I’ve got the day to myself

And I intend to put it to use filing.

Claudia and my daughter are making a day of it in the Twin Cities to find a wedding dress. My daughter is a victim of the Princess Bride bankruptcy. She ordered a gown and put half down only to discover that the Bride had been locked out of her castle up on Decker Rd across from the Mall.

I’ve begun spreading out my files on the queen beds in two rooms and hope to make a serious dent in the paperwork. While I’m at it I’m attacking the small tasks that I find in the paper piles. I’ll have to stop for a special (if that’s the right word) school board meeting at three to pass judgement on a proposed expulsion of a student.

I think 709 is having a hard time with challenging kids now. I put in a call to a local resource for such kids and offered my services as a teacher or something. I’m hoping to get a clearer picture of just what the needs are related to them and just possibly insights on how our schools can do better by them.

Welcome back to the new readers who seem to be checking out my rebirth as a blogger. I’ve got a big series to post when I can dedicated the time to them on Charter Schools. I plan to cover a lot of territory and do it in bite sized bits. But first to filing.

Oh yeah, I didn’t have the courage to face Claudia with the news I’d put my name in for the City Council vacancy. I wasn’t sure I could even be allowed to serve both the School Board and the Council because twenty years ago local eccentric Davey Jones gave the town’s leading citizens a heart attack when he filed for to elective offices in the same election. As I recall the case went immediately to the State Supreme Court which ruled he could do both. I’ve always wondered if it was the most reasoned opinion they ever handed down. They are both part time jobs and although the idea of Davy occupying even one of them was rather awful to contemplate I saw no reason why local voters should not put a person in both positions. Maybe the Supreme Court would have allowed it if the candidate had gotten elected to one position and decided not to step down from the other.

Well, I think it would have been regarded as a kind of exhibitionism had I filed and probably justifiably.On the other hand I have always felt there is a vast gulf between our local governments that needs to be bridged. Shouldn’t more tax money be going into City infrastructure than our schools? Can’t the County Goverment and City work more cooperatively. How better to bridge that gulf than an elected official serving on both simultaneously? Well, that was my rationalization for thinking about applying.

I know that I’m putting a lot of time into the School Board and this first year will be a busy one. I’ve got the ego for two elective offices. I may not have the drive to do justice to both. Now if I were Teddy Roosevelt that wouldn’t be a problem. I’m up to his charge up San Juan Hill in the Doris Kearns Goodwin book. Just reading about him tires me out.

About the author