Editorial

Controversy. It seems like there has been a lot of that and some conflict mixed in at both the school board and city council meetings. It may not be much fun for the participants, but conflict can be a very healthy thing. It means that everyone is making their viewpoint known, and that is usually better than just letting things go on without saying a word. Conflict is where the great ideas and compromises come from. There is nothing worse than completing a project and then having people poke holes in it. “Well, I would have done this.” Or “It should have been done this way.” Too late! You should have spoken up during the planning stages. Too much conflict or not being able to get past it creates gridlock, and nothing gets done. The perfect world is somewhere in between no conflict and too much. Except at home. We never have conflict in our household!

In regards to the school board meeting, I would love to say what my opinion of the grading scale issue is. Truth is, I don’t have one. I didn’t really hear any hard evidence that the current way is bad or good nor anything about the proposed way. Taking opinions and making changes based on that is dangerous business. I have heard it said, “In God We Trust…All others bring data.” I think that Mr. Schluter made a very good point about this during the school board meeting. Mr. Tilton also had a good point about test scores. If our students were not pushing to excel under the current system, wouldn’t our test scores reflect that? Don’t get me wrong, there were decent arguments for the changes, but they weren’t backed up with any data. I would love to see them take another swing at that change, but be armed with data from other districts who have made the change to their grading system.

I also wish I could have been at the City Council meeting. The school board meeting conflicted with it due to Monday being a holiday. I don’t always like losing my evenings to these meetings, but I hate to miss them too. It is great information for the public.

It’s June already. I always look forward to the end of Spring. Spring is by far the busiest season for me at home. I can’t find time to rest in the Spring. Summer starts to slow down at least a little usually. Come on Summer! I could use the sleep!

Coasting and driving less. That is how I am saving on fuel costs. Coast to get the best fuel mileage and combine trips and phone first. Working electronically has also helped save me some trips. Let’s not get too carried away with working electronically though. I own a commercial printing business too for goodness sake!

Thanks for reading and to all of our advertisers. Have a great week.

(by Ben Wolf, Guest Columnist)