I was in the Superintendent's office yesterday dropping off some paperwork. But her assistant told me she was out of the office.
"That's cool. Will she be back later on? Or is she out for a while?"
"I don't know. She's actually attending a taping of the Today Show."
"Here?"
"Our High School students were involved in a project that NBC is covering, so they sent a Today Show crew out to film it."
"That's so exciting!"
"Yeah, but the funniest thing was that someone else asked a few minutes ago if she was in, and I said she was at the Today Show, and she said, 'Because the School Board President resigned?'"
Oh good lord, people. Get a grip. Get OVER yourself. People in the Bay Area don't know where this town is, let alone have an opinion on this Evil Emperor in our midst. I hardly think the Today Show is going to swoop down to report on our gossip.
In other news, Saul is a bit closer to getting medication -- his psychiatric appointment went well. Phebe is going to ace her spelling restest, Neo is in a perpetual grumpy mood to top all previous grumpy moods, and Hobbes (the dog) and Bagheera (the cat) are terrified or exhilarated by each other. I have to get a picture posted of Bagheera. He is the official slayer of socks. Pounces on them and then flips them over his head up into the air. Kinda cute, really.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
I am not a citizen of France
I got a call the other night from a guy who wants to apply for the vacancy on the Board. He had come to my house over the holidays for a party and had asked a few pointed questions about the Board which signaled his intent. (As soon as someone asks you, "So how much of a time commitment is taken up with being on the Board?" then you KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that they are considering being on the Board. Someone who is just faintly curious tends to pose the questions as: "How much time do you spend on Board things?" I discovered this difference in focus a few years ago, and it's been proven right every single time. If the word "you" is in the sentence, they are curious. If the subject's completely general, then they are thinking of themselves.)
This guy called a few days ago, all upset, to say that the new president of the Board was angry at him. What now can he do to ensure his appointment to the Board if she's annoyed? Umm. Dude. Like, nothing. It's an appointment, not a public election. Apologize to her for pissing her off and move on. Hope that she gets over it before the appointment decision.
(Thing is, she won't get over it. The new prez is the Board member I used to be friends with before she got on the board two years ago. As soon as she got on, she insisted on serving on the policy committee with me, to prevent the appointment of another Board member, and blew the whole thing off, leaving me to do all the editing and refusing to even read the edits when I had finished them. I called her on it, and she got angry, and eventually she said, "Well, it sounds as if you don't respect me as a Board member." And my response ended the friendship completely. "You don't read the Board packets, you never research anything, and you completely gave up any interest in tackling a project that you committed yourself to. You're engaging in negotiations and you won't read the employment contracts. No. I don't respect that." [That sound you hear in the background is Taps playing over the death of our relationship.] Once she gets pissed off, she never gets over it. She's still trying to block teacher appointments to teacher committees for people who disagreed with her in public on a minor topic from two years ago. Stop being personal and get over yourself. Sheesh.)
So, loving a touch of gossip, I asked my friend what had happened to get her pissed at him. Well, he's been talking to all the Board members, asking questions, and trying to get them to say they'll support his appointment. Nothing unusual.
He sent an email to one Board member saying that he was pretty sure that Board members X and Y also supported his appointment. Nothing unusual.
The recipient of the email forwarded it (NO!! NEVER FORWARD EMAILS!!) to the prez, saying that he thought this was the best guy for the job. Bad Board Member.
The Brown Act, an open governance law, says that all decisions made by a publicly elected body must be made in public. Therefore, there can be no conversations or emails by the majority of the Board on any topic which the Board may later vote on outside of a publicly noticed, fully public meeting, where the public may comment on the item under discussion.
So when the Board member gets an email which telegraphs the intent of the majority of the Board, he's supposed to write the person back, saying that he cannot make up his mind before the meeting, and that he's not supposed to know the intent of a majority, so we cannot continue this discussion. That email really should be CC'ed to the Political Fair Practices Commission and perhaps County Counsel just to cover his ass. County Counsel may ask the Board member who received the communication to announce at a public meeting that he engaged in ex parte communication before the meeting. But usually that's the end. A public remedy for an honest mistake is fine.
If the Board member forwards that email to anyone else on the Board, then the original Board member has violated the Brown Act, and the one who receives the forward and reads its contents has technically violated the Brown Act as well. (Yeah, I know. Just by reading it.) Again, there are remedies to this. You basically announce publicly that an error has occurred, try to relevel the playing field for the other candidates and for the public, and move on.
What the prez did though, was really idiotic.
