Are Norfolk’s schools that great?
Or is it time to consider the Norfolk School Board something other that playthings of the City Council by electing the School Board.
In Norfolk, the School Board is appointed, which means if you do anything that ruffles a Council member, you’re out.
Norfolk School Board member Billy Cook is an Army officer who was on an HBO special about gang violence. His son was shot in a driveby last year.
And some Norfolk Council members are concerned that HBO “portrayed Norfolk in a negative light” and the price may be Cook’s re-appointment.
Isn’t nice to see School Board appointments having so much to do with education?
If Council is so worried about HBO specials on gangs, stop acting like one. Try actually doing something about crime.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that Cook may run against controversial Norfolk Councilman Paul Riddick, who will miss the meeting “but is expected to vote via telephone.”
Vote by TELEPHONE??!!??!!??!!??!!
What the hell is going on in Norfolk?
Electing the School Board won’t solve everything, since electing the City Council hasn’t exactly stocked City Hall with geniuses. But it can’t hurt to get the schools free of this nonsense.
These cheap parlor games are a stain on the region. And if Norfolk can’t get its act together, other cities must step in and give it a swift kick.
Norfolk wants regionalism? You got it.
Category: Catch-All
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You offer no constructive solution. What would you do, as a Board member, if you had been working all year on various priority issues and trying to attract better funding for student programs, then one of the members of the Board, goes on national TV in a way that distracts, and indeed, obliterates, all of the good work that had been done for the entire year?
Mr. Cook has the right to express his views, but he still has a responsibility as a member of the Board to work to improve Norfolk’s schools. Hampton Roads has been in denial about its thriving gang problem for decades, so one must ask why at this juncture did Mr. Cook choose to gain publicity from this longstanding issue? Could it be that he is laying the foundation for climbing the political ladder? Probably so.
Is he right about the gang problem? Of course, but as a Board member, what has he offered as constructive solutions? Merely yelling fire without forming the bucket brigade, leaves the same result had no one cried out about the fire.
It saddens me that you don’t think democracy is a constructive solution.
Ya know……….even if I strongly disagree with your logic, if your son was shot last year……..I kinda take that into consideration if your judgement is affected. Having said that, I didn’t see that HBO special and wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for this ruckus over this guy.
Who do you blame for MORE people hearing about some gang issue in Norfolk because his detractors are raising up a storm over it. Go ahead, cut off your nose to spite your face.
Again, I didn’t see it, but if he went negative, that can still be constructive. Constructive in that awareness is the first step to solving a problem. If my child was shot, I might be a little edgy myself.
How many areas other than Norfolk have gangs? How is this guy the doom of Norfolk? Why do his detractors perpetuate this “bad press” by keeping it in the media?
Norfolk council/schoolboard had a chance to work towards a solution. Perhaps later if THEY worked towards an answer, somewhere down the line there’d be a success story for the city of Norfolk to crow about. Instead, they look a bit petty and bitter. I guess we’ll get a display of vengeance when this guy loses his position.
[...] once, I agree with Brian Kirwin: Electing the School Board won’t solve everything, since electing the City Council hasn’t [...]
Brian,
I learned today that Paul Riddick is in the hospital from knee replacement surgery. That’s why he had to vote by telephone – from his hospital room.
I was aware of why. I just don’t think proxy voting is a great practice, and voting by phone sounded even worse. Hell, imagine someone doing that in Virginia Beach