News That Didn’t Make the Cut

Guest Contribution by Arthur Green

The Eagle Tribune today covered Donna Green’s resignation from the Timberlane Regional School Board, in protest of the board’s failure to act on the outrageous intrusion into the election process by the TRSD Superintendent when he slapped a no trespass order on a school board candidate.

The eventful School Board meeting which followed Deliberative on Thursday night was mentioned in a few brief sentences, which focused on the dispute about going into non-public.

More important (but not reported) was

• Donna Green’s motion in public session to direct the Superintendent to rescind the no trespass letter and terminate the so-called investigation – defeated by the school board by a vote of 7 opposed versus 2 in favor (Stefanie Dube and Donna Green).
• The Superintendent’s spectacular statement during the brief discussion of this motion that the Timberlane board has no authority to direct him to rescind the no trespass letter.
• Attorney O’Shaughnessy’s risible statement that Superintendent Metzler is not a public figure.

All this is available in public – my video of the meeting was published on the blog at 9:05 AM Friday morning, about 12 hours after the meeting.

The core action of the meeting – defeat of the motion to rescind – was not mentioned in the ET coverage.

The shills who support unlimited power for the Superintendent over the School District and for the School District over the taxpayers have a favorite debating tactic:  divert debate from substantive issues and instead portray a personality conflict between Green and Metzler.

The Superintendent is quoted by the ET delivering a stream of personal abuse against Donna Green, avoiding and distracting from the substantive issue.

Change the subject, personalize the dispute, and presto, we’re no longer discussing the body blow against a campaign for office by a person who is not a reliable rubber stamp for the Superintendent.  This is an intentional tactic.

PS: The ET quotes the Superintendent saying that

” .. this is just another example of Donna Green’s anti-intellectual agenda..”. 

Really?  Objecting to a public body’s interference in the election process is “anti-intellectual”?

Back in December 2013, Donna Green (at that time a member of TRSD Budget Committee) and I appeared before the Sandown Board of Selectmen to discuss the TRSD budget process and the causes of the 10% increase in Sandown’s taxes that year.  Superintendent Metzler was in the ET a few days later, calling Donna’s action in speaking to the Sandown Board of Selectmen “inappropriate, innaccurate and irresponsible.”  Donna subsequently dubbed that the three “I’s”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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