We get the government that we deserve.

Welcome to my first entry on the blog. As it says up there at the top of this page, this is the place for “News and information about the Future of Pike County PAC, and updates from its endorsed candidates.” Check back every day to see updates.

I am proud to be one of the five DVSD school director candidates endorsed by the Future of Pike County PAC. As I wrote them after I was notified, “I am honored and humbled.”

The five candidates that have been endorsed are an eclectic group. We have differences, and we know we will not agree on every issue. We believe that that is how it should be. We know that when we are elected to the board we will deliberate in the open, in public meetings, and arrive at a consensus. We will not arrive with a pre-determined course, decided outside of the public’s view. We may passionately debate an issue, but we can, and will, do that respectfully. We will make our decision based on the facts and evidence. What we have in common is a passion for transparency and a passion for balancing the educational needs of the community with the economic realities of our times. We will write more about this in subsequent blogs.

We are all committed to improving the accessibility of the board. The present board has made positive changes that allow the public to see board meetings from different campuses. We all appreciate the current practice of holding executive sessions after public meetings so the public does not have to wait for them to reconvene. We can continue to improve accessibility. I look forward to the debut of School Board 2.0, a project of the Pike County Youth Coalition that will allow citizens to watch the meetings on the internet and provide live questions. I also look forward to the day the board adopts a substantial amount of the same practices of School Board 2.0, part of the end strategy of that project.

I have a deep belief that anything can be improved. Even the best can be better. To improve we have to take a hard look at where our deficiencies lie. This is a positive step towards addressing those deficiencies and improving them.

Finally, as I am fond of saying,
Learn,
Educate,
Vote,
We get the government that we deserve.

Bill Greenlaw