Vote for me on May 17
We live in interesting times, when changes in technology and in our society make it possible for ordinary citizens like us to be part of the political system that affects our lives, in ways that we never thought of.These are times when doing our duty as citizens and getting our vote counted - even in those itty-bitty local elections - barely gives us a passing grade in citizenship. We need to be involved, participate actively, and influence those in positions of power by communicating our opinion. It is time to reverse decades of increasing isolation in our community, to create new bonds and new connections, to speak with our neighbors about what is important to us all, and perhaps meet them for the first time. These are times when it is imperative to start a great conversation, in our living rooms and on our porches, in our churches and in our schools, everywhere around us, in person and online, to discuss once again abour our values and about the goals for our community that stem from those values.
Throughout my adult years, I have always had a strong interest in our public schools. I grew up in Italy, and got a great education in the public schools there. I lived in Texas and had a first hand experience with the test-driven public education during the years of governor Bush. I have seen the damage caused by looking exclusively at metrics and forgetting the students behind the numbers, and the importance of their education. And now that my family and I have settled in Oregon, I have great hopes for the education system of the community that is my permanent home.
There is great value in a quality public education system. I will touch on the reasons for my strong opinion in some future posts. But I don't see that my belief in public education is shared by the majority of people in Oregon or here in Hillsboro. Those among us who don't value the public services that can only be provided collectively by our community - or those who value them but who follow the morals of the shoplifters who want something but don't want to pay for it - are winning the battle for the opinion of Oregonians. We all lost a vote on local funding for the Hillsboro School District while the people in charge of the district never made a strong case on behalf of our students and our schools. After cutting spending to the bone, this year we are cutting some more. We delay spending on maintenance and backend IT servers that are well past their useful life and in serious need of maintenance or replacement. We live another day only thanks to the incredibly dedicated employees of the local schools. Instead of focusing on how to improve the quality of our schools - perhaps in new "out of the box" ways (and I will offer some ideas about this in a future post) - we play on the defensive because our schools are under attack.
And even people who should be well informed know very little about the reality of our schools. Just a couple of days ago there was an interview in the Hillsboro Argus with my state representative, Kitts, who seems to be oblivious of the reality of the schools in his district.
How come our seven representatives on the Hillsboro School District board are not as active in their role as advocates for our public schools? Between them, they have almost 50 years of experience at the center of our public school system. They do a reasonally good job at managing our funds while the revenue is shrinking. Where are they when their voice as elders in our community counts?
For all these reasons, I have decided to run for election for one of the four open seats on the HSD board this May 17. I don't know if someone who is relatively new to the community and with a funny Italian name can unseat incumbents with close to a decade of experience. I sincerely hope I can, because I have lots to offer to the community. But even if I don't, I want to spend all my spare time in the next four months to start a new conversation thoughout the Hillsboro School District community about the important role of our public schools.
Let's talk.
Marcello
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posted by Unknown @ 11:00 PM
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