She called the possible candidate and told him that HE had violated the Brown Act and that no Board member could now speak to him.
Oy yoi yoi.
Idiot Person Posing As President, the PUBLIC is not bound by the Brown Act, only the Board. The public can communicate with whomsoever they wish. It's actually encouraged! No, really! It's up to the elected officials to keep their noses clean. (Did you report the member of your Board to the authorities? Why no, you did not. Oh great.)
I told my friend on the phone, "Look. Stop talking to the Board members right now. You have their support; what more do you need to say? Apologize profusely to the president and then see how it goes. Go talk to the Superintendent to learn about some issues in the District so you can be knowledgeable when they interview you. It'll be fine."
"But what about the Brown Act? Is the Attorney General going to call me or something?"
"No. No. First of all, the AG is only for criminal matters, not governmental. No one's going to be calling you. You did nothing wrong. Remember, you are not a citizen of France. You are not bound by French laws. Who knows? You could be breaking three or four French laws a day. Who cares? The Board is bound by the Brown Act, not you."
"Oh. OK. That makes sense. Boy, she really is a bully, isn't she?"
"Uh. There's no response to that which will be at all polite."
"Is that why you're not putting up your name?"
"Uh. Let's just say that I'm done being a citizen of France and leave it at that. OK?"
-----------
A few days before this I got a call from the VP at the Middle School asking me to please put in my application because the employees were worried about the lack of expertise on the Board. Oh, jeez. I wouldn't mind going up there and being appreciated, but I think my passport's truly expired.
4pm Edited to Add: Duh. I was correcting myself as I was writing until one statement ended up being over-corrected and then wrong. Double Duh. Most people talk about the District Attorney when they get all freaky about politics. The DA is involved with criminal matters and therefore has little or no jurisdiction over Brown Act violations. It's the Attorney General who's in charge of political malfeasance. When I was on the Board there was always some crank "reporting" us to the DA -- I had a lot of Scooby Doo-like conversations with the DA over the four year term. "Woo? You wrant Wrat?" "Nothing. Never mind." "Attorney General? Wroo? District Attorney? Wroo?"
So when I was talking to my friend he was talking about the DA calling him, but then when I blogged I corrected him to say that the AG was the one who...oh, whatever. It hardly matters.
This guy called a few days ago, all upset, to say that the new president of the Board was angry at him. What now can he do to ensure his appointment to the Board if she's annoyed? Umm. Dude. Like, nothing. It's an appointment, not a public election. Apologize to her for pissing her off and move on. Hope that she gets over it before the appointment decision.
(Thing is, she won't get over it. The new prez is the Board member I used to be friends with before she got on the board two years ago. As soon as she got on, she insisted on serving on the policy committee with me, to prevent the appointment of another Board member, and blew the whole thing off, leaving me to do all the editing and refusing to even read the edits when I had finished them. I called her on it, and she got angry, and eventually she said, "Well, it sounds as if you don't respect me as a Board member." And my response ended the friendship completely. "You don't read the Board packets, you never research anything, and you completely gave up any interest in tackling a project that you committed yourself to. You're engaging in negotiations and you won't read the employment contracts. No. I don't respect that." [That sound you hear in the background is Taps playing over the death of our relationship.] Once she gets pissed off, she never gets over it. She's still trying to block teacher appointments to teacher committees for people who disagreed with her in public on a minor topic from two years ago. Stop being personal and get over yourself. Sheesh.)
So, loving a touch of gossip, I asked my friend what had happened to get her pissed at him. Well, he's been talking to all the Board members, asking questions, and trying to get them to say they'll support his appointment. Nothing unusual.
He sent an email to one Board member saying that he was pretty sure that Board members X and Y also supported his appointment. Nothing unusual.
The recipient of the email forwarded it (NO!! NEVER FORWARD EMAILS!!) to the prez, saying that he thought this was the best guy for the job. Bad Board Member.
The Brown Act, an open governance law, says that all decisions made by a publicly elected body must be made in public. Therefore, there can be no conversations or emails by the majority of the Board on any topic which the Board may later vote on outside of a publicly noticed, fully public meeting, where the public may comment on the item under discussion.
So when the Board member gets an email which telegraphs the intent of the majority of the Board, he's supposed to write the person back, saying that he cannot make up his mind before the meeting, and that he's not supposed to know the intent of a majority, so we cannot continue this discussion. That email really should be CC'ed to the Political Fair Practices Commission and perhaps County Counsel just to cover his ass. County Counsel may ask the Board member who received the communication to announce at a public meeting that he engaged in ex parte communication before the meeting. But usually that's the end. A public remedy for an honest mistake is fine.
