BreakDown: Danville School Board (7/17/2014 Meeting)

We’re continuing our BreakDown analysis and comment article series after every Danville City Council & School Board meeting. Let’s take a look at what happened during Thursday’s School Board meeting.

Big Board for a small BreakDown, please.

• The Langston school campus is in marginal condition because it’s old, just like most of Danville’s school buildings. This consultant’s study that priced complete renovations at $8 million ended up with a beautiful presentation with a full color handout. Dumping $8 million into Langston ain’t gonna happen. The school board will probably pay for some things like handicap accessibility, but there’s no way that the full check will ever be written.
• I wonder how much this “building assessment” cost?
• The wrought iron fencing at Langston is just as prison-like at the one at the high school. The fence isn’t to keep students in, it’s to keep trespassers out. But it’s so depressing looking… ugh.
• Apparently, School Board “work sessions” are the same format as their monthly meetings held on the first Thursday of the month. These “work sessions” used to be held on the 3rd Friday of a month at 7AM (or maybe 8AM). Thank god they changed that. Anyway, there’s no public comment session nor around the horn comment time at these meetings unlike the regular meetings. That should change.
• I have no idea who a lot the school board central office staff members are that attend every meeting. It would be nice if they’d be introduced or have some sort of name identification. The same can be said for Danville City Council meetings too. Anything to help the public know who is who and what they do.
• Interestingly, one staff member that I do know wasn’t there for the meeting and has been quiet this week. That’s the public information and social media “director” Melany Stowe.
• Dell’anno’s Pizza Kitchen won’t go bankrupt on school board meeting nights. Of course, I would have thought that about 316 Cibo, too.
• Yes, everybody. I was wrong. Totally blatantly wrong. Sharon Dones should have gotten the SouthsideCentral endorsement. I have really grown to love her knowledge, her attitude and her demeanor. If I’ve said that before, it deserves saying again.
• We heart Steven Gould too. I had high expectations of him jumping into the flow quickly, but he’s exceeded those. He’s asking questions and he’s going to get his answers.
• I added this is the final editing of the recap article but I’ll repeat it here. Chairman Ed Polhamus was very close to the condescending line when he used his “executive privilege” (his words) to “remind” board members about the Open Meeting laws, how to properly visit a school and not to promise a constituent that they could fix a problem all by themselves. Steven Gould is already being proactive with his fulfilling of his campaign promise for open “office hours” and I’m just wondering if Polhamus is worried about Gould’s ambition. If he is, then good. Steven Gould would already make a good chairman of the board and so would any of the other members. The position of School Board Chairman carries the privilege to preside over the meetings and to have the center seat at the table. Just like the mayor, it’s mostly a ceremonial position and it’s only one vote. Polhamus didn’t have a need to play Daddy and it was embarrassing to watch.
• Speaking of Steven Gould’s “office hours” promise, he’s starting it off this coming Tuesday, July 22nd from 5:00 to 6:45 PM at the Danville Public Library’s genealogy room. Now that he’s had his talk from Daddy, I’m sure he knows exactly how to handle his time with his constituents. Yes, that last sentence was total sarcasm.
• Finally, it was good to see Denise from the Register & Bee covering the meeting.

And that’s the BreakDown. More coming soon on SouthsideCentral!