Once again this week the antics of those who attended the Madison School Board meeting made news. Top of the late-night news broadcast type headlines. Once again, embarrassing to this city.
The Madison School Board conducted its business in a closed room Monday after chanting and protests drowned out conversation.
An impassioned group of parents, students and community activists expressed outrage and demanded change Monday during the board’s public comment period over an alleged altercation between a middle school employee and 11-year-old student.
A couple of hundred people filled the rows of the Doyle Administration Building’s auditorium the week after it became public that a Whitehorse Middle School staff person was removed from the school for allegedly pushing, punching and pulling the hair of an 11-year-old African-American girl.
When the public comment period ended, though, the board started its regular agenda items, which was met with call-and-response chants, making it difficult to hear what was being discussed.
I am not sure where these people were raised, but wherever that might have been it was not in a cultured environment where decorum and manners were stressed. And yes, those things matter in society. It was as if many in the crowd had just been released for the first time in the general public and had no idea what was expected of them.
That the school board needed to have a secondary location to do the work of the community is shameful. That there are so many thoughtless members of society which makes such a plan necessary is a stain in our city.
I have had the opportunity on many occasions to cover news events for a radio station. Many a contentious county board meeting, school board, or city council where emotional issues were on the agenda. But never once did I witness the childlike and boorish behavior of the kind which made for headlines this week as result of the school board meeting. If this is how some people act in public when they do not get their way let us pray we never have to learn how they act out in private when confronting facts they do not like.
While working with State Representative Lary Swoboda I attended several highly charged public meetings designed to hear feedback on property taxes. Picture irate farmers from Southern Door County wearing overalls and boots that should have been left in the barn. While passions were high no one ever cussed or started to talk before Swoboda called on them to offer comments. While no one got what they wanted from the meeting there were no wild outbursts or untoward displays.
Readers should not conclude that I have always had an easy time at meetings. When I was a focal point at one of them I made a choice how to proceed. How to act. It is a lesson that I wrote about in my book Walking Up The Ramp. Acting with civility is not that hard.
Shortly after starting my job Lary wanted a press release to the local papers and media concerning the new addition to his office. Being the person in the office charged with handling the media, and writing the releases I again found myself writing about myself as I had when working in radio. The release was brief, and factual.
There was no way to have predicted that some women in Kewaunee County who found it their mission to overturn Roe v. Wade would turn on me, and force Lary to feel the heat. They were quite concerned about the Letters to the Editor that I had penned relating to abortion while living in Door County, and serving as chairperson of the county party. I had staked out a clear pro-choice position. These women were adamant that Lary replace me in the office with someone who championed placing their head in the sand.
Lary confided that we needed to stem the issue, and since I presented myself very well he thought a meeting in the district with those who were all in a lather would be a wise move. I advised Lary that he might want to alert the women to the fact he runs his office, and will make the decision as to who is employed. Nothing is more unseemly than having the tail wag the dog, but clearly a small group of constituents were attempting to do just that very thing. Lary always liked it when he could look to be in charge, and giving him the construct of how to handle this matter while making him the leader was the perfect political starting point—both for me, but also for him.
On a Saturday morning at a local gathering spot in Kewaunee County we entered to find a gaggle of women upon whom I had never set my eyes looking sternly in my direction. I felt they were waiting for my head to spin and for some scene reminiscent of The Exorcist to play out. Instead I walked over to each of them, introduced myself and shook their hand. I offered pleasantries to each of them. Disarming political opponents in ways they cannot refuse is always the best choice.
In the conversation that followed they brought up my letters and views. I reminded them that it was very accurate to say I agreed with the 1973 Supreme Court decision, but that it was also true Lary cast the votes on the Assembly floor, should any issue regarding abortion require legislative action.
Meetings scheduled and attended by adults, be they for the school board or for a political purpose, should be handled in mature and reasonable ways. Too often, however, the ones who come to sit and holler at the school board remind me of the boots worn by the farmers those many years ago.
They should be left outside the building.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 