If the Board member forwards that email to anyone else on the Board, then the original Board member has violated the Brown Act, and the one who receives the forward and reads its contents has technically violated the Brown Act as well. (Yeah, I know. Just by reading it.) Again, there are remedies to this. You basically announce publicly that an error has occurred, try to relevel the playing field for the other candidates and for the public, and move on.
What the prez did though, was really idiotic.
She called the possible candidate and told him that HE had violated the Brown Act and that no Board member could now speak to him.
Oy yoi yoi.
Idiot Person Posing As President, the PUBLIC is not bound by the Brown Act, only the Board. The public can communicate with whomsoever they wish. It's actually encouraged! No, really! It's up to the elected officials to keep their noses clean. (Did you report the member of your Board to the authorities? Why no, you did not. Oh great.)
I told my friend on the phone, "Look. Stop talking to the Board members right now. You have their support; what more do you need to say? Apologize profusely to the president and then see how it goes. Go talk to the Superintendent to learn about some issues in the District so you can be knowledgeable when they interview you. It'll be fine."
"But what about the Brown Act? Is the Attorney General going to call me or something?"
"No. No. First of all, the AG is only for criminal matters, not governmental. No one's going to be calling you. You did nothing wrong. Remember, you are not a citizen of France. You are not bound by French laws. Who knows? You could be breaking three or four French laws a day. Who cares? The Board is bound by the Brown Act, not you."
"Oh. OK. That makes sense. Boy, she really is a bully, isn't she?"
"Uh. There's no response to that which will be at all polite."
"Is that why you're not putting up your name?"
"Uh. Let's just say that I'm done being a citizen of France and leave it at that. OK?"
-----------
A few days before this I got a call from the VP at the Middle School asking me to please put in my application because the employees were worried about the lack of expertise on the Board. Oh, jeez. I wouldn't mind going up there and being appreciated, but I think my passport's truly expired.
4pm Edited to Add: Duh. I was correcting myself as I was writing until one statement ended up being over-corrected and then wrong. Double Duh. Most people talk about the District Attorney when they get all freaky about politics. The DA is involved with criminal matters and therefore has little or no jurisdiction over Brown Act violations. It's the Attorney General who's in charge of political malfeasance. When I was on the Board there was always some crank "reporting" us to the DA -- I had a lot of Scooby Doo-like conversations with the DA over the four year term. "Woo? You wrant Wrat?" "Nothing. Never mind." "Attorney General? Wroo? District Attorney? Wroo?"
So when I was talking to my friend he was talking about the DA calling him, but then when I blogged I corrected him to say that the AG was the one who...oh, whatever. It hardly matters.
Friday, January 04, 2008
In the New Year
Oy, have we been sick.
Really sick.
My Phebe slept for about three days straight. All of us have had the flu -- coughing, hacking, fevers, shakes, and a few of us have ended up vomiting from taking various medications an an empty stomach. Blergh.
At this point only Saul and Dear Butcher are still sick. Saul seems better this morning, but Dear Butcher is still on Codeine laced cough syrup and antibiotics. Rain is coming down sideways, and I'm waiting for our back fence to blow over in the wind storm. What a lovely day!
Dear Butcher gave me a note for Christmas which said that I could get a cat. After a few visits to the shelter to sort the various candidates, we brought him home yesterday. (Pictures later) He's a big black guy with green eyes. Desperately happy to be in Neo's bedroom. Squeaks and mews all the time. He's almost obnoxiously affectionate. Phebe named him Bagheera.
Saul had a difficult vacation. Now he's OK, mostly because he's worn down from being sick. But at the start of the vacation, he was pretty scary in terms of being out of control. It's a long and dramatic story, but essentially, he got upset and tried to leave the house. His therapist has asked that I build a wall for him -- prevent him from leaving at all costs and be prepared to call in police help if needed.
Well, I did. I planted myself in front of the door and wouldn't let him open it. (Interesting that the BACK door was open the entire time and that he ignored that avenue of escape.) He attacked me. Hands in claws, going for the face, screaming, twisting my arms, wrapping my hair around his forearms, the whole nine yards. I was able to hold him off, constantly saying, "Just move away from the door. Just calm down," for about 45 minutes before I started getting tired. I ended up calling the police. (Who came in through the open back door.) When the police saw Saul try to pull my hair to get my head to the floor, they grabbed him and pulled him off. Saul fought them for a sec and then completely calmed down.
