The ballots were counted and I had lost. Will I give up and let my voice be hushed? No, I will continue to care and do my best to help!
Moving from a big city to a small town I had expected Mayberry, boy was I wrong. Most of the people were friendly. My real concerns were with the education of my 8yr. old daughter. Living 20 miles outside of town there was only one elementary school for her to attend. I enrolled her at the end of her 2nd grade year. By the time she was starting 3rd grade I had volunteered to collect box tops and soup labels for the school. I was curious as to why the other parents had not gotten involved in doing this for the school, their children. I had always participated and had been invited by my daughters’ last school to help out and attend functions. It was hard for me to understand why this school in desperate need of help was not asking for it? There was no parent group, PTA, social functions….I started talking to parents and members of the community. It seemed that they didn’t like it themselves but had just become accustomed to it, and patronized by the principal. Oh sure she smiled and agreed when the parents were in her face but somehow when they left, they left with no answers or problems resolved. This reminded me of reading Fahrenheit 451. That people didn’t really seem to care that their voices meant nothing. Almost as if they didn’t want to speak out due to the fact their child might be treated differently or they might be looked at as an outcast by members at the school. No one really seemed bothered by these actions.
I started attending board meetings; which were nothing short of a 3 ring circus. How could this administrator be in charge of a budget over $800,000.00 and not have it together? Silly me, how dare I question why the invoices just get paid without being looked into! Then my ideas of course were very unwelcomed when I volunteered them. She always had a nice way of saying that the kids did not need what I was purposing to get with the money they had earned from box tops and labels collected. For a short while I had some other parents involved and going to board meetings. With the board split 3 to 2 always in her favor (did I mention that board president was her son in law?) things were never going to change. I could go on for at least 4 more paragraphs about the mistakes, corruption, and stupidity that happens on a daily basis at the school but I won’t. I will save it for my letter to the Attorney General.
You can imagine the pleasure I got when I heard that one of the 3, in the principals’ favor, was up for re-election. I thought this would be my chance to get in there and make some much needed changes. I talked to the community (in which my running mate had lived all her life). I posted signs, which were only tore down and replaced with nasty flyers titled “What you don’t know about Hilary Joyner”. From the parents and community members I had spoken to I was thinking it could be a sure thing. Well my running mate sat in front of the polls all day, stopping people as they went in to vote, coating herself with lots of sugar I’m sure. I however had to work all day, needless to say when I arrived to vote she didn’t bother stopping me! If only my opponent had put this much effort into being on the school board, as she did into campaigning, this elementary school might be better off! It isn’t even a paid seat (or maybe that’s why she wanted it so bad). So with only 32% of the votes I will not have a seat on the board. I will however still be involved as much as I can, to ensure the education of our students there!
