In an era where public trust in institutions hangs by a thread, the Southmoreland School Board is pulling it taut, threatening to sever live streaming of its meetings while embroiling itself in petty squabbles and personal vendettas. This isn’t governance. It’s a farce, one that undermines the very community it claims to serve.
The board’s latest outrage? A proposal to discontinue live streaming, effectively locking parents, teachers, and taxpayers out of the democratic process. These streams aren’t luxuries; they’re lifelines, allowing remote workers, shift employees, and concerned citizens to witness deliberations on budgets, curricula, and policies that shape our children’s futures. By dimming the lights on these proceedings, the board isn’t just saving a few bucks on tech—it’s shielding incompetence and conflict from scrutiny. Why the rush to opacity? One suspects it’s to avoid the glare of accountability, especially amid the board’s chronic dysfunction.
Speaking of which, meetings have devolved into a battlefield, with the majority ganging up on a lone dissenting member at every turn. From curriculum debates to facility upgrades, this isn’t healthy debate….it’s targeted harassment, designed to silence one voice of reason and maintain a echo chamber of groupthink. Such infighting doesn’t just waste time; it erodes morale and distracts from pressing issues like declining test scores or underfunded programs. When board members prioritize personal beefs over progress, students pay the price.
But the rot runs deeper. One board member, in a chilling breach of boundaries, recently cold-called a private taxpayer at home, armed with patently false information and a passive-aggressive tone laced with veiled threats. This wasn’t oversight; it was intimidation, a desperate bid to bully a critic into submission. Public servants aren’t above the law….or basic civility…..but here, one seems to fancy herself judge, jury, and enforcer. And the hypocrisy peaks with her public shaming of her own minor daughter on Facebook, airing the child’s mental health struggles for all to see. In a role meant to model empathy and privacy, this stunt exposes a profound disregard for vulnerability, both in her family and the district’s youth.
This board doesn’t operate in the best interest of the district; it serves its own egos, fears, and grudges. Transparency is the antidote to such toxicity. Demand the streams stay online, call out the bullying, and vote for leaders who build bridges, not burn them. Our kids deserve better than a boardroom circus. It’s time for the community to pull back the curtain.