Two days later his Dad asked Saul to turn off the Wii and Saul went right for him -- trying to claw his face. Dear Butcher got between Saul and the front door and they wrestled for a while too -- but it didn't last so long. With a nosebleed in the middle of it, there was blood everywhere. I stayed next to the two of them and was able to talk to Saul somewhat.
The next day we all had a psychiatric appointment. Dear Butcher now thinks that meds are warranted. Gee, I guess so. I'm not sure about sending Saul back to school on Monday, and now I really don't know what his future is going to hold. If he continues in this drama, he's going to have to be hospitalized just for our safety. Christ.
We had an appointment with Neo's therapist. Neo says she would like to be homeschooled. Of all my kids, she's the one I'm most likely to say it will work. On the other hand, she had a group of her friends over the house on Friday and they had The Best Time. I'm worried she's going to fall out of that circle. I'm worried that I don't have enough energy to devote to her schooling. I'm worried that she wants to be homeschooled so that she can have time with me, and my time is going to be taken up with raging boy. I'm worried that it all falls to me again.
Haven't had a chance to read much of anything, although I got my husband the History of the Toothpick. Like Megan, I remember once knowing that the little frill thing on the top of the toothpick has a specific name, but I don't know what it is anymore. I mentioned this to my crossword puzzle obsessed mother-in-law, who said, "OH! It's called... Damn. I don't know what it's called." So now there are three obsessed people wondering about toothpicks.
Really sick.
My Phebe slept for about three days straight. All of us have had the flu -- coughing, hacking, fevers, shakes, and a few of us have ended up vomiting from taking various medications an an empty stomach. Blergh.
At this point only Saul and Dear Butcher are still sick. Saul seems better this morning, but Dear Butcher is still on Codeine laced cough syrup and antibiotics. Rain is coming down sideways, and I'm waiting for our back fence to blow over in the wind storm. What a lovely day!
Dear Butcher gave me a note for Christmas which said that I could get a cat. After a few visits to the shelter to sort the various candidates, we brought him home yesterday. (Pictures later) He's a big black guy with green eyes. Desperately happy to be in Neo's bedroom. Squeaks and mews all the time. He's almost obnoxiously affectionate. Phebe named him Bagheera.
Saul had a difficult vacation. Now he's OK, mostly because he's worn down from being sick. But at the start of the vacation, he was pretty scary in terms of being out of control. It's a long and dramatic story, but essentially, he got upset and tried to leave the house. His therapist has asked that I build a wall for him -- prevent him from leaving at all costs and be prepared to call in police help if needed.
Well, I did. I planted myself in front of the door and wouldn't let him open it. (Interesting that the BACK door was open the entire time and that he ignored that avenue of escape.) He attacked me. Hands in claws, going for the face, screaming, twisting my arms, wrapping my hair around his forearms, the whole nine yards. I was able to hold him off, constantly saying, "Just move away from the door. Just calm down," for about 45 minutes before I started getting tired. I ended up calling the police. (Who came in through the open back door.) When the police saw Saul try to pull my hair to get my head to the floor, they grabbed him and pulled him off. Saul fought them for a sec and then completely calmed down.
Two days later his Dad asked Saul to turn off the Wii and Saul went right for him -- trying to claw his face. Dear Butcher got between Saul and the front door and they wrestled for a while too -- but it didn't last so long. With a nosebleed in the middle of it, there was blood everywhere. I stayed next to the two of them and was able to talk to Saul somewhat.
The next day we all had a psychiatric appointment. Dear Butcher now thinks that meds are warranted. Gee, I guess so. I'm not sure about sending Saul back to school on Monday, and now I really don't know what his future is going to hold. If he continues in this drama, he's going to have to be hospitalized just for our safety. Christ.
We had an appointment with Neo's therapist. Neo says she would like to be homeschooled. Of all my kids, she's the one I'm most likely to say it will work. On the other hand, she had a group of her friends over the house on Friday and they had The Best Time. I'm worried she's going to fall out of that circle. I'm worried that I don't have enough energy to devote to her schooling. I'm worried that she wants to be homeschooled so that she can have time with me, and my time is going to be taken up with raging boy. I'm worried that it all falls to me again.
Haven't had a chance to read much of anything, although I got my husband the History of the Toothpick. Like Megan, I remember once knowing that the little frill thing on the top of the toothpick has a specific name, but I don't know what it is anymore. I mentioned this to my crossword puzzle obsessed mother-in-law, who said, "OH! It's called... Damn. I don't know what it's called." So now there are three obsessed people wondering about toothpicks.
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