Another tale of two perspectives -- The school board, Bruce Hibbard and Twitter.

I was struck by the difference in emphasis between the Courier-Journal's and the News and Tribune's coverage of last week's school board meeting. The reporter Clapp strikes a very neutral tone.

New Albany-Floyd schools votes on expulsion policy; Board will no longer hear appeals, by Jerod Clapp (River Ridge Revue)

(Lee Ann) Wiseheart and Superintendent Bruce Hibbard argued over the district’s posting of a vice principal position at New Albany High School and whether it gave enough opportunity for minority candidates to apply ...

... Hibbard said the issue of getting more minority employees in education is a nationwide issue, not one that’s isolated to New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools. Wiseheart said she understood, but hopes the district can be a part of changing that trend.

Meanwhile, the C-J's Clark goes straight for the jugular.

Board member questions NAFC diversity efforts, by Kirsten Clark (C-J)

New Albany-Floyd County Schools Superintendent Bruce Hibbard came under scrutiny during a discussion Thursday night about a lack of diversity among principals, assistant principals and central office leadership in the district – which employs only one minority administrator ...

... In addition to initiating discussions in meetings, Wiseheart has taken to Twitter to express disappointment in the schools district’s minority recruiting efforts.

... At the end of the 15-minute conversation, an exchange between Hibbard and Board President Becky Gardenour became particularly heated after Gardenour called out the superintendent after she felt he had criticized another board member for missing a school event.

“I really would appreciate it if there’s not a dig if a board member doesn’t attend something, I really would appreciate (that) that would be kept out of our discussions,” she said.

“And I would also appreciate if our board doesn’t make tweets about the disappointment of the board and the superintendent,” Hibbard said. “I think that’s inappropriate. It's unethical. If you read Indiana School Boards Association ethics ... (we vote) and we move on from there. We don’t hold grudges. And yet, that’s kind of what the last year and a half has been.”

“No, that’s what it’s been for six years,” Gardenour quipped. “Alright, anything else? Alright. Meeting adjourned.”

Turns out that Hibbard's as thin-skinned as Jeff Gahan. No wonder they occupy the same bed.

NA-FC school corporation cautiously accedes to heightened transparency. May this spread far and wide.

It's a WikiLeaks world in 2015, and transparency as a concept finally is seeping into the consciousness of the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation. This is a welcomed development, even if there are many miles to travel.

Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. It has been defined simply as "the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender".[1] For example, a cashier making change after a point of sale transaction by offering a record of the items purchased (e.g., a receipt) as well as counting out the customer's change on the counter demonstrates transparency.

Monday's article in the Courier-Journal sets the stage:

Floyd Co. school board to discuss transparency, by Kirsten Clark

New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. board members will vote Monday whether to make audio recordings of its meetings and other public documents more accessible to the public ...

... (Rebecca) Gardenour also said that she — along with the state’s public access counselor’s and attorney general’s offices — believes the board needs to be releasing documents made available to board members in the days before its public meetings. These documents, which often include information about upcoming action items, are considered public documents as soon as they are released to board members, she said.

“The school corporation has acted as though they’re not public until they vote on them,” she said. “That’s not true. Once they’re sent out, that’s public information.”

During the meeting itself, school board member George Gauntt objected to the posting of audio recordings as risky, because they'd be prone to tampering, presumably by Double Nought Spies or DJs-a-sampling.

(We pause to roll our eyes)

For meeting coverage, go to the News and Tribune: NA-FC Schools approves transparency measure.

Rebecca Gardenour, board president, said posting the audio from meetings isn’t out of the ordinary for boards to do.

“You do know that school corporations across the United States do this? They have audio recordings, they have it on TVs, so this is nothing new,” Gardenour said. “I haven’t heard anything about any of these things being abused in any way. This is nothing new, this is what school corporations are doing.”

Needless to say, NAC offers kudos to individuals and institutions urging and enabling transparency. Team Gahan might deign to take a memo.

School board's forest and trees -- assuming the latter are not felled for additional parking.

Ostensibly, the point in Jerod Clapp's article has something to do with the band director, except that the larger notations of interest are hidden in the folds of the fabric.

First, there's school board member Mark Boone, who really doesn't want to talk about these things aloud before the nagging public, when smoky back rooms provide more privacy.

Mark Boone, board member, said he didn’t understand why Gardenour had asked the same questions she had answered via email earlier this week. She maintained she had a right to ask those questions publicly.

“It’s almost to the point where we do this every month to embarrass someone,” Boone said.

Gardenour said she thought too many issues were discussed amongst the board via the Internet and would like to see more of those discussions happen publicly.

Boone said it made more sense to do one or the other, rather than go over the same details as a courtesy.

Gardenour said she disagreed and wanted the most up-to-date information possible public.

“We’re going to make a game show of meetings going forward guys, because I can do this, too,” Boone said. “Go ahead.”

However, if a game show were the real objective, a better one would involve spinning a wheel of condemnation to see which house the board votes to demolish next. Does Boone (or, for that matter, any other school board member) ever attend meetings of any downtown group charged with bettering neighborhoods -- or is the planning better done on high, in back, and on the down low?

The board unanimously passed the purchase of 1813 Shelby St. for $31,500. The district has bought several properties in that area to help expand parking for New Albany High School.

Expand parking, destroy the neighborhood for the sake of cars. I hope the kids are paying attention.

Support swells for New Albany band director: Decision on employment not yet before NA-FC board (N and T)

BTW, the new Hanson Ads are really something, aren't they? As soon as you clock through to a story, another window opens with no back spacing, and your original portal becomes an ad, also with no back spacing. Publisher of the millennium? Whatever.

