using this anonymity to throw insults.
BTW, my comment about anonymous commenters on the aforementioned OP thread was *not* intended to be mean or snarky. Come to one of the OP get togethers we have and meet me. I'm a real person who cares about people. Once you get to know me you'll realize I'm not some evil hypocrite critic you think I am. I can think of more than one time where I've met OP commenters I've disagreed with online and really enjoyed a personal discussion with them.
Brian R.,
There are reasons why we blog as "anonymous". Our reasons are fairly similar: we do not want anyone to retaliate against our children. If you choose not to value the anonymous bloggers' input, that's ok. This blog is a form of expression.
While I understand why you want to identify us, please understand that we have already been marked by the school board. We fear that our children will be targeted even more. Specifically, Liz Brown (a buddy of yours?) has tried on more than one occassion to close our school down, even going to the limb to say that HES is a "frills" school.
If you don't understand this explanation, or if you simply do not agree with my explanation, that is ok. I don't know if you have stereotyped me or our group yet, but if you were to consider it, I'd be very careful. A lot of us lived in Chapel Hill too, so we may be more progressive than you would like to give us credit for.
To anonymous at 11:14 am;
Did you not read the title "Hillsborough parents get their way"? That is an insult to HES families. Guess what? I RESPONDED EXACTLY HOW I FELT!! Ruby is a total insult to all liberals, like me, with a brain.
I also read Ruby's article, but agree with the previous posting that personal attacks accomplish nothing.
The HES debate on Ruby's blog means that a wider audience will be exposed to this issue. This is a positive thing because I believe many people out there do not realize that we have a school board that attempted to expel children from a school based on their parents' income and education level.
I think many people who discover this will be shocked - not because they disagree with the ultimate goal of increasing diverstiy in the schools (many HES parents agree with that goal as well), but because the means through which the school board chose to obtain this goal are discriminatory.
Given that an important election is coming up (and not only the presidential one!), I feel it is crucial that a wider audience be informed of what has been going on over the last year. Parents all over the county need to assess what they believe to be the boundaries of the school board with regard to personal privacy - just because HES was the target this time does not mean that other groups won't be targeted in the future.
After all, there are more than 150 transfer students in the district who are not attending their districted school. What if the Board decides to exercise their right with these kids and send them back as well? Would that be any more fair?
Regardless, personal attacks achieve nothing but lowering the standard of the conversation and distract us from the real topics at hand. And at this point - we all need to stay focused!
AW
"I also read Ruby's article, but agree with the previous posting that personal attacks accomplish nothing."
AW, I don't agree at all with your comment. First of all, when your child has been attacked, you don't go off in that gentle night. You fight. Let them land the first low blow, but then take their hands off with a butcher's knife.
Do I like personal attacks? No. Did I try reasoning with the current Board members? Yes, we all did. Did the listen? Only 2 gave us time of day. Guess what? We probably did intimidate a couple of the Board members. But the important thing is that the majority of the Board heard us, and finally admitted that what they did was morally wrong (not in words, but in action).
I think you are fooling yourself if you don't believe these tactics work. You may not like it, but given the circumstances, we had no other choice.
"Regardless, personal attacks achieve nothing but lowering the standard of the conversation and distract us from the real topics at hand."
AW, I don't know if you have been here the last 14 months, but the Board LOWERED THE STANDARD OF THE CONVERSATION AND DISTARDTED US FROM THE REAL TOPICS AT HAND! Just like the last anonymous blogger said, when our children's futures are threatened, we need to attack. The Board members did not listen to us when we tried to reason with them.
Do you know what? If we had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. They didn't respond to reasoning, but they did respond to an outpouring of opposition, mainly from this blog. Without this blog, CES and HES would be merging in 3 months.
Good job Allan!!!!
It's sad when in our society the only way to be heard is to discredit the other party. The anonymous at 8:59 and 9:53 are exactly right--we tried to reason, but they would not listen. To expand, the Board members tried to discredit us by saying we are elitists and racists before we even started this blog. This immediately justified our responses.
So AW and all the other people commenting that personal attacks don't work, please review this whole process again. There is no way the Board would have retreated unless we did these personal attacks. I hate it too. But the harsh reality is that you we have to open our eyes when we cross the streets, because if we don't, we will be blindsided!
While I absolutely agree that this blog served a valuable purpose - I also believe that Attention Orange deserves some credit as well. Organizing parents and convicing them to donate time and money to a cause is a lot of work, sweat and tears. Just in case no one noticed...the plan the board adopted was exactly the plan outlined to the board by the Attention Orange attorney.
And that very tangible result was accomplished with not a single personal attack.
AW
"And that very tangible result was accomplished with not a single personal attack."
I disagree with your premise that
Attention Orange had anything to do with the modified plan. I've talked to Dr. Rhodes 2 months ago, and he told me that the idea of grandfathering all children at HES was still a viable option. If you go back and look, Attention Orange (I did contribute) stopped all plans with the lawsuit.
The real reason why we have the current modified plan is because of Allan Scott's superior leadership. He stuck with the topic when no one else was willing.
AW,
Attention Orange did not have much of an impact on the modified plan. The Board was not the entity that came up with the plan, it was Central Office. Dr. Rhodes, who is a fine man, did not want to be labeled the same way as Dr. Carraway was on this blog. Luckily for Dr. Rhodes, he's a bright individual who fully understood what is fair and unfair. The Board, sans Liz, supported this recommendation.
As far as Attention Orange not making personal attacks, I'm not sure what you are talking about. On this blog I specifically remember an Attention Orange blogger saying that Mike Parker was of no match to the Attention Orange's attorney.
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