Healing like the Hunger Games

In the last few weeks we've heard a lot about healing our community. Now that the strike is over, the district claims they want to heal the city.
Maybe it's just me, but every time I hear them say this, I can't help picturing Senecca crane when he talks about how the Hunger Games is a way to help heal the nation and bring the districts together.

I'm not sure their definition of healing is the same as ours.


When we talk of healing, we mean being open and honest, admitting our mistakes and trying to do better.
When they talk of healing they mean hiring an image consultant to help spin the story and cover up the facts.

We want to move forward and work together, but it isn't always easy to believe those who have broken your trust in the past.  We want to believe that PSD is trying to honor the new teacher contract, but....

well....

hmmmm.... how do I say this nicely?

According to the boards own records they "knew" that teachers were going to go on strike since last spring. They wrote out an action plan for how they were going to handle negotiations. They hired a consultant to help them handle public unrest and to heal the community once the strike ended.

Several things are worth noting here.

If they knew teachers were going to strike, why didn't they handle it better? Why did they act so shocked?

If they had a plan in place, why did EVERYTHING they did only serve to escalate the drama? Canceling board meetings at the last second. Rescheduling board meetings at the last second? Refusing to let people speak at board meetings. Refusing to go to the bargaining table. Taking teachers to court. Twice! Planning to cut teacher pay and benefits.  Again this sounds like Hunger Games style healing.
And now that the strike is over why are members of the school board now out saying that the strike wasn't really about curriculum and that teachers are lying? How can we possibly believe that the district will honor teacher contracts in good faith when they are actively saying the teachers don't really need curriculum?
Why is the school board insisting on raising the levy rate and blaming it on teachers? Why is the school board saying they will threaten the community with taking away music programs if they don't get the levy passed?


Does the board not understand they are here to serve the community, not to defend themselves against the community?

If they already had a consultant on staff to handle all the healing going on, why is there still so much hurt? I'm guessing the consultant they hired to heal us all was about as qualified as the consultant they hired to choose the new superintendent last spring.

I hope they kept the receipt because I think we should be asking for our money back.