Children First? Well, of course ...

 ... followed by the main entree, and then dessert. After that, a glass of Port is nice.

For more on the school board race: Floyd school board candidates blast superintendent raise, worry over tight budgets, by Grace Schneider (C-J)

Oddly, Schneider reports that Don Sakel "declined to give his age." In his 'Bune on-line candidate survey back in 2010 (when he lost a bid for the school board), Sakel reported his age at 77. Readers can do the math.

Vote Lee Cotner, folks.

NA-FC School Corp makes the Times...thanks to the dimwitted decision making of Daniels, Clere, Gardenour, et al.

Back before State Representative Ed Clere had proven his unshakable bona fides as a conniving Chamber of Commerce fille de joie, I used to bother asking him really complicated, esoteric questions like, "How will [insert latest GOP wealthy appeasement plan] help improve the quality of life for your constituents?"

He never had an answer. He and the rest of the accomplices still don't. Unrepentant ideologues simply aren't concerned with such practical matters, instead choosing to govern by fiat both on paper and, in columnist Ed's case, in the paper.

The Indiana Exception? Yes, but..., by Michael Powell and Monica Davey, The New York Times.

In southern Indiana, the New Albany-Floyd school system has closed schools, consolidated classes, pared administrators and imposed a pay freeze on teachers. That is still not enough. Next year will bring layoffs.

Many state officials, and even some local board members, are unsympathetic. Rebecca Gardenour, who serves as vice president of the school board, voted for the property caps, without regrets. She regrets only that she voted to build two big new schools a few years back.

NA-FC Schools and "one unhappy board member’s statements."

You get three guesses as to the unhappy Machiavellian's identity ... and the first two don't count!

TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: Facts still matter, especially at NA-FC schools

Accusations condemning Hibbard of looking for the board’s “rubber stamp” were rash and unfounded in accuracy, based predominantly on one unhappy board member’s statements to a Louisville newspaper reporter.

These are difficult times, but it is important to remember what has been learned.

That's because you'll be tested in election cycles for years to come.

Here's a key section from Harold J. Adams's C-J coverage of last evening's cynical school corporation exercise in fiscal and ideological blame shifting:

Board members Rebecca Gardenour and LeeAnn Wiseheart tried unsuccessfully to get separate votes on the decisions to eliminate those positions and the decision to close the schools.

In the end, the board voted to approve Hibbard's plan as a package with only Gardenour and Wiseheart in opposition.

Not all the cynicism is flowing from the top down. Some of it bubbles up from below in the form of the tactical manipulation of foregone conclusions. It is important that we remember this later, when the Palinesque blather from Team Wiseheart will paint a rosy picture of courageous "no" votes as she seeks employment further up the political food chain at a place where much of the current problem originated.

The coach, two school board members, their voting preferences and my annoyance.

Yesterday I posted a brief remembrance of Ron Weigleb, who died on Saturday.

R.I.P. - Ron Weigleb, former Floyd Central football coach.

In the posting, I mentioned that the NAFC school board voted last week to name Floyd Central’s football stadium Weigleb Stadium in honor of the coach, a decision that came just in the nick of time, and also that two board members voted against the naming. This prompted reader TS to express curiosity as to their reasoning.

Normally I would have provided a link to Tribune coverage of the story. I didn't do this yesterday for the simple reason that the newspaper’s on-line version of Tara Hettinger article omitted the last paragraphs.

I was too lazy yesterday to key in the excised section (I'm an agitator, not a steno), and what's more, I was chagrined at being unable to come up with a clever way to link opposition to Weigleb Stadium to the Linden Meadows project and Resources for Results.

Ah, but today’s a new day, and I’m full of energy this morning, so in answer to reader TS’s query, here’s the link to the original story as well as the final section, with the previously omitted paragraphs in italics.

Note that nothing in this should be construed as "personal" on my part. I know neither of them personally. However, the two school board members were elected to their positions, and decisions like this one certainly apply to their future electoral aspirations. It's a part of the record, and worth remembering.

Note also that the notion of the school system instituting random drug testing is deeply troubling, but grist for another day.

----

New Albany-Floyd County board to consider random student drug testing, by Tara Hettinger (News and Tribune).

WEIGLEB STADIUM

Floyd Central High School’s football stadium is officially named Weigleb Stadium after the board voted 5-2 to approve the naming.

Ron Weigleb coached in the corporation for more than 20 years, board members said. He worked with track and football, according to board members.

Weigleb suffers from terminal cancer that is inoperable, according to Phillip Lockhart, who addressed the board Tuesday night.

That night, Lockhart presented the board with a petition showing support to name the facility after Weigleb. He said the board would only have to approve the naming and that donations would pay for the additional signage to the facility.

The board debated whether they should approve the move, especially since the football field is named Scott Field, after the last county superintendent.

“I want to honor him, but I want to be careful not to dishonor the Scott family, said Lee Ann Wiseheart, board member.

“I would like to see Mr. Weigleb honored in some other way, but to keep the Scott family honored, said Rebecca Gardenour, board vice president.

The two board members voiced concerns that the field and stadium are one of the same.

Neil Smith, board president, said he felt that a field and stadium are two different things.

Jim Zoeller, board member, said the issue is null and void since the field is completely new.

“It’s not even there anymore. It’s a parking lot,” Zoeller said of Scott Field.

Wiseheart said she did not feel comfortable voting on an issue in a board work session, so Brooks called an attorney to get the OK. Once that was done, the board voted to amend the agenda then voted on the naming. Wiseheart and Gardenour were the two no votes.