Friday, July 20, 2007

School Daze .....

For me, one of the more interesting stories in today's Odessa American is this one by Elaine Marsilio, reporting that Renda Berryhill, a member of the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees said she plans to remain in office ... even though her family has moved out of the Odessa High district she represents. The report goes on to state that the decision to move outside the district she represents, is so Berryhill's son may attend Permian High, and play football with the Panthers.

Nothing earth-shattering here ..... this is just the latest variation on a story that crops up often in the news, and we've had other variations of this theme on a number of occasions, here in West Texas ..... Fort Stockton, Odessa, Midland, the Panhandle ..... school board, city council, U.S. Congress.

But this one has some different, and disturbing angles for me. I recommend you read the whole story to learn how the system might be 'worked' to someones advantage ..... or to the advantage of a 'pair' of someones ...... "Jamie Berryhill also remarked that he and Renda might use both their properties — the leased home on the east side and their Mission Messiah shelter on West Second — to run for the school board for separate districts in the future. "

Another point of interest is that some of the views offered in the article are from someone who was perfectly comfortable with occupying a leadership position in Odessa's public school system, helping direct every facet of its operation - while sending her child to a private school in Midland.

I'd like to know what YOU think.

4 comments:

Rob said...

It's shameful that Berryhill has such a lack of ethics - and it's shameful that Odessa voters will be keep this pondscum in a position of leadership - either thru misguided action or, more likely, an apathetic lack of action alltogether.

I'm still waiting to hear how the SOB principal (his name escapes me) who carried guns to his school is enjoying his paid hiatus. Sure would be nice for us common citizens to be able to commit crimes yet still get paid a cushy salary while the good ol' boys ponder about which wrist to slap.

Chaps the snot outta me that, as a non-parent (but still a homeowner) I still have to foot the not-insignificant tax load to fund this nonsense. If the school system's fiscal load was shouldered strictly by county residents (homeowners or not) who have school-age children, perhaps those parents would take enough of an interest to shake things up in the school district.

Where's the accountability?

Jeff said...

Rob, thanks for stopping in, and thanks for the input. It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the days/weeks ahead ..... and what role citizens' outrage will play in those developments.

Eric Siegmund said...

Could be moot now that Berryhill has been deemed to have vacated her position on the board. Regardless, it certainly stirred up many of the citizens of Odessa, didn't it?

Jeff said...

Eric, yes it did ..... looking at the response to online polls the OA conducted in connection with this article, and with the follow-up article the next day, I suspect that more than a few voices like Rob's were heard Thursday.