"Please sign and share this petition to change the Indiana law to make the positions on the Indiana State Board of Education ELECTED and NOT APPOINTED by the Governor. Currently, 10 of the 11 positions are appointed. This week, while the sole elected member, Sup. Glenda Ritz, was in China on an education trip, the 10 appointed members drafted a letter to shift oversight and administration of school grading to the legislature. This is just one example of the stonewalling and shady tactics by the appointed members of the board."
Why would these State Board of Education members draft a letter of this sort? The answer is simple, the GOP fears Glenda Ritz and her knowledge and they are willing to try anything, even circumventing the law, to usurp power from the ELECTED Superintendent and continue the Daniels/Bennett destruction of Indiana's PUBLIC schools. These appointed board members are treading on sketchy waters if they think that the Hoosier voters, who loudly proclaimed it was time for new educational leadership in Indiana, are not watching and waiting for our opportunity to pounce and regain control. These board members are taking action outside the law by making such moves without utilizing public open door laws and discussing their plans during public board meetings. They are obviously meeting outside the board meetings without the presence of the Chair of the SBOE, ELECTED Superintendent Glenda Ritz. These men and women appointed to the State Board of Education must be stopped. They need to either resign or be run out of office. These people do NOT represent the will of the Hoosier voters, and their continued power grabs alongside the General Assmebly are reprehensible.
It is time for all HOOSIER VOICES to be heard. We MUST demand a change in the current practice of power grabbing and the constant scoffing at the voters of Indiana. We ELECTED a Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction to lead us away from the destructive and divisive ways of Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniels. Our one big mistake in Electing Glenda Ritz, was that not enough of us voted to elect a different Governor. It is time to demand cooperative methods between the General Assmebly, the appointed SBOE members, and our Superintendent. It is time to demand that these people work with the will of the voters, or we show them how we will stand up and put them out.
I do not agree with recent writings that "we're better off finding common ground through reasoned dialogue with legislators than to go after them with pitchforks." This type of mentality is what has us in this position again. We voted, and then we just sit back and watch instead of becoming vocally involved. It is time that we stop watching the destructive actions and SPEAK OUT more loudly than that November day a year ago. We must go after these men and woman who have the midset that they know more than the voters. We must run them out of office and show them that the will of HOOSIER VOTERS will not be scoffed at and disregarded for the gains of their cronies and private campaign contributors. Pitch forks may wll be more necessary than king words and playing nice. We have watched what happens when the attempt to "play nice" is met with the arrogance of the likes of Dan Elsener and his GOP croines. Governor Pence sits on his high horse "preaching" his sermon of cronyism while Bob Behning, Dennis Kruse, Brian Bosma, and David Long sing their hymns of praise. It is time we show these men that we are done playing nice. It is time we remind them that last November we voted because we want our PUBLIC schools back and we want our ELECTED Superintendent to lead the way!
I read the article today that you're referring to. I totally understand the frustration with these bozos!! However, I thought her article raised some really excellent points. It is asking these guys some tough questions. Can they answer? Do they even really understand the facts and where we are coming from? They are so brainwashed, like reform-bots. How do break through that wall and invoke empathy? I was once a hard core conservative... and I mean right wing extreme. Eventually good people broke through to me and I saw the light (hallelujah)!! I am now a moderate Republican with some "reasonable" conservative values with the ability to relate to my liberal friends. I really respect and admire Phyllis for her ability to see things in a way that is different, yet effective as well. I confess, I am a pitchfork person...lol. Believe me, I've wanted to use it, and I have at times (metaphorically speaking)...and I completely understand the frustration!! The cronyism is terrible. Doing all we can to communicate and bring awareness is the key... and I think really both of you are saying a lot of the same things. We need the Ritz army to march!! Letters, news papers, calls, maybe even our own "million man" march. I think what she was saying was dealing with the hand we are dealt at the moment..in a way that they will listen before they do any more damage... and figuring out that way...organizing ground troops like crazy to change the next elections!! The bigger question is how do we get the thousands of people on board that have no clue all of this is going on? These are just things we need to figure out. We really all have that goal in common. We had such momentum and such a great team during the last election. We all worked together to change what everyone thought was a done deal. I can't wait for all of us to unite and do it again!!
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