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Arizona’s most thankless job: school board member

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ

Tribune Columnist

Most of us like to believe we’re decent people. We give a few bucks to charity, we volunteer, maybe even help a friend move. But be real: There’s being a decent human and then there’s going above and beyond.

Like by serving on your local school board.

If there’s a volunteer role existent in Arizona today that I cannot wrap my head around, it’s that one. And the past year of headlines – full of protests, threats and extreme surliness – have only deepened my confusion. Our state has about 240 school boards and 1,200 board members.

Each of them deserves a medal. Or our prayers.

Because anyone who does that job for $0 a year deserves something in return.

School board members begin their careers by running for election. You speak at public forums, knock on doors, stand in front of Safeway, anywhere you can meet a few voters, most of whom pay attention for 14 seconds before pushing past you like you’re a human turnstile.

Then, say you win. That earns you the privilege of going to 25 or 30 weeknight meetings annually, many of which last for hours and involve a “call to the public.” If you’ve never been to a school board or municipal council meeting, lucky you. I’ve attended many, and trust me: Most members of the public who answer this call do so because no sane human being has ever listened to them for three minutes straight without dialing 911. It’s like open mike at an insane asylum, minus the lithium.

And that was before COVID, before anti-mask protests, and before machinations over Critical Race Theory. Nowadays, your average school board meeting frequently resembles Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. Minus the gun�ire – so far.

Down south near Tucson, the April 27 meeting of the Vail governing board required sheriff’s deputies before the meeting even started. About 150 antimaskers – some armed – stormed the meeting, pushing past school district employees, screaming and berating board members and refusing to wear masks, per Pima County’s mandate.

“There was a handful of people – I don’t know exactly how many – who either don’t have kids in the school district, don’t live in the school district, don’t live in the county, who came with the express purpose of whipping up that group,” Supt. John Carruth told the Arizona Education News Service.

Talk about needing more hobbies. The Litch�ield Elementary School District has degenerated into chaos over the passage of an “equity statement” last December. Since then, the Arizona Attorney General’s Of�ice has been involved and protests have become a regular feature of board meetings. Last week, Dr. Tara Armstead, the school board’s only Black member, resigned and scorched the 12,000-student district on her way out the door.

“I will not say thank you for the time that I served here,” said Armstead, “or express any gratitude or appreciation because, for the �ive months I have been here, I have been treated like I’m not an expert in the �ield and have no idea what I’m talking about.” The Scottsdale Uni�ied School District Governing Board has been equally protest-laden and chaotic. Last week, Board President Jann-Michael Greenburg lost his temper over the distribution of a neo Nazi comic book on some campuses .

Greenburg stage whispered an expletive into a hot microphone.

He later publicly apologized. “I’m very sorry about that,” Greenburg explained. “I have to admit it was done out of frustration in the moment.”

The wonder is, more school board members don’t drop f-bombs. Or outright quit. Because there’s surely no more thankless job in this state. ■

Biden is ‘�inishing the job’ for his former boss

BY JD HAYWORTH Tribune Columnist

Barack Obama did not go gently into that good presidential retirement. While most of his predecessors departed once their “lease” at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue expired, Mr. Obama decided to remain.

Now with his “Number Two” elevated to “Number One,” the former president sticks around with an up-close view and an important role in Joe Biden “�inishing the job,” as Mr. Obama put it in an interview with The New York Times. Sympathetic journalists take that to mean that the 46th President will work to complete the progressive policy goals envisioned by the 44th.

Americans with a different political point of view fear the expression conveys a simpler and more sinister goal: the end of the USA as a democratic republic.

While his immediate successor, Donald Trump, was widely viewed as “Disruptor-in-Chief,” it’s worth recalling that the Barack Obama of 2008 routinely pledged on the campaign trail to “fundamentally change America as we know it.” In many ways, he succeeded.

From the enactment of Obamacare to the politicization of our military and intelligence apparatus, and on through the exploitation of racial disharmony, our 44th President lit long, slow fuses…now set to detonate.

How does Mr. Obama avoid responsibility?

Simple. He employs euphemisms and administers “verbal tranquilizers.” Though his mask may slip occasionally, such an occurrence is usually explained away by an infatuated press corps.

A recent example of Obama speaking softly and sticking it to Republicans can be found in his remarks to the American Library Association in late June. There, he was asked about his biggest concern for the future, and responded this way: “The degree to which misinformation is now disseminated at warp speed, in coordinated ways that we haven’t seen before.”

The former president then expounded on his “concern” by quickly adding a political dimension: “And that the guardrails I thought were in place around many of our democratic institutions really depend upon the two parties agreeing to those ground rules, those guardrails. And that one of them right now doesn’t seem as connected to them.”

Call it “accusation by insinuation and omission,” preceded by “indictment through rede�inition.” All of it delivered in a calm, “thoughtful” manner.

Translated into conservative context, Mr. Obama is basically saying this: “Let’s call investigative reports and assertions from the Right ‘misinformation’ so that they can be immediately discredited.”

“Moreover, Republicans need to know their place! They need to return to the passive, polite people they used to be, accepting election irregularities for the ‘greater good,’ which of course keeps our side in power.”

The Left has made it a priority to politicize the pandemic; that continues with the use of government funds following the “Obama Directive.” Check out this headline from the broadcasting trade journal Radio Ink in its Aug. 19 edition: “CPB Tar-

gets COVID Misinformation.”

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is awarding $275,000 in emergency grants to public media stations to address COVID-19 misinformation in their communities,” reads the article’s lead sentence.

While $275,000 is a pittance compared to the trillions the Left intends to spend, it does speak volumes about the way Government �inanced radio and television stations take their cues from the Democrat playbook.

Of course, 10 days before those government grants were announced, Barack Obama celebrated his 60th Birthday with a lavish party on his $12 million, 29-acre Martha’s Vineyard Estate.

Joe Biden was not invited; presumably, he was focused on ”�inishing the job.” ■

Share Your Thoughts: Send your letters on local issues to: pmaryniak@ timespublications.com

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